Wednesday At The (Mixed) Presidents Cup
Round 1's spectacular Four-ball pairings and USA team drama has the International's excited about the prospects of a Royal Montreal triumph.*
With some juicy day-one matches on the board and predictable Team USA drama, the Presidents Cup kicked into a higher gear thanks to a beautifully over-the-top opening ceremony capped by Montreal native Celine Dion.
In a two-song set, Dion said her neurological disorder prevents golf at this point in her life. But that hasn’t prevented taking inspiration in getting to see most of the world’s best women golfers included to rejuvenate an event she said “she’d never heard of until this year…and I’m a golf fan!”
Dion then reprised her incredible Olympic opening ceremony rendition of Édith Piaf’s Hymne à l'amour.
“I don’t perform much these days but I couldn’t miss this event in my home city that’s bringing together the best in this amazing game,” Dion said to a crowd that also saw performances from Canadian artists Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams and Drake, who each mentioned between songs the pride they took in being part of the groundbreaking matches in their home country.
The PGA Tour’s ingenious mixed-team format switch came into full focus Wednesday after the four Captains and their VC’s sat at the dais to draft Round 1’s matches. The first of five “snake drafts” unveiled what should be sensational first-day battles.
Only Jason Day did not tee it up in the final day of practice as he nursed the Grade 0.5 “hip sprain” back at the team hotel while awaiting the arrival of looser-fitting slacks. Otherwise, Wednesday’s practice round pairings telegraphed the Round 1 Mixed Four-ball pairings.
The match draft got off to a chippy start when Captains Mike Weir and Karrie Webb slow-played their opening pick by taking the entire three minutes allotted. Apparently going for some kind of dramatic effect, Weir announced a long-planned leadoff start for Canadians Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
“Great to see you’re playing as fast as ever, Mike,” chirped USA Captain Jim Furyk. He countered with Nelly Korda and Patrick Cantlay, dashing some hopes of a leadoff combo featuring World No. 1’s Scottie Scheffler and Korda.
Then USA’s co-Captain Stacy Lewis consulted with Furyk and the four Vice Captains before announcing Rose Zhang and Scheffler would go out in the second match. International co-captain Webb then countered with the Japanese duo of Ayaka Furue and Hideki Matsuyama.
Before media officials could slide their names onto the match board, Webb proudly announced New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and fellow Australian Adam Scott as the third match selection.
The pairing of Ko and Scott, apparently surprising a USA staff expecting Day to play, led to extensive USA consultation that included the odd sight of Stewart Cink consulting a two-inch think spiral notebook. Vice Captain Kevin Kisner was seen looking look at his (banned) cell phone, prompting a scolding from PGA Tour rules official Mark Dusbabek who oversaw the draft.
Furyk eventually announced that Keegan Bradley and Lauren Coughlin would face Ko/Scott in a match of (almost) all-thirtysomethings. Furyk pronounced Lauren’s name Cock-land, prompting American VC Morgan Pressel to shut her eyes and look at the floor.
Stacy Lewis then wasted little time announcing southern Californians Lillia Vu and Sahith Theegala for match four, nailing the nuanced pronunciation of Sahith’s first name. The Internationals slow-played things again before Weir handed Vice Captain Se Ri Pak a piece of paper, allowing the five-time major winner to announce the historic Korean duo of Tom Kim and Jin Young Ko.
For the final match-up, Webb took the microphone and cracked her first smile of the week by announcing another long-planned duo: the brother-sister team of Minwoo and Minjee Lee.
After a brief consultation with her fellow Americans, Lewis countered with recent Solheim Cup star Megan Khang and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa.
In post-draft press remarks, the Captains offered little insight. Furyk suggested the USA thought process was a team effort but would remain confidential because their algorithmic assistance was “proprietary.” Weir intimated that the analytics used to form teams would be too complicated for the media to understand, prompting one writer to ask why that was the case when it looked like the Internationals merely went by nationalities to make their pairings.
Then it was off to an impromptu Opening Ceremony added only weeks before the Cup to capitalize on the willingness of top Canadian artists to participate. (In recent Presidents Cups, the PGA Tour-run operation has succumbed to the gripes of players who don’t want to dress up for a ceremony, only offering a 30-minute first tee event before Thursday’s opening tee shots.)
Furyk and Lewis were also in a hurry to avoid uncomfortable questions after Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported the frustration of a male USA player with the decision to require everyone to take one bus to Royal Montreal (instead of arriving in their Genesis courtesy cars). The team bus approach came after Furyk and Lewis heard how the International team bonded on the way in Tuesday. So they asked members of USA’s 75-person support staff to drive the various Genesis courtesy cars so the players could bond on the luxury bus.
What should not have been a big deal apparently turned ugly.
The American women, fresh off a fun week at the Solheim Cup where they stayed loose playing carpool karaoke to and from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, underestimated the crabby ways of—multiple reports say—Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
Earlier in a press conference, Schauffele intimated that it took a live text chain just to get up for matches since the Presidents Cup follows a long year where the hard-working, double-major winner said he hit a post-FedExCup wall.
“Three weeks ago we were playing at East Lake, and I couldn't have been more over golf at that point walking off that 18th green just wanting to not touch clubs for a month and knowing that I needed to compete and get in shape for this,” Schauffele said. “It was a bit of a drag coming back. But as soon as I started golfing again and as soon as our group chats got going, and then as soon as you get on the grounds with the boys and the girls too, as long as they aren’t making me sing Taylor Swift songs, it's so fun.”
Future vintners Schauff-lay reportedly prefer to travel to a course solo whether playing a practice round or in competition. When forced to take the team bus, both opted to put on headphones and drown out singalongs to everything from Swift to Post Malone to Bob Seger (for Furyk and Cink).
Golf Channel’s Lewis says the incident in question occurred when Megan Khang tried to take Cantlay’s noise-canceling headphones off and make him sing along to bond with the team. A weird tug-of-war broke out over his clunky Bose headphones. The bus driver had to pull over until all players were seated again.
After Cantlay and Schauffele exited the bus in a huff, Furyk apologized to Lewis and the American women. An embarrassed Max Homa asked for one more sing-along to lighten the mood. Royal Montreal parking lot attendants said they heard the group sing along to Dua Lipa and Elton John’s Cold Heart.
The AP’s Doug Ferguson later reported that Cantlay sent a group text to the team saying he would appreciate it if everyone respects his “process” and signed it, “Go USA!”
Whether the incident affects team chemistry will soon be found out now that the first mixed Presidents Cup is here.
Enjoy day one!
*Yes, this is fictional. Coverage is somewhat inspired by this week’s Presidents Cup and influenced by hopes of making the event showcase the global sport. Coverage of the actual matches is available across the multiple global golf outlets.
Loving your commitment to the bit ! Let’s keep it going through the weekend.
What an event it would be!