“They knew that when they left, they knew that they weren’t gonna be part of (the Presidents Cup).”
Brooks Koepka was able to tee it up for the U.S. Ryder Cup team last fall in Italy due to a technicality in the PGA of America’s rules for the competition, which allowed LIV Golf players to compete. The same won’t be possible for this year’s Presidents Cup.
Speaking with the media on a conference call Tuesday afternoon, International captain Mike Weir said LIV players would not be eligible for the 2024 event at Royal Montreal Golf Club, Sept. 27-29. The biennial bash between the United States and rest of the world (minus Europe) is organized by the PGA Tour, and competitors must be active members to compete.
“Certainly I want the best players internationally to be playing (the Presidents Cup). Hopefully we come to a point that they are,” said Weir. “It’s just an unfortunate situation that we’re in right now.
“I’ve been told they’re not eligible. They’re not gonna be eligible but hopefully going forward, maybe in Chicago in 2026, they are,” he continued. “It is a shame. I mean, we would want the best players, but I like our team. Our team looks great right now, but yeah, I think as a captain, we want the best international players from around the world to be playing against the best U.S. guys.”
Players like Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim are almost assured to be involved, but imagine if the likes of Joaquin Niemann, Cam Smith, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Sebastian Munoz and Abraham Ancer were available?
“I guess the flip side is they knew that when they left, they knew that they weren’t gonna be part of (the Presidents Cup). That was definitely part of the conversation,” Weir explained. “I think some of that’s one of the reasons some guys struggled with (going to LIV) because they loved (the Presidents Cup) so much and they want to be part of it.”
With six months to go until the first round of matches, Weir is now focused on team camaraderie and figuring out how to set up the golf course to make it more favorable to the International team. In fact, a group dinner is scheduled ahead of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill with guys on the team to start the team-building process.
“That’s always been part of our strategy, we have a lot of different cultures, a lot of different backgrounds,” Weir said of the struggle to build connections on a team with so many language barriers. “We have some new faces this year that are looking like they’ll be part of the team. So just getting everybody together and get to know one another and know what the International team is all about.”
The 2003 Masters champion isn’t just focused on a favorable golf course. He also wants a raucous crowd to provide the Internationals with a much-needed homefield advantage. Weir was a member of the International side the last time the event was held at Royal Montreal in 2007, and he admitted the fans were a bit too cordial to Tiger Woods and the Americans, who won 19½-14½.
“I’ll have something,” said a grinning Weir of his home field plans. The Internationals are leaning on the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and plan to tap into their fan base to provide a hockey-esque atmosphere. That said, he wants the entire country to be involved and engaged, not just folks from the area.
The Presidents Cup debuted in 1994 and in the 14 matches since, the U.S. has dominated with 12 wins, one loss in 1998 and one tie in 2003.
Only one player went a perfect 4-0-0 over the two days of play at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
The American dominance in the Walker Cup continues.
The Red, White and Blue came back from a three-point deficit on Sunday to win the biennial bash against Great Britain and Ireland, 14½-11½, to claim the Cup for a fourth consecutive event.
Ten players comprise each team and there are four sessions of play with Foursomes and Singles on both Saturday and Sunday. Four teams of two compete in Foursomes on both days, while eight players compete in Singles on Saturday. All ten players play Singles on Sunday.
Leading the charge for the United States was the world’s top-ranked amateur, Vanderbilt junior Gordon Sargent, who went a perfect 4-0-0 over the two days of play at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Sargent is the only player of the 20 who competed to finish the week unbeaten and was one a few who earned three out of a possible four points.
Here’s how each player fared over the weekend at the 2023 Walker Cup at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
The U.S. flipped a three-point deficit on the final day to win once again.
ST. ANDREWS — The underdogs could not become the top dogs. At the end of the 2023 Walker Cup here in sun-soaked St. Andrews it was the USA who were the best in show as a team jam-packed with talent flung a star-spangled spanner into Great Britain & Ireland’s hopes of a famous win.
The hosts led by three points going into the closing day at the Old Course but the U.S., with eight of the world’s top-10 players in their midst and a strength in depth that is deeper than a burial at sea, were simply too good. Those global rankings don’t tell fibs. A Foursomes fightback and a singles surge completed a 14 ½ – 11 ½ triumph.
The supremely gifted Gordon Sargent, the No 1 amateur on this birling clump of space rock, reeled off four wins out of four during the two-day tussle as the USA claimed a fourth successive victory in the biennial bout.
For Scotsman Stuart Wilson, it was a second defeat as a GB&I Walker Cup captain. Losing is never easy to stomach.
