Golf coach out for racist tweets to Wallace Jr.

When Tom Hoge stood on the 72nd hole of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this season, about to claim his first career PGA TOUR title, there was, no doubt, a lot running through his mind. Not only had victory eluded the North Dakota native in 202 previous TOUR starts, but he was about to clench a two-stroke victory over former World No. 1 and 2017 tournament winner, Jordan Spieth. Not only did the dragon slayer take down one of the game’s grittiest competitors, but at the same time, he was helping build up the hope and resolve of some of Texas’ children in need. Enter the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge. To further its mission of growing and strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion work, the PGA TOUR developed the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge – a unique, season-long fantasy competition beginning this season to work toward the TOUR’s minimum commitment of $100 million for DE&I priorities over a 10-year span. For each TOUR event from the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January through the BMW Championship in August, Host Organizations across the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour have the opportunity to generate charitable donations. Larger amounts are provided to the designated charities of the winner and top finishers at season’s end. Each participating charity receives $5,000 just for being selected. To date, 89 teams have selected a local charity and drafted its fantasy team of eight TOUR players. Each week, the number of FedExCup points that each tournament’s eight-player roster earns is totaled. The team with the highest total wins the week and earns a $5,000 contribution to its charitable beneficiary. In addition to a weekly winning team, points are cumulative throughout the season. The team with the most points after the BMW Championship nets the top prize of $100,000 for its charitable partner. So far this season, the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge has provided over $500,000 through the program to charities serving DE&I causes nationwide, with more than half of the selected charities being new community partnerships. That’s where the Charles Schwab Challenge comes in. The Charles Schwab Challenge selected HOPE Farm as its beneficiary for the 2022 PGA TOUR Charity Challenge. HOPE Farm is a long-term leadership program in Fort Worth for at-risk boys without fathers. “We decided with the PGA TOUR that the Charles Schwab Challenge was going to make HOPE Farm our charity to support,” said Charles Schwab Challenge Executive Director, Michael Tothe. “Just by signing them up, we were able to give them $5,000. I then texted Tom Hoge, who now lives in Fort Worth, just asking him how much he planned to play this season. He said he was going to play as much or more than anyone else on TOUR. So, we picked Tom as one of our fantasy players.” In addition to the enlisting gift of $5,000, because of Hoge’s 500-point FedExCup victory at Pebble Beach, the Charles Schwab Challenge won another $5,000, bringing the donation amount at a Tuesday presentation on site at Colonial Country Club to $10,000. “It’s all great because it benefits all the communities we play in,” said Tom Hoge. “Now that I live in Fort Worth, I have a personal vested interest in going out and playing well. It’s made it even more motivating to know that, just by me playing well in an event anywhere on the schedule, I can help make a direct and positive impact right here in Fort Worth.” “To have these kids from the underprivileged communities out here and experience what the tournament is about is a remarkable thing,” said Victor Neil, VP, Marketing and Development, HOPE Farm. “To be honored on the national level through the PGA TOUR just tells these kids how important their future is to us. We so very much appreciate this.” HOPE Farm brings in young men, beginning at the age of five, and tries to keep working with them through their high school graduation. “We are Christ-centered, and we have a big reading program to make sure literacy rates are up,” said Neil. “We also feed them every day. A lot of these kids don’t know that they’re going to get dinner at home, so we feed them at HOPE Farm. That way, when mom comes to get them at 7 p.m., all they’ve got to do is shower up and go to bed.” A multi-layered initiative, the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge is designed to strengthen TOUR and tournament-led partnerships, highlight year-round contributions and successes in markets and communities, and showcase the relationships between Host Organizations and DEI-focused charities in their markets. The Charles Schwab Challenge team currently ranks 18th out of 89 participating tournaments. “I can’t imagine that many – if any – of these kids have ever been out here to Colonial and probably don’t know anything about golf,” said Neil. “But, for them to see and meet a guy like Tom Hoge, who is contributing and actually knows who they are is huge. “It’s not only huge for the kids, but it’s huge for the game of golf, too.”

