On this addition of Ask Alan, our Alan Shipnuck takes reader questions within the aftermath of the U.S. beating the Internationals within the Presidents Cup, 18.5-11.5.
You’re given the reins to find out what the 2026 Presidents Cup will seem like. What modifications, if any, would you make? @DREAMWeaver2784
I’m going to start out by shifting the occasion to TPC Sawgrass. It’s the last word risk-reward course and could be bonkers in match play. Subsequent, I’m going to have captains who deliver precise juice: Phil Mickelson for the U.S. and Greg Norman for the Internationals. Sufficient with the vanilla good guys! This occasion wants some actual animosity, not the faux powerful guys deleting tweets. Clearly LIV golfers can be welcomed again; it makes zero sense to ban the most well-liked participant within the recreation, Bryson DeChambeau, and a number of the greatest stars in worldwide golf. I like 4 rounds of golf—hey, my Thursdays are boring in any other case—however the format will get very redundant so I’m mixing in a single session of worst-ball scramble and one session of Wolf Hammer. Malbon will do uniforms for each groups. And I’m banning Patrick Cantlay just because his constipated visage is unhealthy TV.
Can we eliminate Cantlay? I can’t ever assist a staff he’s on. @pcmancini
However the reply above, we can’t. And, really, it’s a very good factor: he’s the one antihero left on the PGA Tour. It’s too unhealthy Cantlay is not endorsing Goldman Sachs as a result of Cantlay jogs my memory of Matt Taibbi’s well-known description of Goldman: “An important vampire squid wrapped across the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into something that smells like cash.” OK, perhaps that’s a little bit harsh however Cantlay is likely one of the key obstructions within the neverending PIF-Tour negotiations and subsequently partially chargeable for the sport remaining damaged. He stays bitter that he turned down a $75-million supply from LIV and is now exacting his pound of flesh. However props to Cantlay as a result of he has been the U.S.’s grittiest participant on the final two Cups, Ryder and Presidents. He provides spice to the entire thing, even when it’s pungent.
I’m all for the Keegan redemption, as he acquired screwed two years in the past. However after these three putts to WIN the Pres. Cup, none of which had been all that shut, I’d desire he persist with the headset relatively than have a putter in hand at Bethpage. Ideas on Keegan as taking part in captain? @jackback24
Yeah, Bradley was bleeding to demise on the finish of his singles match versus a recreation Hideki Matsuyama however let’s not overlook Keegan managed to win the match for his second full level of the week. Placing is at all times going to be a weak point however the remainder of his recreation is so sturdy he stays a risk. If he’s an computerized qualifier for the Ryder Cup, he will definitely tee it up however I feel this Prez Cup made it apparent he ought to have a restricted position, maybe one fourball session after which sit himself till singles, when there aren’t any extra selections to be made.
Can Tom Kim count on some unfavorable response from American crowds at future common PGA Tour occasions on account of his antics this week? #askalan @deskeenan65
Kim jogs my memory of my pooch Monty, who likes to bark at supply males … however the one time the Amazon man by chance pushed open the entrance door, the canine hid behind the sofa. Nobody is taking Kim’s antics critically sufficient to be genuinely delay. The Presidents Cup is an leisure product and Kim made the entire thing extra attention-grabbing, which was badly wanted. He’s just too innocent for there to be any lingering unhealthy blood.
Nonetheless scratching my few follicles attempting to know Weir’s Saturday pairings. Your ideas? @colmburke
Weir sending out the very same groups for the afternoon session after they acquired smoked within the morning is among the many most head-scratching issues I’ve seen in three many years of masking the Presidents Cup. The three-1 loss within the afternoon session doomed the Internationals to an insurmountable deficit however had different knockdown results. Benching 4 guys the day earlier than singles is a demise blow to their confidence and Weir additionally compelled 5 of his gamers to play all 5 matches. Their flagging vitality on Saturday afternoon and into Sunday killed any probability of an Worldwide comeback. You may’t underestimate the Canada issue right here, as three of the eight gamers Weir rode so onerous on Saturday are fellow Canucks he chosen as captain’s picks. He was giving the house crowd what they needed and the fun of a lifetime to gamers he has mentored. The Internationals had been so outmanned they had been going to lose this Cup it doesn’t matter what the captains did nevertheless it does really feel like Weir’s quizzical decision-making robbed us of a extra aggressive occasion.
… and the actual fact the Internationals had been refused the power to pick their finest staff. @GaryDaly
There isn’t a query right here so I’ll merely say that, per Strokes Gained numbers, changing Max Homa with Bryson DeChambeau would have given the U.S. a much bigger increase than the Internationals subbing in Joaco Niemann and Cam Smith for any of the lesser Internationals. Smith and Niemann actually have extra aptitude and extra field workplace than, say, Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, however the superior metrics don’t counsel they’d have been game-changers.