“The Americans just handled the conditions slightly better than us, and, without being too harsh, I’m sure our boys will be quite disappointed in the way they played themselves,” he said. “They tried their hardest, but they didn’t turn up with their ‘A’ games I would say in some matches. I think the guys will be hurting.”
A bright and breezy day had dawned with GB&I holding the kind of comfortable cushion you would get in a Bedouin tent. That three-point lead forged on Saturday’s opening series of jousts was certainly handy. In the ebb-and-flow of match play golf, however, such an advantage can become as brittle as the autoclaved aerated concrete that is hogging the headlines just now.
The USA came out fighting in the morning foursomes and won the session 3-1 to haul themselves to within a point. “We got the morning we needed,” said Mike McCoy, the U.S. captain, of a telling thrust. The fact that 12 of the 16 matches played in the whole contest at that stage had reached at least the 16th green underlined the closeness of the tussle.
Recent history, though, provided a shudder of foreboding for GB&I. The 8 ½ – 7 ½ lead they held going into the singles yesterday was the same as the advantage they had at the same point at Hoylake in 2019. And the U.S. went on to win eight of the 10 afternoon ties that year to romp to victory.
Cue another singles tsunami? Well, a 7-3 sweep in the afternoon was certainly a comprehensive return as the U.S. eased over the winning line.
Calum Scott lost to Caleb Surratt, 3 and 2, in the opening tie as the U.S. drew level and when 32-year-old Stewart Hagestad beat 16-year-old Connor Graham by a similar margin, the visitors went ahead on points for the first time. They would not surrender their authority and set about fortifying that position.
They were given a little helping hand at times too. In a crucial match, GB&I’s Barclay Brown had been 3 up with four to play in the second match against U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap but the momentum swung as wildly as a pendulum in a gale. Brown stumbled down the stretch and finally three-putted the 18th to give Dunlap an unlikely half-point. It was a morale-sapping blow for GB&I. For the USA, it was another high-fiving, back-slapping boost.
The marquee match involving Sargent and the sprightly John Gough, meanwhile, certainly stirred the senses. Gough, playing in his last event as an amateur, holed his second shot for an eagle on the sixth amid giddy scenes. It was Sargent, though, who came out on top and won on the last green as the U.S. moved to the brink of glory. David Ford’s 4-and-2 win over Alex Maguire got the champagne corks popping.
McCoy was part of the last U.S. side to lose a Walker Cup as a 52-year-old back in 2015 at Royal Lytham. He was going to savor this moment. “This one is going to be a great ride home,” he said with mighty grin. “It’s pretty special. It’s certainly the pinnacle of my golfing life. They (the US players) just played hard, right to the bitter end. I just drove the sunscreen around.”
In the end, it was Team USA who enjoyed another day in the Walker Cup sun.
The event returns in 2025 at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California before returning to the United Kingdom a year later in 2026 at Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare, Ireland. Future venues already announced include Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (2028), Oakmont Country Club (2032) and Chicago Golf Club (2036).
Extreme E’s fourth event of the season will no longer take place in the Amazon or the United States, the electric off-road series’ founder and CEO Alejandor Agag has confirmed. The September 16-17 double header had been penciled in for one of the …
Extreme E’s fourth event of the season will no longer take place in the Amazon or the United States, the electric off-road series’ founder and CEO Alejandor Agag has confirmed.
The September 16-17 double header had been penciled in for one of the two locations. But speaking to select media – which included RACER – at last weekend’s Hydro X Prix in Scotland, Agag revealed the change in location, adding that final arrangements are being put in place for the event.
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“We’re working on our fourth event. We have a date that, at the moment, was penciled in as Amazon or U.S., what I can tell you is it’s going to be neither, not Amazon nor U.S.,” he said. “We have a location that we are working on, we’re finalizing the agreement, but these things, they’re not finalized until everything is signed.
“So we will have another two races at that location at the end of September, so we’re working on that one, then working on the calendar for next year.”
Sources have confirmed to RACER that local funding shortcomings were behind the change of plan, but work is ongoing to secure races in both locations for future seasons.
In the case of the Amazon event, it’s the second time plans for an Extreme E round in Brazil have been put on-hold after 2021’s Amazon X Prix was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One location that is likely to feature in future, however, is Scotland, which finally hosted an Extreme E round last weekend after it was mooted as far back as 2020, before the series even held a race. A planned trip there last year was scuppered due to logistical challenges, with the Sardina round that was supposed to follow it taking place on a NATO base that was required for training on its original date following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Extreme E visited Scottish Parliament ahead of the race, with a delegation of politicians attending the race over the weekend as well
The doubleheader in Glenmuckloch in Dumfries and Galloway took place in a former coal mine which is set to be converted into a hydro plant in the coming years. But before that change takes place, the door has been left open for another Extreme E race at the site, with the series also keen to return.
