Penton: Canadians may play huge President’s Cup role
By Bruce Penton
When Nick Taylor of Abbotsford battled Scottie Scheffler down the stretch at the recent Waste Management Phoenix Open, he won $2.2 million and propelled himself into fifth place on the PGA Tour’s money list. His dramatic success also moved him into 77th position in the Official Golf World Ranking list, giving Canada an unprecedented five players in the top 77.
That bodes well for a huge Canadian influence on the International team in the 2024 President’s Cup, an event scheduled for Royal Montreal Golf Club, where Canada’s Mike Weir will captain the Internationals.
Two Canadians — Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith — made the International team when it was held in Australia in 2022 and there’s reason to believe all five could be chosen by Weir to take on the United States in the Ryder Cup-style event. The International team consists of golfers from countries outside of the United States and Europe, which leaves Canada, Asia, South Africa, Australia, Mexico and South America. While the likes of Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Tom Kim and Sungae Im of South Korea, Adam Scott of Australia and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa are virtual locks for Weir’s team, there’s still plenty of room for talented Canadians. The overall skill pool has been weakened by LIV Golf, which has recruited former International stars Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann. Unless there’s a change in protocol, those LIV players will be ineligible for the President’s Cup.
Conners, Pendrith, Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson are the Canadians ranked in the OWGR’S top 77 and because the event is being played in Canada, with Weir as the captain, there will be tremendous public pressure on him to have as many Canadians on the team as realistically possible.
The U.S. side is 12-1-1 all-time in the President’s Cup, and will be the overwhelming favourite in Montreal come Sept. 24-29, 2024, thanks to the likes of Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth. It would be one of the biggest upsets in all of sports if the International side were to pull out a victory, but what a great moment it would be for Canadian golf if five of our country’s best players led the charge on our own home turf. Back in 2007, when the President’s Cup was last played in Canada (at Royal Montreal), the U.S. was victorious, but fans were proudly singing O Canada as they watched Weir defeat Tiger Woods in singles play on Sunday.
We’re still 19 months away from the President’s Cup, but it’s never too early to start considering how major a role Canadians could play. Our country’s golf image around the world has been enhanced by Canadians’ success on the PGA Tour and it would skyrocket with a Canadian-led victory in Montreal.
Super Bowl halftime entertainer Rhianna sold a T-shirt for $60 that said: “Rihanna Concert Interrupted by a Football Game, Weird but Whatever.”
Broadcaster Colt Knost on the raucous 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open: “We’ve got a loaded leaderboard and a loaded gallery.”
Comedy guy Steve Burgess of Vancouver: “This year’s Super Bowl stats will be different. Passes will be categorized as complete, incomplete, intercepted, and shot down by U.S. air defence.”
Jay Busbee of yahoo.com, on the controversial holding penalty against Philly’s James Bradberry that was the deciding factor in KC winning the Super Bowl: “Mothers tuck their newborns into their cribs with more aggression than Bradberry showed on that play.”
Bryan Hayes of TSN, on Twitter: “Imagine being on the LIV Tour and watching Tiger, JT and Rory roll birdies on 18 at Riviera and thinking ‘well, guess I got a big match against the Range Goats tomorrow.’”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Aaron Rodgers will enter a four-day ‘darkness retreat’ in hopes of gaining some clarity about his NFL future. In related news, the Miami Hurricanes hope to come out of their two-decade darkness retreat this season in hopes of providing some clarity about their relevance.”
Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: “The new LIV Golf tour is sponsored by major human rights violator Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf should do well unless Iraq launches a tour and outbids them.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “The winner of Russia’s Most Delicious Girl contest — where women let mosquitoes bite them — took over 100 bites in 20 minutes. Good, but well short of the record 133 bites held by Miss Manitoba.”
Headline in the onion.com: “Donna Kelce just glad her better son won.”
From fark.com: “Red-hot Wings move to two points out of playoffs with 5-2 win in Calgary. Alright, Wings fans, get your octopus orders in.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca