U.S. Presidents Cup first-timers an unusually accomplished group

NASSAU, Bahamas – American Gary Woodland has never played in a Presidents Cup.

His caddie, Brennan Little, who was on Mike Weir’s bag, has worked in five of them.

“Yeah, I know,” Woodland said, when reminded of this odd fact at the Hero World Challenge, where 11 of the 12 U.S. Team members were competing with one eye on the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, Dec. 12-15. “And he’s never won, so now I’ve got to overcome that, too!”

Woodland laughed. True, Weir’s International Team has won only once in the history of the event. (Weir is still involved, as a captain’s assistant to Ernie Els.) And yes, there is something funny about Little’s veteran status relative to Woodland, a supposedly wide-eyed U.S. Team rookie.

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Start with the fact that Woodland is 35, and will be the third oldest member of the team, after Tiger Woods (almost 44) and Matt Kuchar (41). What’s more, Woodland is the reigning U.S. Open champion and a four-time PGA TOUR winner who is ranked in the top 20 in the world.

Still, he’s a rookie.

“It’s been a long road,” he said at the Hero. “Tried to make a lot of teams and haven’t done it.”

Five members of the U.S. Team will be Presidents Cup newbies: Woodland, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, and Bryson DeChambeau. The first three have never played in a major team event, while Finau and DeChambeau were on the losing U.S. Ryder Cup team in France last year.

That leaves just three true rookies for the U.S., compared to seven for the International Team.

Are those three Americans really rookies? Well, yes. But with lofty credentials.

“You look at those guys – obviously well-accomplished, across the board,” said Rickie Fowler, who is 4-3-1 in his Presidents Cup career, including a 3-0-1 mark at Liberty National in 2017. “You don’t find many rookies going into a team event having a major.”

True, but it’s not unheard of. You only have to go back two years to find one: Justin Thomas had just won the PGA Championship when he suited up as a rookie at Liberty National. It went well. Thomas played in all five sessions – the first three with Fowler – and went 3-1-1.

In fact, 2017 was one of the best Presidents Cup rookie classes, as Thomas, Daniel Berger (2-1-0), Brooks Koepka (2-2-0), Kevin Kisner (2-0-2), Kevin Chappell (1-1-1) and Charley Hoffman (1-2-0) bolstered the U.S. runaway with a combined 13 points.

The most sensational rookie class was 1996, when Mark O’Meara (5-0-0) and David Duval (4-0-0) teamed up for three matches and went undefeated overall. (Mark Brooks, Justin Leonard, Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry were also rookies that year.)

The most productive rookie class was 2000, when Hal Sutton (3-2-0), Notah Begay III (3-2-0), Kirk Triplett (3-0-1), Stewart Cink (4-0-0) and Paul Azinger (1-2-0) contributed 14.5 points.

It’s something of a fluke that Woodland hasn’t been on one of these teams. His nearly five-year win drought, which he broke with a victory at the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open, didn’t help. To watch him shoot 66-69 in tough winds at the Hero at Albany Golf Club – he’s three back of leader Patrick Reed – you’d think he had been on U.S. teams for years.

Cantlay, 27, is a former top-ranked amateur and sixth in the world as of the Hero. He, too, is an unlikely first-timer but hasn’t represented the U.S. since the 2011 Walker and Palmer Cups. As with Woodland, that owes to a protracted gap in which he didn’t win – and didn’t even play due to a bad back. He is on record saying he loves team events and can’t wait to get started.

Schauffele, 26, is ninth in the world and already has a World Golf Championship and TOUR Championship to his name, not to mention the Sentry Tournament of Champions and A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier. Does he still feel like a rookie where the Presidents Cup is concerned?

“I’m sure I will when I’m there,” he said. “All of those accolades, I think, will help all of us get comfortable quicker, but there’s some doubt created from the unknown. We have such good veterans on our team, I’m sure they’ll make us feel at home from the first day of practice and we’ll be good to go. I’ve talked to Webb, Kuchar, Tiger, Fred Couples, I know Zach Johnson.

“They’ve just said to be excited, to look forward to it, that it’s going to be something special. Just making me feel comfortable, which is what they’re supposed to do, which is hopefully how I’ll feel when I tee off on the first day.”

As accomplished as they are, the three true U.S. rookies will have to abide by the same rules as all rookies. Namely, they’ll have to fall back on what got them there in the first place.

“You just can’t get overwhelmed with what’s going on around you,” said Kisner, who in going 2-0-2 did most of his damage with partner Phil Mickelson in his first Presidents Cup at Liberty National. “You’ve got to just be focused on playing the golf tournament and playing a match. There’s a lot of hoopla and a lot of extracurricular activities going on.”

Kisner is not on this year’s team, due in part because of the strong showing during the qualifying period by the rookies. Cantlay (4th), Schauffele (5th) and Woodland (10th) each finished ahead of Kisner (15th) in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings.

Fowler’s first experience playing in a major team competition was as a pro was at the pressure-packed 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor:

“Biggest thing is you’re good enough to be there,” Fowler said. “Don’t let the stage dictate how you play. Go be yourself.” He’s already said as much to fellow South Floridians Woodland and Cantlay, who is almost literally a neighbor.

Go be yourself. With unusually accomplished first-timers like Woodland, Cantlay and Schauffele, that’s likely to be plenty good enough on any stage.