“We had some Scottish officials here and they’re all very positive about us coming back and we like it a lot,” said Agag. “The final things need to be sorted, but we’re having some conversations.”
Like Sardinia, Scotland’s European location made it relatively accessible for those involved, as well as partners and media, and while a huge plus point, Agag stressed that he still wants the series to stick to its roots and host races in remote locations.
“I still want to go back to places like Greenland … of course the Atacama desert was an amazing race, and have races in Europe” he said. We have to balance.
“Definitely we can see that it’s a lot easier to come here and the impact – a lot of media – we can have much more impact in terms of reach when we are close to home.”
In Saturday’s World Baseball Classic 6-2 loss to Team USA, Great Britain didn’t only fall short on the field. Their unfortunate style choices left a lot to be desired, too.
While teams like Cuba, South Korea, and the Dominican Republic have shown off wonderful uniforms for this international celebration of baseball, Britain wore jerseys that seemingly had minimal effort placed into their design aesthetic. And when I say “minimal,” I mean closer to “zero.”
It’d be one thing to show up and get hammered by the Americans while looking good. The British, while wearing all gray with the blandest font for “Great Britain” adorned across their chest, couldn’t even manage that extremely basic task:
They really opened a word document and typed Great Britain using Arial Black font and slapped it on a jersey pic.twitter.com/wPRZEPG4yF
While the Miami Dolphins front office and coaching staff have been busy preparing for the 2023 season, wide receiver Tyreek Hill is staying in shape by competing.
Hill, who was a high school and collegiate track star, entered this weekend’s USATF Masters Indoor Championships in the 25-29 age grouping. Despite not running in a sanctioned race since 2014, Hill easily defeated his opponents in the 60-meter race, finishing in 6.70 seconds.
This is an extremely impressive feat for someone who doesn’t do this every day. It’s clear that Hill still practices, but to see him compete and win is something to marvel at.
The U.S. needs to beat Iran on Tuesday to advance.
The mission is simple for the U.S. in its next and final match of the 2022 World Cup group stage on Tuesday, beat Iran and you move on to the knockout round.
Thanks to Iran’s stunning win over Wales on Friday morning, the USMNT’s match against England later in the day was mostly meaningless in terms of how it impacted group standings — especially after it ended in a tie.
So, as they still trail Iran by a point in the group standings, the U.S. needs a win to avoid elimination. Early odds at BetMGM favor the Americans to get it done at +110.
Odds that Iran wins are +270 and odds on a draw or +245. Either result would send the USMNT home earlier than expected.
Even as they trail in the standings, their -135 odds to qualify for the knockout round are still slightly better than Iran’s -110.
The United States Men’s National Team isn’t expected to beat England in their World Cup meeting Friday. But if it does win, bettors are making sure they’re in position to cash in on the incredibly long odds.
Since opening at +500, USA’s odds to win the match have grown as long as +600 at BetMGM. Yet, 63% of bets on the result and 49% of the money favors the U.S.
American bettors are obviously biased, but the potential payout at those odds certainly help the slant. England’s much shorter odds have only received 20% of bets and 39% of the money. Bets on a tie account for 17%, and 12% of the money.
A spokesperson at BetMGM said USA-England was the most heavily bet match at the World Cup so far, according to ESPN’s David Purdum. The public doesn’t favor the U.S. everywhere, though. At Caesars Sportsbook, 56% of the money was on England.
England has +650 odds to win the entire tournament, tied with Spain and France for second-shortest behind Brazil (+210). Their odds to win Group B are -1000, followed by USA (+1000), Iran (+3200) then Wales (+10000).
Four players went undefeated and six failed to earn a win at the 2022 Presidents Cup.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The United States held off a charging International squad to claim the 2022 Presidents Cup, 17½-12½, and extend its win streak to nine events dating to 2005.
In the event’s 28-year history, the Americans have dominated to the tune of a 12-1-1 record, losing in 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia and tying in 2003 at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club in South Africa.
Speaking of impressive records, Jordan Spieth made his pitch to be the new Captain America with an impressive 5-0-0 showing this week at Quail Hollow Club, with rookie Max Homa just behind him at 4-0-0 after sitting out Saturday afternoon’s four-ball session. On the other side, rookies Sebastian Munoz (2-0-1) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (1-0-1) were the lone unbeaten players for the Internationals.
Three players went winless for each team, but only two failed to earn a point, and they’re both from Canada, who will play host in 2024 when the event heads to Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal.
Here’s a breakdown of how each player fared this week by event at the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Breaking down the final matches of the 2022 Presidents Cup.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Internationals made things interesting midway through Sunday’s final round of singles matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup, but in the end, it was the United States who came out on top.
Xander Schauffele clinched the winning point point for the Americans at Quail Hollow Club, defeating Corey Conners, 1 up, to seal the deal and earn the U.S. its ninth consecutive win in the biennial bout against the worldwide all-stars. The Internationals have won just once back in 1998 and earned a tie in 2003. The U.S. have won the other 11 competitions, six by four or more points.
Here’s a breakdown of each of the 12 Sunday singles matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Sunday singles results
Si Woo Kim (Intl.) def. Justin Thomas (U.S.), 1 up
Si Woo Kim shushed the crowd, with his finger and with a clutch birdie putt at 18 to edge Justin Thomas 1 up.
“ It’s really special for me because I play with J.T. a match like three years ago,” said Kim, noting he was beaten on the 13th hole. “I was a little emotional. But this time, I (got) revenge.”
Thomas made birdies on two of the first four holes, clenching his fist after canning the putt at No. 4 and exclaiming, “Let’s go!”
But Kim battled back, rallying on the back nine with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 to tie the match. Thomas regained the lead at the 12th but gave it back with a bogey at 14. Kim fired up the crowd when he shushed them at 15.
“J.T. give me fist pump, and then I had to do it. And I had to make it, and I made it,” Kim said of his putt to tie the hole. “Then, like, yeah, I had to do something. I think that give me more energy.”
Kim backed up his gesture by taking his first lead of the day with a birdie at 16. Thomas responded with a 4-foot birdie at 17 to send it to the final hole deadlocked.
Both Thomas and Kim hit their approaches to 10 feet. Kim putted first and canned it; Thomas missed on the low side. He dropped to 0-3 in singles in the Presidents Cup. — Schupak
International Team golfer Si Woo Kim (right) shushes the crowd during Sunday singles at the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)
Jordan Spieth (U.S.) def. Cam Davis (Intl.), 4 and 3
Jordan Spieth is winless in singles no more. The American rallied from a 2-down deficit through three holes to defeat Cam Davis, 4 and 3.
“I was more nervous than I probably should have been today just because I want to get that monkey off my back,” Spieth said.
Playing in his fourth Presidents Cup, Spieth hadn’t won in six combined singles matches between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.
“I had a great back nine,” said Spieth, who rattled off three straight birdies beginning at No. 11 to take control of the match. “When you go out early as I’ve done pretty much every team event on a Sunday, they’re looking for red on the board, and it feels good to finally provide that.”
It capped off a phenomenal week for Spieth, who had a perfect record of 5-0-0 and became the first player to do so since South Africa’s Branden Grace in 2015.
“He putted great,” Davis said of Spieth. “He kept his momentum early when he wasn’t playing great, and then I think he got a little comfortable when I started missing a few shots.” — Schupak
Team USA golfer Jordan Spieth lines up his chip shot on the second hole during the singles match play of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club. (Photo: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)
Hideki Matsuyama (Intl.) ties Sam Burns (U.S.)
American Sam Burns and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama dueled to a tie and a half point for each side.
Matsuyama took the early lead with a birdie at the second and stretched the lead to 2 up at the turn. That’s when Burns flipped the match in his favor, making three straight birdies beginning at No. 10 to assume the lead. Burns, however, made a double bogey at 15 to gift-wrap that hole to Matsuyama and the match was tied once more.
Matsuyama nearly stole a full point when his birdie chip at 18 crashed into the flagstick but didn’t drop. Burns had a chance for the win but missed his 23-foot birdie putt.
Burns had a record of 0-2-2 while Matsuyama went 1-3-1. — Schupak
Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) def. Adam Scott (Intl.), 3 and 2
Patrick Cantlay wasn’t going to lose twice in a row, and it showed early in his singles match against the veteran Adam Scott. The American held at least a 2-up lead from the third hole and on and put Scott to bed on the 16th hole, 3 and 2.
Scott won just two holes on Sunday and made more bogeys than birdies to bookend a week to forget that saw him go 2-3-0 in his record 10th appearance in the event. — Woodard
Sebastian Munoz (Intl.) def. Scottie Scheffler (U.S.), 2 and 1
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler held the advantage for most of the front nine before a three-hole swing on Nos. 8-10 saw Sebastian Munoz take control.
