Since its inception in 1994, the biennial Presidents Cup competition, which matches a team of 12 golfers from the United States against a dozen from an International team, has been as lopsided as a broken jaw. That has been the figurative parting gift for International teams, which have not won since 1998.
U.S. team members, from left, Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, open Presidents Cup play Thursday.
The familiar winning formula — jump to an early lead in opening-day foursomes and ride it to victory — has worked well in the United States team’s 5-1-1 domination. And by most statistical formulations, the Americans are an overwhelming favorite to continue their mastery when the two sides meet in the eighth Presidents Cup starting Thursday at Harding Park Golf Course.
Eight players from the United States team that defeated the favored European team in the 2008 Ryder Cup are on the squad. Tiger Woods, who missed that Ryder Cup while recovering from knee surgery, is on form. Phil Mickelson is coming off a win two weeks ago in the Tour Championship. And eight members of the team have won this year.
But could a Presidents Cup change be riding in like the fog that slithered ashore off the San Francisco Bay on Wednesday afternoon? Some feel strongly that it can. The International team captain, Greg Norman, has been telling his team all week that it can, and some of his confidence seems to be rubbing off.
“If you see our team get out front early, they could be dangerous,” said the International team assistant captain, Frank Nobilo, a three-time Presidents Cup competitor. “If we can get out to a quick start, it could be the confidence boost we need.”
The Presidents Cup lacks the pressure, the history and the extraordinarily intense rivalry of the Ryder Cup, which was first played in 1927. But the International team appears ready to at least ratchet up the intensity. Even the Colombian “rookie” on this year’s team, Camilo Villegas, got into the act this week, talking about wanting to turn the tide.
The only team match-play experience Villegas, 27, has had came in college at theUniversity of Florida and in the South American Championship in which he played for Colombia. But he has been inspired by the camaraderie this week and looks forward to playing for all of South America when he teams with the reigning Masters champion,Ángel Cabrera of Argentina, against Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson in foursomes on Thursday.
“I walk in my room Sunday night, I look at all of the uniforms, and all of a sudden it’s memories of kind of college golf and the South American Championship,” Villegas said. “And trust me, I’ve got a lot of good memories. So I think it’s time to step it up and add some more good memories about team golf and team competition.
“It’s a new year, it’s a new tournament,” Villegas said. “Why are we going to keep thinking about the past? You know what, there’s going to be a lot of people rooting for us, and we will be giving our best to play as good as we can and have a good outcome and keep growing the game of golf in South America, keep motivating those kids that are coming up.”
Among other intangibles that could align for the International team: the golf course, Harding Park, is a compact, classic layout that is familiar to most of the International players. And San Francisco has a huge international population that could lessen the home-course advantage for the United States.
The three International rookies, Villegas, Y. E. Yang and the 18-year-old phenom Ryo Ishikawa, do not have any of the scar tissue from losing in match play. Ishikawa has been practicing well and will go under the gun early in foursomes paired with Geoff Ogilvy and playing against Woods and Steve Stricker.
Far from being cowed by the pairing, Ishikawa said he was looking forward to playing against Woods. Yang, who defeated Woods down the stretch at the P.G.A. Championship at Hazeltine in August, has also practiced well this week. He and Retief Goosen will take on Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard.
Relaxed and ready, the United States team has been enjoying itself all week, bonding in the team room, playing table tennis and pool and hanging out with the honorary assistant captain, Michael Jordan, the golf fanatic and retired N.B.A. star who was recruited by the team’s captain, Fred Couples.
Whether the relaxed United States team can keep its edge against a fired-up International squad, whether it can come out and blitz the Internationals in the foursomes as it did in 2007 at Montreal — when it went out to a 5 ½- ½ lead on Day 1 and won the Saturday foursomes, 5-0 — will go a long way toward telling whether it can keep its winning streak alive.
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