It was not particularly surprising to see the Presidents Cup come in for criticism after USA secured yet another reasonably comfortable victory at Royal Montreal to secure their 13th win in the event.
There was plenty of excitement heading into the Presidents Cup, with the Internationals appearing to make strides forward over the past two years. There seemed to be nothing like the same levels of upheaval which left Trevor Immelman with a monumental job at Quail Hollow in 2022.
And it did seem that Mike Weir‘s men were ready to give the US a good game after winning the second session 5-0 after losing the opening day by the same scoreline. Unfortunately, that proved to be as good as it got for the Internationals. Jim Furyk‘s side would win 13.5-6.5 over the final two days to get across the line.
Some believe the PGA Tour need to make changes to the Presidents Cup to ensure that fans do not lose interest. It is surely harder to argue that the Internationals are making enough progress after what happened in Montreal.
Billy Horschel backs the Internationals for future Presidents Cup success
Billy Horschel was one of the players who was unlucky to miss out on making Furyk’s team. Some felt Furyk should have picked Horschel ahead of Keegan Bradley, and his win at the BMW PGA Championship certainly seemed to send a message to the captain.
Horschel was part of the American side which won in 2022. And ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this week, the 37-year-old was asked how he sees the competition playing out in the next nine editions – and he predicted a promising spell for the Internationals.
“Well, history has shown us early in these competition, one side is dominant for a while. We’ve seen that in the Walker Cup and The Ryder Cup. Obviously changes were made to allow the European players to come and join on the Ryder Cup side. I believe in the Walker Cup, no changes were made there. GB&I still stayed,” he said.
“But nine years from now, I do believe the International side will have won it probably two or three times by then. I do believe the quality of players on International side is getting better. I do believe you need someone like a Tom Kim to change things. Tom Kim could be the Severiano Ballesteros for the Internationals with the passion he shows and the way he plays and everything, he’s carried that team emotionally the last two Presidents Cups.
“And now, be able to improve the talent and improve the consistency of the International side in the sense of players, then you’re going to get victories, and I do believe – I say it’s a matter of time, but I do believe over the next nine Presidents Cups, if nothing’s changed in the sense of players, I do believe they are going to win a couple times, two, three, maybe four times possibly because I do believe that side is getting stronger and they are making the necessary changes to get themselves a better chance of winning.”
How the Internationals may be able to end losing run
This year did not need to see the Internationals winning to provide more reason for optimism. What was so exciting about Quail Hollow was how the Internationals were dealt so many blows but still gave USA a good scare. And it really felt as though they were not incredibly far away.
Unfortunately, what happened at Royal Montreal felt like a step backwards. Admittedly, USA won six games on the 18th green throughout the week, but there was rarely a stage on Sunday where it appeared that a comeback may be possible.
Much may depend on whether an agreement is reached for those who jumped to LIV Golf to return to the event. It would obviously boost the Internationals’ hopes if they had the likes of Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann available to them – as long as it does not upset the amazing team atmosphere they have created.
Meanwhile, those involved last week will hopefully use criticism of the event as fuel to inspire them at Medinah.
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