Both players drove the green and made eagle on the 325-yard par-4 11th and they also matched each other’s birdie-bogey-par efforts on holes 12-14 before Munoz pulled ahead, 2 up, with birdie on the 15th. Scheffler got one back when Munoz left the door open with bogey on the 16th, but ended the match on the next hole, 2 and 1, after a Scheffler concession.
In his Presidents Cup debut, the reigning Masters champion failed to win a match and went 0-3-1 while Munoz was an impressive 2-0-1. — Woodard
Tony Finau (U.S.) def. Taylor Pendrith (Intl.), 3 and 1
A real back-and-forth match here saw both players lead for at least six holes, with Tony Finau winning the first two before Pendrith won four of the next five to take a 2-up lead of his own.
Slowly but surely the American climbed back with wins on Nos. 9, 12 and 13 to take a 1-up that he never gave back. Consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 sealed the deal for the 3-and-1 victory and brought the Americans just one point away from victory. — Woodard
Team USA golfer Tony Finau celebrates making his putt on the first green during the singles match play of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)
Xander Schauffele (U.S.) def. Corey Conners (Intl.), 1 up
The deciding point came from a tightly-contested match between Corey Conners and Xander Schauffele.
Tied through the first five holes, consecutive wins gave Schauffele a 2-up lead that he extended to 3 up before he let Conners back into the fold. Looking for his country’s first point of the week, the Canadian won Nos. 12-14 to square the match before a bogey of his own gave the lead back to Schauffele on 15. The 16th was squared with birdies and Conners failed to take advantage of a Schauffele bogey on the 17th, which sent the match to the 18th, where par was good enough to decide the event. — Woodard
Sungjae Im (Intl.) def. Cameron Young (U.S.), 1 up
Cameron Young never led his match against Sungjae Im, who won the first three holes with par. Then it was Young’s turn as the young American claimed three of the next five to square the match just before the turn.
The pair went shot-for-shot aside from an Im birdie on the 12th, where he briefly took a 1-up lead before giving it up two holes later after a bogey on No. 15. A Young three-putt on the 17th gave the lead back to Im, which he turned into a 1-up win. — Woodard
K.H. Lee (Intl.) def. Billy Horschel (U.S.), 3 and 1
Billy Horschel’s national team debut didn’t quite go as planned as the 35-year-old went just 1-2-0 after a 3-and-1 loss to K.H. Lee. The South Korean was in control from the jump, winning the first two holes to take a lead that he never relinquished.
In fact, Horschel won just three holes and got as close as 1-down, but this one was never in doubt. — Woodard
Max Homa (U.S.) def. Tom Kim (Intl.), 1 up
Have a debut, Max Homa. The fan-favorite went undefeated at Quail Hollow and had to come back against one of the best players this week, 20-year-old South Korean rising star Tom Kim.
Kim got all the way to 3 up around the turn before Homa caught absolute fire on No. 12, winning four consecutive holes to flip the match by taking advantage of multiple missteps from Kim. Homa never gave it back and ended the week a perfect 4-0-0.
“Best week of golf I could ever imagine. It was very special just to be on this team and to contribute and to bond with the guys,” said Homa. “Some of the moments we’ve had together on the golf course and in the team room have been amazing. I feel very, very, very lucky to be on this team.”
— Woodard
Collin Morikawa (U.S.) def. Mito Pereira (Intl.), 3 and 2
Mito Pereira won just one hole in his match against Collin Morikawa, but it came just a little too late. The pair were tied through four holes before Morikawa made birdie on the par-4 5th, followed by an eagle on the par-5 7th and another birdie on the par-4 8th to take a 3-up lead to the back.
The two-time major champion then went 4 up with a birdie on the 10th before Pereira’s lone win on the 11th. The next five holes were tied as Morikawa did just what he needed to do to put yet another point on the board for the U.S.
“I haven’t won in a while. And just to kind of feel those nerves and kind of feel that energy, it was so exciting,” said Morikawa. “Those are the things we live for. I think every single one of us here on both teams loves that position that you’re in when you’re coming down the stretch or you need to make a putt to win a hole.”
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Intl.) def. Kevin Kisner (U.S.), 2 and 1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout never let Kevin Kisner lead in this final match that didn’t see a birdie until the 6th hole (and only four more after that). Every time the American was able to square the match, Bezuidenhout was right there to respond and re-claim the lead.
Down the stretch the South African was nails, making birdie on Nos. 14 and 16 to take a 2-up lead which he carried to a 2-and-1 win. — Woodard
