CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | Determined to strike while the 7-iron is hot, the PGA Tour brought Davis Love III and Trevor Immelman to Charlotte last week to begin beating the Presidents Cup drum one year in advance of its 2022 renewal at the Quail Hollow Club even as the United States’ dominating Ryder Cup performance still rippled across the land.
Captains Love and Immelman had fireside chats with members of the media (though they sat in a toasty late summer sun), visited with club members and greeted corporate partners while gently extolling the benefits of hospitality venues. They also made a whirlwind tour of Charlotte’s uptown business district, driving Presidents Cup carts down busy streets and posing for photos with Hugo the Hornet, mascot of the city’s NBA team.
The photo ops were perfect for promoting the event even if local social media was aflutter with a brilliant viral photo of Mick Jagger – yes, that Mick Jagger – sipping a beer at a Charlotte bar late one evening, the Rolling Stones’ front man unrecognized by anyone including a group of people five feet away who would attend the Stones’ show the next night.
For Immelman, who will captain an International team that has won just one of the 13 previous Presidents Cups, he is faced with game-planning to beat an American team that suddenly looks as imposing as the 1985 Chicago Bears.
It’s not a stretch to think at least nine of the 12 American players at Whistling Straits will tee it up at Quail Hollow and perhaps again in the Rome Ryder Cup in 2023.
Immelman – like many others – believes a new day has dawned for American golf.
“These younger guys, first of all they are just damn good and they have been since they first stepped onto the PGA Tour,” said Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion who stays connected to the tour through his television work. Having that much talent sure does help.
“When they were younger, sitting at home watching Ryder Cups, I think they frankly got tired of seeing the American team lose. They seem to have made some kind of pact with themselves that, ‘We are going to change that,’ and they have.
“Last week’s performance was complete. One of the things I found quite interesting is they didn’t seem as if they wanted to take their foot off the gas on Sunday. They wanted to run up that scoreboard and score as many points as possible to send a message. I have a lot of respect for that as a competitor myself.”
The average age of the American team at Whistling Straits was just older than 29 – six years younger on average than the European side. At 37, Dustin Johnson was the old man of the team and he went 5-0.
It’s a group that has personality. Swagger. An aggressive ethos.
It’s true that Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau offered to play together. Love, who served as one of Steve Stricker’s vice captains, had dinner with them twice and knew immediately they were on the same page.
It’s easy to see those things in the aftermath of the biggest Ryder Cup victory since Europe joined the contest. Everybody is smiling when they win.
It goes deeper than that, however.
“They are really, really confident is a nice way to say it, ... These guys just think they’re going to win every time they play.”
DAVIS LOVE III
Love has been in a lot of team rooms. He played on 12 Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, he captained two Ryder Cup teams and he’s been a vice captain multiple times. He remembers what it was like to be a youngster with Fred Couples and others in team rooms, playing Jenga and being told to go to bed because they had early tee times the next morning.
He’s seen how different this group is and, in a sense, he is inheriting a fortune.
“They are really, really confident is a nice way to say it,” Love said. “(Sports psychologist Dr. Bob) Rotella always said you know you’re going to win, you just don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Are you going to birdie the first couple of holes or are you going to birdie the last couple of holes? He always tried to set you up to believe that you were going to win but let’s don’t get wrapped up in how it’s going to happen.
“These guys just think they’re going to win every time they play.”
Here is how things were different at the Ryder Cup:
Captain Stricker had a detailed plan and didn’t deviate from it. Players knew who they were practicing with and which matches they would play.
“We won the first session 3-1 in Paris (in 2018) but we had issues,” said Love, citing various players who were not on form in Paris. “We jumbled the pairings in the afternoon. We didn’t know what we were going to do for Saturday.
“This team, all you had to do was show them to their tee times and they were going to roll.”
Another difference: preparation and practice were the priorities rather than social events and time in the team room. Love remembered Zach Johnson having to cut short his putting practice at the 2010 Ryder Cup to put on his tuxedo for a dinner.
When Love was captain in 2012, he made sure players had an extra hour of practice time. This year, they had an extra three hours of practice time every day and they used it.
Some used it for physical therapy. Some used it for rest. Some used it to chip and putt.
There was a gym at the hotel where the American team was staying and another workout area at Whistling Straits.
Once the competition arrived, the only team meetings were brief gatherings at the course after play concluded for the day. While Stricker and his vice captains stayed at the course together for media duties and to get a shared escort through traffic to the hotel, the players were sent on their way.
“Steve did so many things differently from ’17” when he captained the Presidents Cup team, Love said. “It’s incredible. Where are the team meetings? What about this and that? He said, ‘I’ve got it.’
“By the time we got back, they all were in bed. One night it was only X-man (Schauffele) and Brooks (Koepka) still up. One night it was only Brooks and he was working out.
“Dustin on Sunday morning, he’s down at 6:30 and he’s bopping around and he said, ‘Hey I was in bed at 9.’ People wouldn’t believe that. You would think it’s party, party, party.”
DJ did party on Sunday, perhaps leading the charge in that regard. Until then, it was quiet.
“We have this big, gorgeous team room and I’d walk in and wonder, ‘Where is everybody?’ ” Love said. “This time there was a bar. Nobody went to it until Sunday. Well, some of the captains might have when the players went to bed. It’s incredible how disciplined they are.
“Freddie and I are just sitting back thinking we’re old. They do it differently than we did so we have to adapt to give them what they need.”
Love recalls a longtime PGA of America official asking him two days before the Ryder Cup matches began if the United States was going to win. Usually, the person was more concerned with getting the players where they needed to be on time.
“I think we’re going to win,” Love answered, struck by the question because he’d not heard it before from this person.
That’s how things were different this time.
On Saturday night, the same person asked Love the same question.
“We’re going to win,” Love answered.
They may just be getting started.
Top: Scottie Scheffler, Davis Love III and Bryson DeChambeau
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