Internationals big underdogs again for Presidents Cup

Team Captains Jim Furyk and Mike Weir finalized their Presidents Cup squads on Tuesday for the biennial showdown to be held at Royal Montreal from Sept. 26-29, and as expected Furyk’s U.S. Team is once again a heavy betting favorite.

Furyk added Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Max Homa to his already qualified players Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala as they look to keep hold of the Cup they’ve held at least a part of since 1998.

The U.S. Team is now 12-1-1 all-time in the competition that began in 1994, only losing in 1998 and tying in 2003.

They currently sit at -250 betting favorites at BetMGM Sportsbook with the International Team at +250 and a tie at +1400.

The U.S. Team is ultimately the top 12 in their standings, with Furyk not deviating from the points list. The biggest omissions were Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel and young gun Akshay Bhatia.

“It worked out that way but I'm not sure playing it safe is the way I'd say it,” Furyk said of his picks. “If you look at our points list it was top 12 and it was also pointed out to me if you looked at the world rankings it was the top 12 but that definitely wasn't actually part of the process for me.

“It was really trying to fit the puzzle pieces together with what do we have on our team now and what is the golf course demanding and looking at some pairings and folks that I thought would play really well together.

“We're fortunate there's a lot of depth on the American side. There's a lot of guys out there that were deserving of a spot on this team but the tough part is there's only 12 that fits.”

Weir picked Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and three Canadians in Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith to join qualified players Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byeong Hun An.

In this case, players were overlooked despite standings, with Cam Davis, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin among the unlucky.

The squad is hoping to draw on the home crowd in Canada to complete just their second victory and despite being underdogs, they’re confident of an upset.

“The guys get sick of losing,” Weir said.

“No doubt the (U.S. Team) are a strong bunch… but when you have heart and you believe in yourself, and our guys believe that we can win, and match play is a whole completely different animal… I totally believe they're going to perform really well and I think we have a great chance to bring the Cup back to our side.

“You think of someone like Adam Scott, in his 11th Cup, he’s very motivated, he's having a great summer, he's playing great so someone like that, they know the history and they've been part of that history for a long time and they want to change that narrative.

“And the young guys are just motivated to get in there and win and be part of a winning team.”

Furyk’s team sees Clark, Theegala, Harman and Henley play in their first Presidents Cup although Clark and Harman saw team play in last season’s Ryder Cup. Weir has two newcomers in Lee and Hughes.

As the competition gets closer more markets will open up including but not limited to, top point scorer for both teams, top rookie, exact scores and of course each head-to-head matchup throughout the four days of competition.

The opening three days see a mix of Foursomes and Four-Ball contests before a Sunday Singles showdown.