\n
\nCHARLOTTE, N.C.: The American team room at Quail Hollow has photos of winning teams from the Presidents Cup over the years, and it\u2019s a wonder there\u2019s room for all of them.<\/p>\n
\nThe matches began in 1994. The Americans have lost just once.<\/p>\n
\nCaptain Davis Love III would be quick to point out one detail from the most recent picture at Royal Melbourne three years ago: Only four players from that team are at Quail Hollow this week \u2014 Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau.<\/p>\n
\nGo back to the last US victory on home soil, at Liberty National, such a romp it almost ended before Sunday singles. The only players still around from that 2017 team are Thomas and Jordan Spieth.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe come into these things wanting to win every time,\u201d Love said Tuesday. \u201cI tell them, \u2018You don\u2019t have a record.\u2019 This 12 has never competed as a team before. This team understands. They want that picture next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOdds are heavily stacked in their favor they will pose with gold trophy again on Sunday. It\u2019s one thing to have captured the Presidents Cup the last eight meetings against the International team, and 10 out of 12 times (one ended in a tie).<\/p>\n
\nThrow in the LIV Golf factor and this has all the markings of another runaway.<\/p>\n
\nLove has heard this story, too.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019re used to being called the favorite, even when we lose three Ryder Cups in a row,\u201d said Love, who was on six \u201cfavored\u201d teams that didn\u2019t win a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. \u201cStatistically, yes, we have a higher ranked team. But I know a bunch of those young guys on their team, and they\u2019re going to come in with a chip on their shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTuesday was the first full day of practice for the 12-man teams on a Quail Hollow Club course that is familiar to most from hosting the Wells Fargo Championship most years, and the PGA Championship in 2017.<\/p>\n
\nAdding to the confidence for the US team is the Ryder Cup one years ago at Whistling Straits, a 19-9 victory against a European team that was aging and had no support from fans because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.<\/p>\n
\nSeven Americans return from the team. Missing is LIV defector Dustin Johnson. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau went to LIV, too, but both are still making their way back from injury and probably wouldn\u2019t have been on this team, anyway.<\/p>\n
\nThis team is so young that the player with the most Presidents Cup experience is Spieth, who turned 29 this summer and is playing for the fourth time.<\/p>\n
\nHis idea to stay grounded was to compete individually among a team setting.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s almost like we\u2019re all going to compete against each other to get the most points we can on our team. We want the bragging rights on our own team,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if we stay within ourselves, then I don\u2019t think you get overconfident in the entire situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nInternational captain Trevor Immelman had a tougher time with LIV defections, with two top-20 players \u2014 British Open champion Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann \u2014 not announcing their departures for the Saudi-backed league until three weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\nHe has eight Presidents Cup rookies on this team. Only three of them are among the top 25 in the world (all 12 Americans are in the top 25).<\/p>\n
\nBut there\u2019s something about youth and inexperience that has him encouraged.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIf you look at our record in this tournament and you look at our world rankings versus their world rankings, we have absolutely nothing to lose,\u201d Immelman said. \u201cSo we can go out there and play absolutely as free as we want … and see if we can match up with crazy good skills the Americans have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nImmelman is not willing to look back, whether it\u2019s three years ago and the close call at Royal Melbourne or three weeks ago when the last of the players went over to LIV.<\/p>\n
\nHe said all of the players who left \u2014 starting with good friend Louis Oosthuizen in June right up until Smith and Niemann after the Tour Championship \u2014 were in touch with him about their thinking and their decisions. And he said they all knew the ramifications.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI respect those guys making those decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cI also do respect them for keeping me in the loop and making sure that I understand exactly where we\u2019re at at all times so I could try and be as prepared as I could. Am I disappointed that they\u2019re not able to be here? Absolutely.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBut we have the 12 guys here that we love and wanted to be here, and now we get to go. We get to go up against a strong American team. So we\u2019re looking forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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