Scouting trip galvanizes underdog International Team

Underdog is an understatement.

So said International Presidents Cup Team Captain Trevor Immelman after announcing his six picks for the squad that will take on the mighty U.S. Team at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, Sept. 22-25.

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“Yeah, I don't really think I have to play the underdog role up,” Immelman said after announcing Taylor Pendrith, Sebastian Muñoz, Si Woo Kim, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, K.H. Lee and Cam Davis will join automatic qualifiers Hideki Matsuyama, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Corey Conners, Mito Pereira and Adam Scott in an effort to bring the International Team its first win since 1998.

“I think everybody knows it,” Immelman continued. “Everybody sees it clear as day. Our team has had a lot of adversity thrown at us over the last year or so. But adversity makes you stronger.”

On paper, the U.S. Team wins this one. But that’s always the case. The Americans were heavily favored in 2019, too, but required a big final-day rally led by playing captain Tiger Woods to come out on top.

This U.S. Team will feature automatic qualifiers Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler and Tony Finau, plus six picks to be announced by U.S. Captain Davis Love III on Wednesday morning. It will likely resemble the side that crushed Europe at the 2021 Ryder Cup. But that’s not the only reason they’ll be favored to beat Immelman and company.

From just his six qualifiers, Love III has 15 PGA TOUR wins this season. Add victories by Jordan Spieth, Max Homa and Billy Horschel, who are expected to be U.S. Team captain’s picks, and the total runs to 19 wins this season. All 12 International Team players combined for just five wins this season.

And yet …

The International Team will head to Charlotte with a kind of momentum having bettered the Americans for three of the four days last time around at Royal Melbourne. The Internationals did a lot right and hope to parlay the lessons of 2019 into a victory this time around.

Immelman assembled his team for a secret mission to Quail Hollow for two days after the recent TOUR Championship. All but Matsuyama, who was getting neck treatment in Japan, were on hand not just to see the course but also to solidify and cement relationships ahead of the competition.

“It was an amazing experience for all of us to spend a little time together and get an early look at the golf course,” Immelman said. “The thing that excites me the most is … I know now that we have 12 players that are hungry, and we have 12 players that wanted to be there.”

Team bonding was the key at Royal Melbourne, where Immelman was an assistant to International Captain Ernie Els. It was one great team united under one banner – a newly designed team crest – rather than a team of talented individuals carrying their various flags. Previous International teams wouldn’t come together until the end, and while that would make for some epic Sunday-night parties, it was too late to impact the leaderboards. Els changed all that. He got rid of the cliques.

Relying on analytics and data to create complimentary pairings regardless of which continent a player represented, Els was taking a gamble that busted up some friends who expected to play together. He knew he had to get buy-in from his players ahead of time. As such the bonding sessions came thick and fast ahead of the competition, and by tournament week the Internationals were a tight-knit crew.

While the final score in Melbourne read 16-14 to the U.S. Team, the proof was indeed in the pudding. The Internationals led 4-1 after Day One, 6.5-3.5 after Day Two, and 9-5 after Saturday’s morning session. Only some late heroics from U.S. players on Saturday evening effectively saved the Cup, but the Internationals took the lead (10-8) into Sunday Singles for the first time since 2003.

“We’re definitely underdogs going into the next few weeks,” captain’s pick Bezuidenhout said Tuesday. “But we've had multiple team dinners over the last few months with a lot of the guys in the running for making the team joined in. It's a great vibe. It's a great bunch of guys in the team. All the guys that narrowly missed out, everyone has been so supportive over the last few months and weeks.

“Taking it back to last week, our training camp in Charlotte, team spirit is high. Everyone is excited. It's going to be a tough challenge, but you never know. We'll give it our all and see what happens.”

Despite his injury absence, Matsuyama made a point to send an inspiring message to the team in Charlotte. Immelman called the camp a success and was excited to see the hunger in his new-look squad that boasts veterans in Scott (10th Cup) and Matsuyama (fifth) but also eight rookies. That’s the most since the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994, but all those new faces might not be a bad thing. In Melbourne it was the team’s new blood that drove the new ethos; there were seven rookies on that squad (only Sungjae Im remains) who were devoid of any scar tissue and nearly got the win.

“Ernie brought a lot of new, clear, fresh thinking to our system,” Immelman said. “… and it was an extremely powerful experience for us down in Australia. Really that was the baseline. That was the foundation for our team. We absolutely have tried to use that foundation to build off of and jump off of for not only this Presidents Cup in Charlotte but also future Presidents Cups.”

We don’t know yet how he will send out his players, and in light of the analytical approach that worked in 2019, he said it would be a mistake to assume he’ll pair Australians Scott and Davis, Canadians Conners and Pendrith, South Americans Pereira and Muñoz, and so on.

“We don’t have to match people of the same nationality to get the best out of them,” Immelman said. “We’ve got the squad atmosphere and players are extremely comfortable being with each other, hanging around each other. We have found ways to bridge the communication gaps in certain instances. I have every option available to me. I don't have to try and match two Canadians together and Koreans together and such. Whilst it is an option, I would not hang your hat on it.”

That said, the U.S. Team is 11-1-1 overall in this competition, and an International Team win would be a huge upset. Immelman isn’t pretending otherwise but won the Masters as an outsider; he knows what it’s like to shock the world. His players have embraced the role of David versus Goliath, too. To be on this team bus, Immelman said, means bringing belief, passion, and a team-first ethos.

And there’s a chance that the U.S. Team, which is expected to dominate, will feel most of the pressure.

“We understand exactly the mountain that we have in front of us,” Immelman said. “Possibly the best American team ever assembled if you look at them on paper with their accomplishments and what their World Rankings are, but hey, when you're a little kid growing up outside of the U.S. and you dream of playing on the PGA TOUR… this is everything you've ever dreamed of is having an opportunity to play against the best on their home soil, and that's what we're going to have here in a couple weeks.

“… We'll be representing underdogs all over the world in every facet of life,” he continued, “whether it be business or sport or kids at school… trying to make them proud. I'm extremely proud of my team. They've all worked their butts off to get to this point. We look forward to the Presidents Cup every time. Even over the years you look at the history books, everybody knows we've had our butts kicked, but that doesn't mean we'll come with any less passion and compete to try and win.”

For the International Team and its players, captain, assistants, and backers, it’s time to get on the bus.