Find out five key clubs for each Presidents Cup team at Royal Montreal

The 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club begins Thursday, where 12 members of the U.S. Team will take on 12 members of the International Team in a four-day, five-round competition.

The matches always make for an intriguing competition because players are competing only for pride and are put in unique situations. For many players, the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup are the only times they compete alongside a partner. Before Singles on Sunday, where players compete in mano-a-mano matches, two rounds apiece are played in Four-ball, often known as best-ball, and Foursomes, which is also called alternate shot.

The United States has dominated this competition, losing only once since the competition’s inception in 1994. Road competitions are always a taller task, however, and the U.S. is traveling north of the border after losing last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome.

The U.S. Team won the previous Presidents Cup, held two years ago at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a final score of 17.5 to 12.5.

To cover you from an equipment perspective, here are five clubs that will be key for each team this week at Royal Montreal.

U.S. Team

Scottie Scheffler

• Key Club: TaylorMade P-7TW Mid Irons
• Key Stats: Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (first); Greens in Regulation (first); Average Proximity to Hole (second); Proximity to Hole from 150-175 yards (first)

You’d be hard-pressed to find a weakness in Scheffler’s game, but he’s especially strong in terms of getting the ball close to the hole with his irons. In fact, in 2024 on the PGA TOUR, no one has been better.

According to Scheffler, he likes to work the ball in both directions with his irons, and he says that he practices his distance control religiously. The combination gives Scheffler the ultimate control over his golf ball and allows him to attack pins, no matter where they’re placed on the green.

“I like working the ball both directions,” Scheffler says. “I like being able to curve it from right to left and left to right, and then distance control is always something that I practice pretty religiously. Something that I watch every time I go out there in practice, I'm checking to make sure my clubs are going the right distance, making sure that my feels are matching up with how far the ball's going.And so when I go out there on the golf course, I feel like I can hit it pin high more often than not. And so I think that's really important in the approach play, just making sure you're pin high and you know, keeping the ball in the right section of the green. Working the ball both ways and getting to a variety of pins.”

Xander Schauffele

• Key Club: Odyssey Toulon Design Las Vegas Prototype 7CH putter
• Key Stat: Strokes Gained: Putting (10th)

For years now, Schauffle has employed a red Odyssey Toulon Design Las Vegas No. 7CH putter, and in 2024, it’s been especially red-hot. In match play, a hot putter can certainly be a thorn in the side to any opponent. If you’re waiting for Schauffele to miss, you may be waiting awhile.

“I love my putter,” says Schauffele. “I've had a red putter for quite some time … A lot of my wins have come with a red putter. It has a different insert, but there’s just something about the red down on the green grass. There's some pop to it with the white lines, the scoring lines and aiming line. So yeah, I mean, I can get into specifics about why I like my putter; the feel, the sound of it…for the most part, red is something that I've always liked and just kind of stuck with it.”

Sahith Theegala

• Key Club: Ping G430 LST driver
• Key Stat: Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (19th)

In 2024, Theegala has turned a weakness into a strength. Last season, Theegala ranked just 134th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. He’s improved more than 100 spots in that statistic this year.

“I've really stepped it up off the tee this year,” Theegala says. “It's always been the weakest part of my game, and funny enough, I’ve made no equipment changes and use the same driver. … I've really turned it on this year, and a lot of it's just attributed to, you know, my trainer and my coach just getting me in the right positions, and getting stronger, and just figuring out my swing more and more. It's very unique, and I’m not trying to fight my swing as much – just trying to let the natural tendencies take over. And it's been really awesome because it’s a club that I've had a lot of anxiety over and it's cost me a lot of tournaments and a lot of shots, but it’s now helping me be more consistent. And it truly feels like a weapon.”

Max Homa

• Key Clubs: Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges (P, G, S, L)
• Key Stats: Average Proximity from <100 yards (12th); Average Proximity from 50-125 (13th); Average Proximity from 75-100 (10th)

Homa always has some unique stampings on his Titleist Vokey wedges, and uniquely, instead of list the lofts on the sole of his wedges, he uses letters; for example, L for “lob wedge,” S for “sand wedge” and so on. The looks of Homa’s wedges are creative, but it’s the creativity of the wedge game in general that Homa enjoys so much.

“I really enjoy wedge play, I think it's creative,” Homa said. “One of my teammates in college had a really good line. He said he looked at his wedges as tools, so I don't think that there's one specific shot. I think you get creative and try to find a way to get it as close as you can to the hole and nearly try to make all of them. That’s kind of one of the aims for me. Small-type thoughts. So yeah, it's just a fun area for me. I feel like you can make a ball dance around the pin, you can do some cool things with spin and curve and height and I don't know, I just see the shots well. And for whatever reason, it's turned out pretty good in the last few years.”

Patrick Cantlay

• Key Club: Titleist 915F 3-wood and TS2 7-wood
• Key Stats: Stokes Gained: Average Proximity from 250-275 yards (fifth); Par-5 Birdie or Better % (11th); Par-5 Scoring (second)

Cantlay isn’t known for switching clubs on a whim – once he finds the clubs that work well, he sticks with them. Case in point, Cantlay still uses a Titleist 915F 3-wood from 2014, and a Titleist TS2 7-wood from 2018, and he’s one of the best fairway wood players on the PGA TOUR. It makes him a menace on the par 5s, which could be especially important in Four-ball.

