As some of you know, including sharp-as-a-tack reader Wendy, team golf matches are my personal favorite form of golf competition. The Presidents Cup has just started and based on the previous two unbelievably fabulous competitions, it promises to be a wonderful affair. However, I’m not so sure that the U.S. squad won’t win decisively. Not so much that they have the 4 highest ranked golfers in the world on the side, because if, say, Tiger Woods were to dominate and win his match this afternoon, that is only 1/6 of the points available today. (Besides, the great one has a partner in each of his 4 matches prior to Sunday and for every great shot Woods might hit, his partner can undo it. And that has been his lot in many of these team competitions.) No, I think the reason the Americans will clinch the Cup by mid-afternoon on Sunday is because the International team has too many players not playing to their normal standard right now. Here are those who I think will under-perform over the next few days: Vijay Singh, Trevor Immelman, Stuart Appleby and Retief Goosen.

In an under-appreciated and smaller competition called the Seve Trophy, a team of top pros from Great Britain & Ireland being helmed by next year’s Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo are taking on a team of top pros from the rest of Europe being captained by Seve Ballesteros. But this competition is experiencing a couple of problems this year. First of all, the GB&I team has no one from Ireland in the side. And it’s being played IN Ireland. (I guess Nick Faldo didn’t think that Mike Weir should’ve been selected for the Presidents Cup either. Ahem.) Secondly, many of the big names have elected to skip this year’s event for varying reasons. So you won’t see regular Ryder Cup stalwarts Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald playing. Still, it’s worth a watch. The first day of competition was close, with Continental Europe having a slight advantage, winning three matches out of five. Have a look at some big names like Justin Rose, Colin Montgomerie, Thomas Bjorn and Paul Casey, as well as some of those young guns who might be in next year’s Ryder Cup team play under intense pressure. I promise it will be worth it.

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