Presidents Cup: Four Factors for an International team upset

It’d be a bald-faced lie to try to make the case that the Internationals have more talent than the Americans.

But it’s also golf, and crazy things happen all the time.

Only eight of 12 team members play per session, so if you can find a few hot players, that can go a long way.

Both teams are led by a first-time captain. Tiger Woods is a playing captain who I envision being drained by week’s end, especially if it comes down to the wire.

He played across the world last week at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, and now is running the show in a team setting where he has underwhelmed throughout his career in relation to his individual success.

Ernie Els takes over as International captain for Nick Price, who held the position three straight times.

While Woods commands plenty of respect for his career, Els also commands it for who he is as a person. I think his players will want to genuinely play for him. He’ll be able to get a better pulse for his team than I think Woods can.

Els is a man of integrity, but he’s not above using some gamesmanship with course setup. I’ll think he’ll look to make things tough on the Americans and will get input from his players.

It’s always fun to be the underdog, too. He’ll rally his troops by telling them no one believes in them.