On this addition of Ask Alan, our Alan Shipnuck takes reader questions within the aftermath of the U.S. beating the Internationals within the Presidents Cup, 18.5-11.5.
You’re given the reins to find out what the 2026 Presidents Cup will appear like. What modifications, if any, would you make? @DREAMWeaver2784
I’m going to start out by shifting the occasion to TPC Sawgrass. It’s the final word risk-reward course and can be bonkers in match play. Subsequent, I’m going to have captains who deliver precise juice: Phil Mickelson for the U.S. and Greg Norman for the Internationals. Sufficient with the vanilla good guys! This occasion wants some actual animosity, not the pretend robust guys deleting tweets. Clearly LIV golfers can be welcomed again; it makes zero sense to ban the preferred participant within the sport, Bryson DeChambeau, and among the greatest stars in worldwide golf. I like 4 rounds of golf—hey, my Thursdays are boring in any other case—however the format will get very redundant so I’m mixing in a single session of worst-ball scramble and one session of Wolf Hammer. Malbon will do uniforms for each groups. And I’m banning Patrick Cantlay just because his constipated visage is dangerous TV.
Can we do away with Cantlay? I can not ever help a workforce he’s on. @pcmancini
However the reply above, we can not. And, really, it’s factor: he’s the one antihero left on the PGA Tour. It’s too dangerous Cantlay is now not endorsing Goldman Sachs as a result of Cantlay jogs my memory of Matt Taibbi’s well-known description of Goldman: “An awesome vampire squid wrapped across the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into something that smells like cash.” OK, perhaps that’s a bit of harsh however Cantlay is likely one of the key obstructions within the neverending PIF-Tour negotiations and subsequently partially liable for the sport remaining damaged. He stays bitter that he turned down a $75-million supply from LIV and is now exacting his pound of flesh. However props to Cantlay as a result of he has been the U.S.’s grittiest participant on the final two Cups, Ryder and Presidents. He provides spice to the entire thing, even when it’s pungent.
I’m all for the Keegan redemption, as he received screwed two years in the past. However after these three putts to WIN the Pres. Cup, none of which had been all that shut, I’d choose he follow the headset somewhat than have a putter in hand at Bethpage. Ideas on Keegan as enjoying captain? @jackback24
Yeah, Bradley was bleeding to loss of life on the finish of his singles match versus a sport Si Woo Kim however let’s not neglect Keegan managed to win the match for his second full level of the week. Placing is at all times going to be a weak point however the remainder of his sport is so sturdy he stays a risk. If he’s an automated qualifier for the Ryder Cup, he will definitely tee it up however I believe this Prez Cup made it apparent he ought to have a restricted position, maybe one fourball session after which sit himself till singles, when there aren’t any extra selections to be made.
Can Tom Kim anticipate some unfavourable response from American crowds at future common PGA Tour occasions because of his antics this week? #askalan @deskeenan65
Kim jogs my memory of my pooch Monty, who likes to bark at supply males … however the one time the Amazon man unintentionally pushed open the entrance door, the canine hid behind the sofa. Nobody is taking Kim’s antics severely sufficient to be genuinely postpone. The Presidents Cup is an leisure product and Kim made the entire thing extra fascinating, which was badly wanted. He’s just too innocent for there to be any lingering dangerous blood.
Nonetheless scratching my few follicles making an attempt to grasp Weir’s Saturday pairings. Your ideas? @colmburke
Weir sending out the very same groups for the afternoon session after they received smoked within the morning is among the many most head-scratching issues I’ve seen in three many years of protecting the Presidents Cup. The three-1 loss within the afternoon session doomed the Internationals to an insurmountable deficit however had different knockdown results. Benching 4 guys the day earlier than singles is a loss of life blow to their confidence and Weir additionally compelled 5 of his gamers to play all 5 matches. Their flagging vitality on Saturday afternoon and into Sunday killed any likelihood of an Worldwide comeback. You’ll be able to’t underestimate the Canada issue right here, as three of the eight gamers Weir rode so arduous on Saturday are fellow Canucks he chosen as captain’s picks. He was giving the house crowd what they wished and the joys of a lifetime to gamers he has mentored. The Internationals had been so outmanned they had been going to lose this Cup it doesn’t matter what the captains did but it surely does really feel like Weir’s quizzical decision-making robbed us of a extra aggressive occasion.
… and the very fact the Internationals had been refused the power to pick out their greatest workforce. @GaryDaly
There is no such thing as a query right here so I’ll merely say that, per Strokes Gained numbers, changing Max Homa with Bryson DeChambeau would have given the U.S. an even bigger increase than the Internationals subbing in Joaco Niemann and Cam Smith for any of the lesser Internationals. Smith and Niemann actually have extra aptitude and extra field workplace than, say, Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, however the superior metrics don’t counsel they might have been game-changers.