Are you able to consider a extra extremely anticipated Ryder Cup lately? @leaderboardco
Yeah, Bethpage goes to be immense. I truthfully hope no alcohol is served so the Noo Yawk crowd doesn’t get completely uncontrolled. Both manner, it guarantees to be essentially the most overheated atmosphere for the reason that Battle by the Shore in 1991. Within the final 20 years, just one highway staff has prevailed: Europe, with its epic comeback at Medinah in 2012. The core of the U.S. staff is so sturdy and all of those gamers know the Individuals’ mettle is in query after pathetic performances at two of the final three Cups. In the meantime, Europe has reloaded with superior younger expertise. Gamers from Rory McIlroy to Jordan Spieth have talked a few highway win within the Ryder Cup as one of many issues they covet most within the recreation. Irrespective of how the groups shake out, it’s going to be an unbelievable Cup. However, as at all times, the tour wars hangs over all of this, as Europe could be badly diminished with out Jon Rahm and the U.S. may miss out on the firepower of DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. (Different LIV golfers who would probably be within the combine embrace Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia and even Dustin Johnson, who, lest all of us overlook, went 5-0 on the final Ryder Cup he performed in and I feel is due for one final gasp within the majors, which might bolster his candidacy.) However the Ryder Cup is larger than any of the gamers and Bethpage goes to be a corker.
Do you truthfully assume Rahm isn’t going to be at Bethpage!? @pocketaces718
He’ll be there. Be aware that the European Tour is taking its candy time to listen to Rahm’s attraction on the unpaid fines that may have prevented him, as a LIV loyalist, from competing in Euro Tour occasions. I might guess the farm that the Tour will wait one other few weeks to cope with the attraction, permitting Rahm to play within the Alfred Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship and the Andalucia Masters. That may give him the required minimal of 4 begins this season on the Euro Tour to retain his membership and be eligible for subsequent yr’s Ryder Cup. In fact, Rahm could be very more likely to lose his attraction, that means that to truly compete at Bethpage the fines must be paid. LIV will really cough up the cash however for Rahm, a proud and cussed persona, it’s a matter of precept. He’s offended that after years of supporting the Euro Tour it might deign to impose sanctions on him. However Rahm loves the Ryder Cup and is aware of his staff wants him and that it might be an enormous black mark on his profession if he doesn’t play, doubtless dooming Europe to defeat over a pissy bureaucratic dispute. Finally, I imagine he’ll again down, the fines will quietly receives a commission and he’ll be a load at Bethpage.
What do you concentrate on the concept of including LPGA gamers to the Presidents Cup groups sooner or later? @GothGolfGirl
This comes up round each Presidents Cup and naturally I like the concept, as a result of, as constructed, the Prez will at all times be second fiddle to the Ryder Cup and it’ll take a radical rethink to vary that. (There’s mainly zero public outcry to mess with the Ryder Cup format, regardless of 5 straight lopsided outcomes.) However the Prez Cup is likely one of the PGA Tour’s crown jewels and the lords of Ponte Vedra don’t need their gamers to share the stage. Within the state of affairs of including feminine execs to the Presidents Cup, what concerning the European ladies – would they be perpetually unnoticed? Should you do add them, the entire nationalistic taste of the competitors will get more and more muddled. We now have the Grant Thornton Invitational, bringing collectively the perfect PGA Tour and LPGA gamers; the Scandinavian Blended for his or her Euro counterparts; the Sandbelt Invitational, by which Aussie women and men play collectively, and the Pebble Seaside Invitational, a enjoyable low season occasion the place female and male execs compete on the identical leaderboard. The final decade has been a increase time for blended tournaments however I don’t assume it’s ever going to occur at a Cup.
Really feel like golf desperately wants an offseason. There’s by no means any construct up. As a lot as I like the sport it appears to by no means finish. @HighFades
It was completely different. I bear in mind Mickelson at a long-ago PGA Championship in August ending a press convention by telling reporters he’d see them subsequent at Torrey Pines … which was 5 months away. The FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai and Fall Season has modified all of that and never for the higher. That is one factor LIV has gotten proper: much less is extra. The Tour could be significantly better off if the schedule shrank by a minimum of a 3rd.
Have you ever thought of donating your eyebrows to charity? @scottgolfs
Undecided any NGO is supplied for such a big donation.
High Picture Caption: Patrick Cantlay celebrates a dramatic win in the course of the Presidents Cup final weekend. (GETTY IMAGES/Harry How)
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