Five Predictions for the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne

The next event on the schedule is the 2019 Presidents Cup. Here is a look at some of the things we may see at Royal Melbourne.

Everyone likes to make bold predictions. I don’t because I’ve found predicting golf is pretty much a fool’s errand. And I have looked foolish often enough in life that usually I don’t go around looking for other opportunities to do it. That said, there are probably some things to look for at the Presidents Cup. Maybe some of them are things you’ll want to know if you live someplace where you can make a bet.

Tiger Woods may not play more than 3 times.

Gone are the days when Woods could play five matches. So, Woods and his vice-captains will need to figure out how to he can help the team the most. It might be taking a rookie under his wing, as Seve Ballesteros used to do with Ryder Cup newcomers. It might be playing a fourth match if the team unexpectedly struggles. His mind can go five matches, but his body probably can’t and shouldn’t.

The Alternate Shot Dilemma, aka Foursomes

Alternate shot is most every average golfer’s idea of hell. You’ve got to play somebody else’s mistakes for half of the shots for 18 holes. And sometimes, as in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, you get to do it twice in one week. Talk about a four-hour Advil moment.

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Fred Couples and Davis Love got through it because, as they used to say in the 1990s, they played similar games and both were used to hitting drives into wild places, and they were experienced at getting out of them. It didn’t phase either one of them. But not everybody could hit from those locations, so, in a perverted way, it made sense to put them together.

Until recently, Woods has not been known for fairway-seeking tee shots. So, if there’s a sensible day to sit the captain, it’s foursomes. Let the shot-making, grass-seeking machines like Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland and Patrick Cantlay take the pain. There aren’t any Jim Furyks on the U.S. squad, so the rest will just have to put on their big boy pants and suffer through it.

Alternate shot counts for nine of thirty points, so splitting the matches, at worst, could be acceptable.

Buddies might not play together

Just because guys are pals at home, like Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, it doesn’t mean that they will necessarily play together. Sometimes, a guy has to bite the bullet for the team. For instance, a pairing with Patrick Reed is going to be tough for anybody who doesn’t have a thick skin, simply because of the oddball rules infraction at the Hero World Challenge.

Who are candidates to play with Reed? Woods, Fowler, Matt Kuchar, and Webb Simpson. Simpson, in particular, was great with Bubba Watson. Watson, the two-time Masters champ, goes through patches of skittishness on the golf course.

Watson admits as much. But when he needed a partner who could lend some calm to the proceedings, it was Simpson all the way. Plus, Simpson can handle whatever the crowd dishes out and still keep going. Another who can is Fowler. Although, hopefully, team USA is up enough so Woods can pair Fowler with Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas once.

Let the big dogs eat

I have never understood why the U.S. doesn’t clean up in Fourball (better-ball) in every contest they play. The teams have always had a bounty of long hitters who can get the ball down to the point where they have remarkably short shots to the green. In theory, that gives them a better chance to get close to the hole. And in theory, that means they should have more birdie chances.

There’s Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, and the captain himself, Woods, just to name a few. They just need somebody to walk down the fairway with, someone who will stay in the hole in case they mess up.

Of course, in Ryder Cup, they face guys like Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson who break out in hives if they miss the short grass. That trio never saw a fairway that they couldn’t hit.

Fourball counts for nine points, and honestly, the U.S. should clean up. Maybe it’s one of those deals where there’s nothing worse than great expectations.

Look for Fred Couples to help with pairings and who goes against whom

Woods has said that there’s nobody better than Fred Couples when it comes to pairings and figuring out who should play against whom. So, while Couples might not talk much, when he does, Woods listens.

While figuring out the pairings is important for the first three days, it’s essential in the final round with singles matches. The captain has to look at his players and their players and say to himself, my guy can beat his guy if it’s these two facing off. Sometimes, a player just has the other player’s number on the course, like Phil Mickelson could beat Tiger Woods from time to time. Not week in and week out, but in a head-to-head deal, it somehow elevated Mickelson’s game.

Next. The 2019 Presidents Cup: A data-based scouting report. dark

If it should be close at the end of the third day, then the final round singles matches will be even more important. Will they front-load the players, putting whose who have played the best out first? Will they save the big guns for the end? The answers can make the difference between winning and losing the Presidents Cup.

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