Are you able to consider a extra extremely anticipated Ryder Cup in recent times? @leaderboardco
Yeah, Bethpage goes to be immense. I actually hope no alcohol is served so the Noo Yawk crowd doesn’t get completely uncontrolled. Both manner, it guarantees to be probably the most overheated atmosphere because the Conflict by the Shore in 1991. Within the final twenty years, just one street workforce has prevailed: Europe, with its epic comeback at Medinah in 2012. The core of the U.S. workforce is so sturdy and all of those gamers know the Individuals’ mettle is in query after pathetic performances at two of the final three Cups. In the meantime, Europe has reloaded with superior younger expertise. Gamers from Rory McIlroy to Jordan Spieth have talked a few street win within the Ryder Cup as one of many issues they covet most within the sport. Irrespective of how the groups shake out, it’s going to be an unbelievable Cup. However, as at all times, the tour wars hangs over all of this, as Europe can be badly diminished with out Jon Rahm and the U.S. may miss out on the firepower of DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. (Different LIV golfers who would doubtlessly be within the combine embrace Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia and even Dustin Johnson, who, lest all of us neglect, went 5-0 on the final Ryder Cup he performed in and I believe is due for one final gasp within the majors, which might bolster his candidacy.) However the Ryder Cup is larger than any of the gamers and Bethpage goes to be a corker.
Do you actually suppose Rahm isn’t going to be at Bethpage!? @pocketaces718
He’ll be there. Be aware that the European Tour is taking its candy time to listen to Rahm’s enchantment on the unpaid fines that might have prevented him, as a LIV loyalist, from competing in Euro Tour occasions. I might wager the farm that the Tour will wait one other few weeks to take care of the enchantment, permitting Rahm to play within the Alfred Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship and the Andalucia Masters. That will give him the required minimal of 4 begins this season on the Euro Tour to retain his membership and be eligible for subsequent yr’s Ryder Cup. In fact, Rahm may be very prone to lose his enchantment, which means that to truly compete at Bethpage the fines must be paid. LIV will really cough up the cash however for Rahm, a proud and cussed character, it’s a matter of precept. He’s offended that after years of supporting the Euro Tour it will deign to impose sanctions on him. However Rahm loves the Ryder Cup and is aware of his workforce wants him and that it will be an enormous black mark on his profession if he doesn’t play, probably dooming Europe to defeat over a pissy bureaucratic dispute. Finally, I imagine he’ll again down, the fines will quietly receives a commission and he’ll be a load at Bethpage.
What do you concentrate on the thought of including LPGA gamers to the Presidents Cup groups sooner or later? @GothGolfGirl
This comes up round each Presidents Cup and naturally I really like the thought, as a result of, as constructed, the Prez will at all times be second fiddle to the Ryder Cup and it’ll take a radical rethink to vary that. (There’s mainly zero public outcry to mess with the Ryder Cup format, regardless of 5 straight lopsided outcomes.) However the Prez Cup is likely one of the PGA Tour’s crown jewels and the lords of Ponte Vedra don’t need their gamers to share the stage. Within the situation of including feminine execs to the Presidents Cup, what concerning the European girls – would they be endlessly ignored? In case you do add them, the entire nationalistic taste of the competitors will get more and more muddled. We now have the Grant Thornton Invitational, bringing collectively the perfect PGA Tour and LPGA gamers; the Scandinavian Blended for his or her Euro counterparts; the Sandbelt Invitational, through which Aussie women and men play collectively, and the Pebble Seashore Invitational, a enjoyable low season occasion the place female and male execs compete on the identical leaderboard. The final decade has been a growth time for combined tournaments however I don’t suppose it’s ever going to occur at a Cup.
Really feel like golf desperately wants an offseason. There’s by no means any construct up. As a lot as I really like the sport it appears to by no means finish. @HighFades
It was once completely different. I bear in mind Mickelson at a long-ago PGA Championship in August ending a press convention by telling reporters he’d see them subsequent at Torrey Pines … which was 5 months away. The FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai and Fall Season has modified all of that and never for the higher. That is one factor LIV has gotten proper: much less is extra. The Tour can be significantly better off if the schedule shrank by at the very least a 3rd.
Have you ever thought of donating your eyebrows to charity? @scottgolfs
Undecided any NGO is supplied for such a big donation.
Prime Picture Caption: Patrick Cantlay celebrates a dramatic win in the course of the Presidents Cup final weekend. (GETTY IMAGES/Harry How)
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