Ranking and Predicting the 8 Best Players at the 2015 Presidents Cup
The 2015 Presidents Cup—a dessert or appetizer to the Ryder Cup, depending on where you start—stands tall at Incheon, South Korea, for the 11th renewal.
Historically, the United States has dominated the PC, with a record of 8-1-1.
How will the best, or most high-profile, players perform? Right now, the International Team boasts the hottest player in Jason Day, while the United States team has this year’s two-time major winner Jordan Spieth. The Internationals have four major championships among them, and the Americans have 12.
On paper, it would appear the Americans have the edge, but let’s look at recent form and, of course, their respective records in the Presidents Cup.
In most cases, I opted for players who had previous experience in the Presidents Cup. As a result, you won’t see Patrick Reed or Rickie Fowler on this list, potent light sabers though they are.
Read on for rankings and predictions for eight of the best players—four from each team—before they soar across the Pacific Ocean for the last big event of the 2015 season.
8. Adam Scott, International
1 of 8
Presidents Cup Record: 12-15-3
Recent Form: Cut, PGA Championship; T63, Wyndham Championship; Cut, Barclays
The 2013 Masters champ has had, to put it mildly, a down year, but with six appearances in the Presidents Cup, he’s the elder statesman for the non-Americans.
His recent form makes you say, “That’s Adam Scott?” His efforts at the U.S. Open (T4) and The Open Championship (T10) make you say, “That’s Adam Scott.”
It’s hard to back this Aussie against any of the Americans given the Americans’ success in the Presidents Cup and the way Scott has been putting the ball. It’s hard to endorse Scott as a candidate.
In 2014, he ranked 55th on tour in strokes-gained putting. In 2015, he ranked162. He’ll be forced to give up his long putter for a short one in 2016, so perhaps being between putting patterns has hurt him.
Thankfully for Scott, there’s another Aussie on this list who will carry the day.*
*Be sure to tip your servers. I’m here all week.
7. Phil Mickelson, United States
2 of 8
President’s Cup Record: 20-16-11
Recent Form: T18, PGA Championship; T50, The Barclays; T65, Deutsche Bank Championship
Phil Mickelson has crested that unfortunate line where we can safely say his best days are behind him. He didn’t outright qualify for the Presidents Cup team, and Jay Haas had to name him a captain's pick.
“If anyone deserves a pick, it's Phil Mickelson,” Haas said in Rex Hoggard's GolfChannel.com story. “He is without question the leader of our team in the team room, on the golf course. The guys on the team were adamant that Phil is the guy.”
His PC record isn’t great, but his experience can’t be underrated in this part. He doesn’t bring as much game as experience to a team with players like Reed, Fowler and Spieth.
Each of these young players has multiple wins on tour, but with Mickelson as the rudder to the team’s ship, his value when not playing will be every bit as valuable—if not more so—as when he goes head-to-head with the Internationals.
6. Louis Oosthuizen, International
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Presidents Cup Record: 1-3-1
Recent Form: P2, The Open Championship; T42, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational; T12, Deutsche Bank Championship
Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen’s greatest achievement of 2015 came on the back nine at Chambers Bay in the U.S. Open. He shot so many birdies that it was like playing Duck Hunt with a Nintendo Zapper. Six of the final seven holes saw him role in a birdie en route to a back-nine 29.
He parlayed that into another runner-up effort at The Open Championship. His form has trailed off of late, but that doesn’t mean he can’t summon some of that late-round magic he cast at those majors.
What consistently keeps Oosthuizen from going low and winning tournaments is his abominable driving accuracy and putting. He ranks 130th in accuracy and 147th in strokes gained-putting.
If you drive for show and putt for dough, he’s about as pretty as a donkey and poor as a pauper.
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5. Danny Lee, International
4 of 8
Presidents Cup Record: None
Recent Form: T4, Quicken Loans Invitational; T6, Bridgestone Invitational; T30, The Barclays
How many Australian/Kiwi golfers would you be able to name before you landed on Danny Lee? There’s Day, Scott, Steve Bowditch and even Marc Leishman. Then there’s Danny Lee, playing the second-best golf out of all the "Down Unders."
