Scottie Scheffler has gained *every little thing* in 2024, however the Presidents Cup presents a special form of check.
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Scottie Scheffler has all of the solutions.
That’s the large distinction between final 12 months, when he was one of the best golfer on the planet with out the resume, and this 12 months, when he was each. Turning into a head-and-shoulders World No. 1, discovering glory on the Masters and Olympics, incomes $62 million in a calendar 12 months — these are all issues that preclude you from going through the nagging existential queries that plague nearly each different golfer alive.
And but, that’s the humorous factor about golf: you by no means have all of it discovered. That’s how Scheffler arrives in Montreal going through probably the most in depth set of questions of any participant on this week’s Presidents Cup area, regardless of being solely weeks faraway from finishing probably the most profitable seasons of any golfer ever.
Questions like: can nice golfers be nice group play opponents? And in addition: what occurred to Scheffler on Workforce USA in ’22 and ’23?
Match play is a fickle foe, however match play occasions are satisfying of their readability. Those that carry out effectively can look to the Presidents or Ryder Cup as validation of an entire 12 months’s price of labor; those that carry out poorly will be pressured to wrestle with the alternative.
Scheffler will probably be safely exempt from these extremes this week in Montreal, however he’ll face questions — and stress — greater than simply his physique of labor. And as we glance into the gamers below probably the most stress at Royal Montreal, he’s the place we start.
6 gamers below probably the most Presidents Cup stress
1. Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler’s ascendant 2024 season reached heights untouched since Tiger Woods. Now he will probably be relied upon to raise his teammates, too. That’s an enormous ask for anybody, however it’s a much bigger ask for Scheffler, whose lone resume blemish by means of 4 years on the PGA Tour has are available in group occasions.
Ever since his undefeated Ryder Cup introduction in Whistling Straits, Scheffler’s group play outcomes have gone sideways. He’s 0-5-3 — winless — in two group play begins since.
There are legitimate excuses for his poor play: he entered Quail Hole in ’22 ice-cold after among the solely missed cuts of his skilled profession, and was removed from the lone U.S. offender within the mollywhopping in Rome.
However these excuses are gone now, and the reality is easy: If the U.S. is to turn out to be a perennial powerhouse in these occasions, they want Scheffler as the anchor of the group, not an anchor. We’ll discover out this week if he’s as much as it.
2. The Worldwide Workforce
There are a couple of offensively overwrought Presidents Cup storylines, however none greater than the suggestion the Internationals want a win to convey some legitimacy to the occasion. There are far greater points plaguing the legitimacy of the Presidents Cup than its lopsided win-loss totals, like, for instance, the problem of a lot of one of the best expertise on the Worldwide aspect enjoying for a rival skilled tour. An Worldwide win gained’t change these details any greater than a heaping serving of poutine will change my BMI — quickly.
Whereas I wouldn’t anticipate the Internationals to point out as much as the celebration with washboard abs, I do anticipate them to point out us they’ve been consuming their greens. The final two iterations of the occasion — Australia in ’19 and North Carolina in ’22 — have introduced out surprisingly aggressive and cohesive Worldwide sides, and I’d argue the stress is on captain Mike Weir to reply the bell once more.
Vegas has the house group as +260 underdogs on Tuesday morning, and a win could be out of attain. However a pesky Worldwide aspect and an electrified Canadian crowd needs to be cheap expectations.
3. Patrick Cantlay
Excellent news for these hoping to keep away from a second-straight 12 months of group golf attire storylines: Patrick Cantlay has confirmed as much as this 12 months’s Presidents Cup carrying a hat.
Whereas a dialogue on the deserves of pay-for-play might need to attend for subsequent 12 months, Cantlay enters this week as probably the most intriguing U.S. storylines.
Patty Ice adopted up probably the most explosive second of his skilled profession final fall in Rome with certainly one of his extra disappointing seasons between the ropes (no wins, 4 top-10s). It’s simple to overlook now, however Cantlay was far and away an important participant on the U.S. aspect final fall. A repeat efficiency would go a good distance towards resetting expectations in ’25.
4. Tom Kim
It was a largely painful 2024 season for Tom Kim. The unabashed star of the final Presidents Cup suffered a couple of crushing defeats — in a playoff on the Vacationers, off the rostrum on the Olympics — and, for the primary time in his skilled profession, no PGA Tour victories.
We all know higher than to discuss with complete seasons purely as profession steps ahead or again, however Kim would do effectively for himself to remind the golf world why he was such an ascendant star after the final Presidents Cup — and why, at simply 22 years outdated, he nonetheless could be.
5. Wyndham Clark
The 2024 season proved a wierd one for Wyndham Clark, the ’23 U.S. Open champ. Statistically, it was top-of-the-line seasons of his profession, with a win at Pebble Seaside in Feburary adopted by a lip-out near-miss on the Gamers in March, and a bunch of different top-10s all through the PGA Tour season. However his recreation appeared to fade because the season wore on, and his struggles multiplied within the majors. He admitted just lately that it took him some time to return to match kind on the Ryder Cup final 12 months, however you’ll be able to guess Wyndham is chomping on the bit to clean the style of ’24 in Montreal.
6. Min Woo Lee
Of all of the group play first-timers, “The Chef” is the one with the largest probability to out himself as a bonafide star in Montreal. Lee, the brother of U.S. Ladies’s Open champ Minjee, has flashed some severe expertise since arriving on the PGA Tour final spring. Maybe simply as importantly, he’s displayed a showman’s sense of the dramatic on a group that has historically rallied round its younger stars.
If the Internationals do make a run in Montreal, anticipate Min Woo to be within the middle of the combo. He normally is.
