Note to U.S. Presidents Cup team captain Davis Love III: Make it easy on yourself.
Go ahead and pencil Kevin Kisner in as one of the 12 players on your team in September at Quail Hollow Club whether he’s an automatic qualifier or one of your six captain’s choices.
Kisner didn’t win the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, perhaps only because he ran into the hottest player in the world at the moment – newly No. 1 Scottie Scheffler – who denied Kisner a second title at Austin (Texas) Country Club.
What’s that old saying: It’s not the size of the dog in a fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog?
Kisner could wear that like one more logo on his shirt. He’s a match-play master because he doesn’t give many holes away and he plays to his strengths, which means holing enough putts to make his opponents shake their heads.
“Annoying” is how Kisner describes what it’s like to face him in match play.
Adam Scott found out in pool play when he had Kisner 3 down with four holes to play, only to see Kisner win the last four holes to flip the match. Kisner was 1 down to Corey Conners through 13 holes in their semifinal match and mounted another comeback to reach the final in this event for the third time.
Needing one more round of holing putts, Kisner couldn’t make it happen in the loss to Scheffler.
What is it that Kisner has that fits match play?
“I love that grind. I love being in that moment. I love having the ball in my hand trying to grind it out, and I feel like I have an advantage when it’s going that way,” said Kisner, who has a 22-7-1 record in the WGC-Match Play at Austin Country Club.
For all of his success in the format, Kisner has played on only one Presidents Cup team, and he’s yet to make a Ryder Cup team. When Kisner won the Wyndham Championship last August in the final weeks before Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker made his picks, the conversation started again, but Kisner didn’t play well in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
By his own admission, Kisner – who ranks 170th in driving distance – isn’t suited for every course, particularly some of the bigger ones.
“I say it all the time: If we're playing at Bethpage, you can leave me at home,” Kisner said, referencing the site of the 2025 Ryder Cup.
What about Quail Hollow, a place where Kisner has played dozens of times through the years and where he led the 2017 PGA Championship entering the final round?
“I can play there,” Kisner said.
Is this Kisner’s year?
“Who knows, man? We'll see,” Kisner said Sunday afternoon.
“I've got to play well leading up to it. I haven't done that. I was close to getting a pick (last fall), and I just didn't earn my way on the team. Looking forward to that opportunity.”
Ron Green Jr.