The U.S. is in Real Trouble at the Presidents Cup

5. The U.S. is now — I cannot believe this is real — 6-24 in its last 30 alternate shot matches across the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

2023 and 2025 Ryder Cup: 3-13
2024 and 2026 Presidents Cup: 3-11

That’s unbelievable. The worrisome part for me is two-fold and extends beyond whatever happens the rest of this week.

1. On Friday, Paul McGinley gave a peek at how the Euros prep for these events. Reverse engineering, deep statistical analysis, things of that nature. I’m curious if the U.S. does the same. It … doesn’t seem that way, does it?

2. I haven’t heard a lot from Sneds about deep prep work in terms of really breaking down the golf course. That doesn’t mean they’re not doing it, but here was an interesting quote on Scottie and Burns on Friday evening.

I refuse to believe we’re just pairing best friends because they’re best friends, but … I mean, are we? Couple that with this quote from before the matches started, and I’m … not totally sure?

I would love an in-depth explanation of exactly how the U.S. pairings come together.

To be fair, I’m not saying that every team needs to do it the way the Europeans do it. Maybe it makes the Americans more comfortable to be paired with buddies. Maybe that’s actually the best way for them. I don’t know. I think the bottom line for me is that there doesn’t seem to be a consistent process in place that is followed by every team and every captain the way there is with the Europeans in the Ryder Cup.

Having that process doesn’t mean it will always work (2021 at Whistling), doesn’t mean you’ll always win (2016 Hazeltine). But at least there is some consistency and continuity across competitions that you can trust in. Good processes lead to trust from all parties because they provide stability, and the U.S. seems to have lost some trust in itself over the last several years, which leads me to believe their process is lacking.

Same rake, different Nikes

6. One quote I have thought about recently as I raise young kids who have high highs and low lows is that nothing is ever as good as it seems and nothing is ever as bad as it seems. If you’re a U.S. fan and want to remain that way, I would advise avoiding Twitter right now. People want heads to roll. They are demanding the blood of 1,000 captains. People are irrationally angry in ways that make college football fans seem normal.

I’ll avoid absolutely crushing them right now because I think the reality is that U.S. will light up both sessions on Saturday and still win on Sunday (Data Golf says 46 percent the U.S. wins or ties).

I think cooler heads (and more talent) will prevail. But if not, then all of this is obviously worth a full dissection at some point after the event.

For now, it’s enough to say that the best possible outcome — the best possible outcome — is a narrow, dramatic U.S. victory followed by 12 straight months of constant and intense questioning about alternate shot methods, pairings processes and Scottie Scheffler struggles leading into the Ryder Cup.

Again, this is the outcome the U.S. is longing for right now, which should tell you everything you need to know about the first two days at Medinah.

7. Is now a good time to remind you that 10 of the 12 U.S. players are ranked higher than every single player on the International team other than Si Woo. Per Data Golf …

Average U.S. ranking: 10.7
Average International ranking: 52.6

I still think the U.S. will win out because talent usually wins out by the end of the week (non-Ryder Cup edition), but now they are not only carrying a 7-3 deficit into Saturday but also the potential embarrassment of being the first U.S. team since before Y2K (before Y2K!) to lose one of these things.

8. Min Woo and Ryan Fox were electric together and also one of the most hilarious pairings imaginable. They are only 11 years apart, but it feels both socially and culturally as if they are separated by five generations.

Min Woo could easily fit into whatever generation is in college right now (alpha?) and Foxy could blend in with the boomers. The unlikeliest duo that made six birdies in the first 18 holes and beat the second best pairing on the entire course on Friday. Golf rules.

9. The U.S. has (kind of) been here before. At Royal Melbourne in 2019, it went down 6.5-3.5 after the first two days and clawed back to win 16-14 on Sunday in one of the more thrilling events I’ve ever covered.

Here’s what those first two days looked like.

I think this U.S. team is probably better than that one and this International team is definitely worse, but there has been absolutely zero juice from the Americans following the first few hours on Thursday. I don’t know how Saturday is going to go, but it certainly feels pretty bleak sitting here on Friday evening.

And that’s kind of the beauty of these events. Emotions change so much day to day, hour to hour. Then they can flip in a hurry (see: Sunday at Bethpage). Saturday morning will probably decide who wins the event so it will be fascinating to see who pounds the table and hits the shots for the U.S. against this completely outclassed International side that suddenly believes in doing something crazy.

The Miracle at Medinah, but for which team?

10. I feel for the U.S. side in this way: There is so little upside and so much downside to these Presidents Cups. If you win, cool. If you lose, the house is burning. That’s a tough arena to enter into, which is not an excuse as much as it is a reality for these teams.

The real interesting thing here is that if you believe fundamental change is needed for the U.S., rooting for a horrific loss won’t help that because there is no one person or entity in charge of the U.S. team.

This week, it’s the PGA Tour. Next year at the Ryder Cup, the PGA of America. So if you’re a U.S. fan who wants them to bottom out and is demanding change, who do you even demand it from? Who is there to hold accountable other than … a captain who won’t be the captain the next time around?

It’s a bizarre thing. I know some people probably want the U.S. to get routed to help speed up change and improve process. But I’m unconvinced a loss would affect anything because of this sort of shared ownership (if you want to call it that) of Team USA between the Tour and the PGA of America. It’s an odd position to be in.

11. I didn’t get a chance to comment on this, but it seems relevant now. Brandt Snedeker had a quote about Scottie that caught my eye earlier in the week.

Here’s the quote.

This is maybe unfair to Sneds and to that quote, but I think the Americans in general — across Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups — think of themselves as 12 individuals that make up a team. That’s not derogatory. It’s just how they do it. Europe, on the other hand, thinks of themselves as a team made up of 12 individuals. I don’t know what the International team thinks, and to this point it hasn’t really mattered a ton.

The distinction above is important though.

I think back to this Jon Rahm quote from Rome all the time. All the time!

I don’t think the Americans have ever truly thought this way. They think about walking through those gates and remembering who they are — the best players in the world. This is mostly fine, but when they struggle, it can become such a burden. And it is maddening to watch. It’s sometimes as if they’re all pulling on the same rope but in different directions.

And every two years, they get fooled into believing this mindset is working because they (normally) house a team made up of Nico Echavarrias and Ryo Hisatsunes.

This is maybe a small thing that I am blowing out of proportion, but I do think it matters, and I would be curious to talk to some guys after their careers are over to see if they feel (or felt) the same way.

Other Notes from Day 2

• Gary Woodland and Fred Couples walk the same. Woodland was walking up No. 18 with the Burns/Scheffler group, and I though, “Hmm, I didn’t know Freddie was a vice captain.” Very swagger-y, lots of amble.

• Great tweet here.

• Xander looks completely lost, which is pretty wild. Xander rarely — maybe never — looks like that, which I admit does give me some pause overall about the rest of the week despite my bravado above.

• Bones said the line, "What he got was an unbelievable bounce off of corporate hospitality ..." at one point on Friday. Which is sick. And resulted in Conners and Taylor winning the hole.

• I thought Scottie having to putt this on No. 8 was absurd. Get out of here with that.

• The International team hasn't lost (or tied) a Friday match at the Presidents Cup since before Covid. How is that possible? That seems even more impossible than the U.S. being 6-24 in its last 30 alternate shot matches.

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