CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | Flanked on both sides by the players and vice captains on his International Presidents Cup team early Sunday evening, the disappointment of a 17½-12½ loss to the United States still raw, captain Trevor Immelman had more to say than “thank you.”
“This team is no joke. I’m sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke,” Immelman said.
“We love this event and we love our team and we can’t wait to run this back and have another shot. … We are here for the long run in this event. We’re going to win this event.”
This Presidents Cup in particular was always going to be a long shot for the International side. There’s a reason the Internationals have won just one of 14 Presidents Cups, and the challenge became monumental this year with the loss of multiple key players to LIV Golf.
It was Immelman’s way of telling dismissive critics of his squad that the joke was on them.
It didn’t look that way Friday evening at Quail Hollow Club when the International side was staring at an 8-2 deficit and the possibility of being mathematically eliminated if Saturday’s eight matches went sideways.
Instead, they rallied in the afternoon, found an emotional center in 20-year-old Tom Kim and arrived Sunday believing they could win. For a time, the Americans seemed to be losing ground, but the deficit was too big for Immelman’s team.
Three years ago at Royal Melbourne, the Internationals took a two-point lead into the Sunday singles, only to get run down again. This was different but not in every way.
“If you don't win, and that's what we came here to do, there's that disappointment,” said Adam Scott, who has never won in 10 Presidents Cup appearances.
“And I guess the disappointment can differ slightly. We were up against it. We put ourselves in a hole here this week. In Melbourne, we were much more in control.
“It still hurts not to win. I think the big difference I felt the last couple years is what's going on in our team room, what's going on between the captains and the players, the caddies, everybody involved on our team. I think good things are really starting to happen in that environment.”
What’s happening internally is a recurring theme with the International team, and U.S. captain Davis Love III praised the ongoing evolution. Talking to his team Saturday night, their momentum having stalled, Love emphasized the challenge of the final day.
Si Woo Kim took down Justin Thomas in the first singles match that had some edge to it. Sebastian Muñoz beat world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
“I think all of us experienced something that we haven't quite experienced at this point unless we have been in contention in a major,” said Cam Davis, one of eight International team rookies. “I think a lot of us younger guys are trying to get as many of those experiences as we can, and this is just a massive stepping stone in learning about yourself.
“You're in a high-pressure situation, four days in a row, and you're learning a lot about yourself. I think we learned a lot of really good things about ourselves to take forward because this was awesome.”
Ron Green Jr.