The one strike against Lee is his lack of experience in this kind of match play, but who would bet against a guy who ranks 23rd in strokes gained-putting? Given the way he rolls it, we may hear a lot of “Pick it up” in his rounds.
“Danny can play with anybody on the team, and that's an incredibly important asset to have," Nick Price, the International captain, said in James Henderson's Stuff.co.nz story. "We have a pretty good idea of who will play with who, and Danny is no different. It all comes down to who will play well together and whether they get along. Danny can fit into any pairing in that respect."
Lee, a New Zealander, by way of Seoul, South Korea, is, in a tangential way, the hometown hero for the Internationals and will rise up and have a strong weekend.
4. Jordan Spieth, United States
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Presidents Cup Record: 2-2
Recent Form: 2, PGA Championship; Cut, The Barclays; Cut, Deutsche Bank Championship
Spieth has seen his world ranking go from No. 1 to No. 2 in about the time it takes him to hit a hole-in-one. After finishing in the top four in all four majors—including two wins—anything short of a top five for Spieth seems somehow disappointing. Like, how could he do this to us?
"I'm not aware of the specifics on what Joe sitting on his couch in Montana thinks about my golf game, but I am aware that people...it's just interesting how it's a what-can-you-do-for-me-now kind of [situation] when the spotlight is on," Spieth said in Bob Harig’s ESPN.com story.
So what if he’s been in a relative slump of late? The run he went on in the majors—and in some of the intermingling tournaments—no doubt drained his reserves. Missing back-to-back cuts was the bloodletting he needed as he plays his way through the FedEx Cup playoffs and beyond.
He drops a bit in the rankings here because of his recent form, as compared to others, but that doesn’t mean he won’t come out charging like a longhorn.
When it comes to team play, his game will rise.
3. Dustin Johnson, United States
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Presidents Cup Record: 1-3-1
Recent Form: T7, PGA Championship; T9, The Barclays; T44, Deutsche Bank Championship
Dustin Johnson…who will show? Bruce Banner or the Hulk? Smeagol or Gollum? Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White? Each side to these dichotomous coins has a tactician and someone who gets results.
Johnson has, like the aforementioned fictional characters, two distinct sides. At times he carves his way around golf courses with aplomb and then turns green and smashes too many putts, thus losing tournaments.
D.J. is one of those players you’d rather risk having than wrestle with the alternative because the upside when he’s on outweighs the potential of his downs.
He’ll be up and down at the Presidents Cup, but he’ll likely be up when it matters.
2. Bubba Watson, United States
7 of 8
Presidents Cup Record: 3-2
Recent Form: 2, RBC Canadian Open; 2, Bridgestone Invitational; 3, The Barclays; T29, Deutsche Bank Championship
Bubba Watson’s lone run with the Presidents Cup team in 2011 saw him better his rivals by a count of 3-2, and the way he’s playing of late suggests he will have a say in the United States' positive outcome.
In 17 tournaments in 2015, Watson amassed eight top 10s, including one win and three second-place finishes.
He didn’t perform well in the majors this year, but his play of late suggests a fluidity and lightness that will be a welcome addition to a U.S. team with players as young as 22-year-old Spieth and as old as 45-year-old Mickelson.
Expect a big performance out of Watson.
1. Jason Day, International
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Presidents Cup Record: 4-4-2
Recent Form: Won PGA Championship; Won The Barclays; Won RBC Canadian Open; T12, Deutsche Bank Championship
What more can be said about Day? He’s won three of the past five tournaments and may win a fourth in his sixth (as of this writing he’s leading the BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs).
No golfer is hotter than Day. He got flirtatious with a 59 in the first round at the BMW and is in one of those zones elite players enter when even bad shots taste as good as bacon.
"No matter what you do, even if you hit a bad shot, it's going to be all right," Day said in an ESPN.com story. "That's kind of the way it feels. It's hard to explain because I'm just out there and I'm not really paying attention to the score, and I'm hitting it down the middle and hitting it on the greens and holing putts."
He’s the brightest star the Internationals have and the only chance they stand of beating the Americans.
All stats and information from PGATour.com and PresidentsCup.com.
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