“I have Titleist 3- and 7-woods,” Cantlay said. “They’re a little older models, but I’ve been using them a long time and I feel like those clubs in particular, once you find one that you fall in love with, and you learn to trust it, guys don’t want to change. I’ve heard Fred Couples used the same ladies' flex 3-wood for a number of years. And it’s just when you fall in love with a club like a 7-wood or a 3-wood, it’s hard to get out of the bag.”

International Team

Corey Conners

• Key Club: Ping Blueprint S (4-5 iron), Ping Blueprint T (6-PW)
• Key Stats: Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (third); Greens in Regulation (11th)

Few PGA TOUR players are statistically better with their irons than Conners – well, only two are better, to be exact. To establish his dominance, Conners employs a mixed setup of cavity-back-style long irons and blade-style short irons. Conners’ irons will be an important International Team asset this week, and his success could help rile up his fellow Canadians in the gallery and give the Internationals a home-course advantage.

“First of all, I want to look down and feel comfortable and like the shape of the iron,” Conners said. “I have to feel good, pretty much check all the necessary boxes. But the first thing is looking down, it's something that instills confidence. It's pretty square, has a nice shape to it, and then you want it to have good feel. You know, the performance of the irons is obviously important, but the first two characteristics the look and feel, are just as important to me. I like my current set of Ping Blueprints. They look great. They feel great. And you know, they do exactly what I want them to do. And yeah, basically, they performed really well and have been a strong part of my game.”

Jason Day

• Key Club: TaylorMade Itsy Bitsy Spider Limited Red putter
• Key Stat: Stokes Gained: Putting (11th)

While the U.S. Team has Schauffele’s red putter, the International Team has a red putter of its own: Day’s TaylorMade Itsy Bitsy Spider Limited Red, which has been a longtime weapon for him that’s been off-and-on in his bag for nearly a decade. Day is making his first Presidents Cup appearance since 2017, and his putter will be an important asset for the Internationals.

“I've been using the Spider for a long time now,” Day says. “I think I started out with the white one, and then went to a black one, and obviously it changed over the years, and now I'm into a red one. It's just something that I always like using. I'm really particular about the way that the putter sits on the ground. I'm able to change the loft and lie on it from week to week, depending on how the ball's rolling off the face. And I feel like when I do putt well, that's good for me. A formula for success, especially in a team environment, because that is one thing that you need to have. It's a great equalizer, ultimately. So yeah, I've been playing good for a long time now, and I’ve changed my putter every so often, but, as time progresses, I always seem to go back to the Spider.”

Tom Kim

• Key Club: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9) irons
• Key Stats: Strokes Gained: Approach (10th, in 2023); Approaches from 200-225 yards (12th, in 2023); Approaches from >200 yards 12th, in 2023)

One of the highlights of the last Presidents Cup was Kim’s birdie on the final hole of his Saturday afternoon Four-ball match to defeat the U.S. super-team of Cantlay and Schauffele. Kim capped it with a 10-foot putt and a series of fist pumps, but he set it all up with an incredible 4-iron approach shot.

Last year, when Kim finished 20th in the FedExCup, he was one of the top long-iron players in the game. That’s especially important because he’s not among the game’s longer hitters. He’s had a drop-off in that part of his game in 2024. We haven’t seen him since the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August, but if Kim can capture his long-iron magic then we could see more Presidents Cup highlights from him.

“I think the number one thing with my long irons is to be able to create flight,” Kim says. “That's the number one thing. And the second thing is make sure that those numbers are consistent, you know, because long irons are such precision clubs. It's hard to be really precise, and if you can get precision out of it, you're just going to separate yourself from the field. And that's what I've worked really hard on. Distance control and flight are things that I really focus on, and I think that's that has helped me throughout my career so far.”

Adam Scott

• Key Club: L.A.B. Golf prototype putter(s)
• Key Stat: Strokes Gained: Putting (26th)

Over the last several years, Scott has found success using L.A.B. Golf broomstick putters. Although he’s mostly been using a Mezz.1 prototype head, GolfWRX.com has gotten word that Scott has been testing out a new L.A.B. Golf OZ.1 prototype head with a variety of alignment lines. The new, unreleased head features a more traditional-looking mallet design, and it may or may not make an appearance in Scott’s bag for the 2024 Presidents Cup.

“L.A.B. has a very different approach to putting than the traditional part of golf,” Scott says. “There's a lot of science going into the game now, but they've really thought outside the box of science to get to this point in the game of golf. I think L.A.B. is really just beginning, and being a small company in the big pond of golf manufacturers, they've done an incredible job, but that's really because they've made an incredible product. And if they stick to their guns, I think the product can speak for itself and more and more people will get to try it. And once you try it, it's hard to deny how good it is.”

Min Woo Lee

• Key Club: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S driver
• Key Stat: Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (sixth); Driving Distance (fifth)

At just 26 years old, Lee has already established himself as one of the dominant drivers of the ball in the game of golf. In 2024, he’s averaging 187.9 mph of ball speed, which ranks second on the PGA TOUR. He’s also sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee using his Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S driver.

“The biggest pat of driving for me is, you know, my ball speed’s pretty high for how I look,” Lee says. “I’m not the strongest guy out there, but I use my body pretty well when I hit drivers. So I think it’s the same as, you know, my personality – a bit of flair. I just step up there and be aggressive. Hopefully, we can play like that.”