Presidents Cup: Why contest is getting tougher for International team ‘tired of losing’ against Team USA | Golf News

Former major champion Rich Beam discusses Team USA’s yet another dominant victory in the Presidents Cup, what went wrong for the international team at home, and how the USA will translate that success into next year’s Ryder Cup. I’m looking back on how I can make a positive difference…

The Presidents Cup is becoming more competitive, there’s no doubt about it. I think the international team is definitely starting to develop its own identity. This week certainly brought a lot of excitement!

America got off to an incredible start Thursday with a 5-0 win, and then suddenly everyone thought, “Oh my god, this could be over.” The International team then overcame the American side with a clean sweep, but no one saw it coming.

I think Mike Weir lost on Saturday by not mixing up some of the pairs competing in the afternoon foursome. I think it was a mistake and I think he will reflect, but they clearly had a strategy.

It was a bad decision to insert 44-year-old Adam Scott into Saturday afternoon’s fourth straight game. I mean, he must have been exhausted, and even Scott himself said he was tired that night.

Then, if you look at the situation Weir put him in in singles, he fell into one of the lower groups. If he hadn’t played on Saturday afternoon, you would have thought a fresh Scott could have been in the top three game and I think we needed him there.

International teams have all kinds of games, but when you have as much depth as the American team, it makes a big difference. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day, but when you stretch it out over four different days, it’s different.

Is it time to change the Presidents Cup?

I can tell you that the international team is tired of losing. Until the Internationals get their next win, it will become increasingly difficult for them to get through.

The longer you go without a win, the harder it becomes to win. I have heard that something has to change in the individual competition, but there is nothing to suggest that at the moment.

The Americans are going to continue to produce a ton of great young players, so we need to figure out whether we need to change things a little bit, whether it’s the venue, the points system, or something else.

Why not mimic the Ryder Cup and go back to three days, so if you have guys who aren’t playing that great, you can hide them a little bit.

Players will also be given an extra day of rest if they wish to play the previous week, as Adam Scott, Byung-hoon Ahn and Siu-woo Kim did at the BMW PGA Championship.

There are different views, but I think America is really strong at the moment and they know that they are that strong against the International. They are not afraid of them, but we are still afraid of Europeans.

Is Team USA’s Ryder Cup next?

At Bethpage Black next September, I think we’ll see a lot of the same players that played for Team USA this week, but one of them likely won’t be because he’s the captain.

Jim Furyk learned a lot from his 2018 Ryder Cup experience and brought it to them this time as well. Whatever they learned this year, whatever Furyk did in the locker room, I think Keegan Bradley will carry a lot of that into the Ryder Cup.

You might see a lot of the same characters and personalities, but remember, we’re out of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth is out of the house for the first time in a while, so there’s still a lot of depth at our disposal. Please stay.

Our depth will be important against the European teams, but to be honest, the crowd and the golf course will be the difference in New York. It’s going to be an incredible atmosphere.

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