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 might be given the reins to find out what the 2026 Presidents Cup will appear like. What adjustments, 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 convey 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 faux robust guys deleting tweets. Clearly LIV golfers can be welcomed again; it makes zero sense to ban the most well-liked participant within the recreation, Bryson DeChambeau, and a few of 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 eliminate Cantlay? I can’t ever help a group he’s on. @pcmancini
However the reply above, we can’t. And, truly, it’s a superb 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: “A fantastic vampire squid wrapped across the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into something that smells like cash.” OK, perhaps that’s a little bit harsh however Cantlay is likely one of the key obstructions within the neverending PIF-Tour negotiations and due to this fact partially accountable for the sport remaining damaged. He stays bitter that he turned down a $75-million provide 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 desire he stick with the headset reasonably than have a putter in hand at Bethpage. Ideas on Keegan as enjoying captain? @jackback24
Yeah, Bradley was bleeding to demise on the finish of his singles match versus a recreation Hideki Matsuyama however let’s not overlook 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 recreation is so sturdy he stays a menace. If he’s an automated qualifier for the Ryder Cup, he will definitely tee it up however I feel this Prez Cup made it apparent he ought to have a restricted function, maybe one fourball session after which sit himself till singles, when there are not any extra selections to be made.Â
Can Tom Kim count on some destructive 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 critically 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 attempting to know 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 demise blow to their confidence and Weir additionally pressured 5 of his gamers to play all 5 matches. Their flagging vitality on Saturday afternoon and into Sunday killed any probability of an Worldwide comeback. You may’t underestimate the Canada issue right here, as three of the eight gamers Weir rode so laborious on Saturday are fellow Canucks he chosen as captain’s picks. He was giving the house crowd what they needed and the fun 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 nevertheless it 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 finest group.  @GaryDaly
There isn’t 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. a much bigger increase than the Internationals subbing in Joaco Niemann and Cam Smith for any of the lesser Internationals. Smith and Niemann definitely have extra aptitude and extra field workplace than, say, Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, however the superior metrics don’t recommend they’d 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 truthfully 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 surroundings for the reason that Conflict by the Shore in 1991. Within the final 20 years, just one highway group has prevailed: Europe, with its epic comeback at Medinah in 2012. The core of the U.S. group 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 highway win within the Ryder Cup as one of many issues they covet most within the recreation. Irrespective of how the groups shake out, it’s going to be an unimaginable 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. might miss out on the firepower of DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. (Different LIV golfers who would probably be within the combine embrace Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia and even Dustin Johnson, who, lest all of us overlook, went 5-0 on the final Ryder Cup he performed in and I feel 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 truthfully suppose Rahm isn’t going to be at Bethpage!? @pocketaces718
He’ll be there. Notice 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’d guess the farm that the Tour will wait one other few weeks to cope with the enchantment, permitting Rahm to play within the Alfred Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship and the Andalucia Masters. That may 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 more likely to lose his enchantment, which means that to truly compete at Bethpage the fines should be paid. LIV will truly cough up the cash however for Rahm, a proud and cussed persona, it’s a matter of precept. He’s offended that after years of supporting the Euro Tour it could deign to impose sanctions on him. However Rahm loves the Ryder Cup and is aware of his group wants him and that it could be an enormous black mark on his profession if he doesn’t play, seemingly dooming Europe to defeat over a pissy bureaucratic dispute. Finally, I consider he’ll again down, the fines will quietly receives a commission and he’ll be a load at Bethpage.Â
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 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 alter that. (There’s principally 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 state of affairs of including feminine execs to the Presidents Cup, what in regards to the European ladies – would they be endlessly neglected? When 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 very best PGA Tour and LPGA gamers; the Scandinavian Blended for his or her Euro counterparts; the Sandbelt Invitational, wherein 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 blended 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 like the sport it appears to by no means finish. @HighFades
It was once totally 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 a lot better off if the schedule shrank by a minimum of a 3rd.
Have you ever thought of donating your eyebrows to charity? @scottgolfs
Unsure any NGO is provided for such a big donation.
Prime Picture Caption: Patrick Cantlay celebrates a dramatic win through the Presidents Cup final weekend. (GETTY IMAGES/Harry How)
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