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Another PGA TOUR season is upon us. The 2018-19 season kicks off Thursday at the Safeway Open. The TOUR Championship ended just eight days ago, but let’s take one last look back before turning the page on the golf calendar. From Tiger’s return to Brooks’ big wins, and Justin Rose’s steady FedExCup-winning season to Francesco Molinari’s emergence as an elite player, there was a lot to take in. Here’s one more look at the season that was. 1. TIGER’S BACK No, not the one that has been operated on four times. Woods’ return to the winner’s circle – and the raucous scene on East Lake’s 18th fairway – will likely be the first thing we remember about this season, and for good reason. Woods’ win elicited images from the days when he was at the height of his powers. It felt like 2000 when Woods birdied six of the first seven holes to pull away from the field. The fans flooding the final fairway was reminiscent of 1997 when galleries in the grips of Tigermania first burst through the gallery ropes to follow him down the final hole. And his emotional victory speech was something that we’d only seen once before, when he won the 2006 Open Championship after his father’s passing. Woods overcame so much to earn his first PGA TOUR victory in five years. The time between victories was filled with pain and suffering for the world’s most famous athlete. His former swing coach, Sean Foley, put it best: “Everyone likes to see a comeback story because we’re all coming back from something.â€� 2. BETTER WITH AGE Golf is increasingly becoming a young man’s game – more on that later – but Rose is bucking that trend with an impressive devotion to improvement. Rose’s desire to keep getting better at his craft, even with millions of dollars in the bank and a U.S. Open trophy and Olympic Gold Medal at home, is inspirational. “From how he eats, to how he trains, to how he breaks down a golf course, he has a very thoughtful approach to maximizing his probability for success,â€� Foley said. “Sometimes people are afraid to change what they do or how they do it. His lack of satisfaction in what he’s doing has really pushed us to look under every rock.â€� Rose climbed to the top of the FedExCup standings and world ranking at age 38. This father of two is excelling at a game that is dominated by kids. He’s the third-oldest FedExCup champion. The four previous FedExCup champions had an average of 25 years old. He’s also the third-oldest player to reach No. 1 in the world ranking for the first time. He finished in the top 10 in 61 percent of his starts this season, the highest percentage this season (Dustin Johnson was the only other player to finish in the top 10 in more than half his starts). Rose did it with a well-rounded game. He was the only player to finish in the top 30 in all four Strokes Gained statistics: Off-the-Tee (14th), Approach-the-Green (29), Around-the-Green (7) and Putting (17). He rose more than 100 spots in the Strokes Gained: Putting standings since last season, one of the biggest single-season gains in the history of that metric. 3. BROOKS’ BIG HAUL Justin Rose walked away with the FedExCup. Brooks Koepka will likely win the PGA TOUR’s Player of the Year Award. Winning two majors in one year all but guarantees that honor. If you want to stump your friends, you can tell them that Wayne Levi was the last person to win the Player of the Year Award over a two-time major winner. Levi won four times in 1990, while Nick Faldo captured the Masters and Open Championship. Faldo played just a handful of TOUR events that year, though, so the players voted for one of their own instead. Koepka won’t suffer that same fate, especially since no one else won more than three times, and none of those three-time winners grabbed a major. It’s been an incredible run for Koepka. He has four PGA TOUR titles. Three of them are majors. Last year’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills was a large, modern golf course that was perfect for his game. Winning this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock, one of the game’s historic venues, showed that Koepka’s game is about much more than power. He saved par several times down the stretch with a strong short game. Then he held off Woods to win the PGA Championship. Koepka’s performance in 2018’s majors is especially impressive considering that he missed the first one. Koepka, 28, started the year with a last-place finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he struggled with an injury to his left wrist. It forced him to the sidelines for nearly four months. He missed the Masters while he recuperated. “When I look at what I’ve done in the past two months, it’s incredible. Looking where I was, sitting on my couch watching the Masters, and to think I would do this, I would have laughed at you and told you there was no way, no chance, and to do it is really incredible,â€� Koepka said. My doctors, physios, trainers, everybody did an unbelievable job even to get back out on the golf course, and to do what I’ve done is very impressive,â€� he said. “I can’t even believe it.â€� 3. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS “Today was a good day for the old guys, for sure.â€� That’s what Rose said after he and Woods, 42, shared the trophy ceremony at East Lake. Don’t get the wrong idea, though. The youth movement is still alive and well on the PGA TOUR. There were 10 wins by players 25 or younger this season, tied for second-most since the TOUR started keeping age records. There were also 10 wins by the 25-and-under set in 2000, but Woods accounted for nine of those wins. This season’s total of 25-and-under wins fell well short of last year’s record-setting mark (18) but shows that this demographic continues to experience unprecedented success. Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele, who combined for five wins last season, were winless, but other players stepped up in their stead. Six players won at age 25 or under – Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Michael Kim, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Aaron Wise – won this season. Cantlay, Kim and Wise each picked up their first PGA TOUR victory. DeChambeau took his game to another level, winning three times after earning his first victory at last year’s John Deere Classic. Wise qualified for the TOUR Championship at age 22. Only Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Si Woo Kim have made the season finale at a younger age. We also saw Joaquin Niemann earn his TOUR card in just 11 starts. The 19-year-old turned pro this year as the No. 1 player in the world amateur ranking. Golf used to be like baseball or hockey. The top prospects from college and amateur golf used to need a few years to hone their game before becoming stars. Now this quick transition from college to the big time looks more like the NBA. Just making the TOUR before age 25 was a rare accomplishment. Winning before 30 put you ahead of the curve. Not anymore. The Class of 2011’s success was the TOUR’s big story just a couple years ago. Now even younger players are entering the winner circle. Wise graduated high school in 2014! 4. BRYSON’S EMERGENCE He sprays water on his ball to simulate wet conditions. He traveled to Colorado to train with oxygen depletion. And he may be the only golfer who talks about parasympathetic states. Sure, some people will resent the smartest kid in class, especially when he starts using those polysyllabic words. For others, DeChambeau undoubtedly dregs up bad memories of high-school physics class. No matter your thoughts on his analytical ways, he is a unique character who brings a new dynamic to the PGA TOUR. And, most importantly, he can play. DeChambeau joined some select company with his wins in the first two events of the FedExCup Playoffs. Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are the only other players to win the U.S. Amateur, NCAA Championship and at least four TOUR events before their 25th birthday. DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy are the only players to win multiple Playoffs events before the age of 25. DeChambeau, McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are the only players to win in the Playoffs before age 25. 5. THE BIG BALL RULES Koepka and his workout buddy, Dustin Johnson, are just two of the big bashers having success on the TOUR these days. Launch monitors, space-age technology and advanced diet and exercise regimens have all helped players maximize their distance, so it’s no surprise that the long ball is crucial to success. Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee has become the stat that best predicts success on the PGA TOUR. Thirteen of the 30 players in the TOUR Championship finished in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. Eight of the top 10 in that statistic were at East Lake. Seven of the top 11 in driving distance were at the TOUR Championship, as well. Rory McIlroy led the TOUR with a driving average of 319.8 yards. It’s the second-highest average ever recorded. Hank Kuehne averaged 321.4 yards in 2003. Kuehne finished seven yards ahead of No. 2 John Daly. Only nine players surpassed 300 yards in driving average. A lot has changed in 15 years. McIlroy was less than 1 yard ahead of Trey Mullinax. Sixty-one players averaged 300 or more yards. McIlroy, Koepka and Johnson each hit more than 60 percent of their tee shots longer than 300 yards. More than 30 percent of their tee shots went longer than 320 yards. 7. FRANCESCO’S CAREER YEAR It’s never too late to join the ranks of the big hitters. Francesco Molinari showed us that with his career year in 2018. Molinari has long been a world-class player, but he joined the ranks of the game’s elite this year, and increased driving distance played a large part in his ascension. Molinari, 35, has gained nearly 20 yards in the past three years, including a nine-yard gain since last season. He did it by hitting the gym – “I was more of a couch guy,â€� he said – and tweaking his swing and equipment. Molinari also is hitting his irons about 8 yards farther. How important is an extra 20 yards off the tee? Mark Broadie, the inventor of the Strokes Gained: Statistics, said it can decrease a player’s score by three strokes per tournament. Molinari picked up his first PGA TOUR win (Quicken Loans National), his first major (Open Championship) and qualified for the TOUR Championship for the first time. He had four worldwide wins before this year. He won three times in 2018, including the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship. Molinari also credited this season’s success to putting instructor Phil Kenyon, with whom he started working earlier this year, and performance coach Dave Aldred. 8. ANCHORS UP The USGA’s anchor ban took effect on Jan. 1, 2016. Two years later, we saw two players whose careers were derailed by the ban re-enter the winner’s circle. Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley both won for the first time in years. Simpson did it with a record-setting performance at THE PLAYERS. It was his first win since October 2013. Bradley’s win at the BMW Championship was his first since 2012. Ironically, they both led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting during their win. Both players now use the arm-lock method, where the putter’s shaft runs up their left arm. Simpson’s win at THE PLAYERS inspired Bradley to keep persevering with the new putter. “Webb, to me, he’s my idol,â€� Bradley said. “I always tell him, everything he does is perfect. I love the guy. And what I saw him do at THE PLAYERS was inspiring for me because not only did he win the tournament and putt well, but he’s putting better than he did with the belly putter.â€� 9. JT’S DEFENSE This season, Justin Thomas authored the best defense in the FedExCup’s history. He won three times – the CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, The Honda Classic and World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational – en route to a seventh-place finish in the FedExCup. He was just the second player to finish in the top 10 of the FedExCup in the season following his victory. So much for concerns about how Thomas would follow up his career year of 2017, when he won five times, including the PGA Championship. Thomas sought out Jordan Spieth after the season for advice on how to deal with the increased pressure and expectations that follow such a successful season. No one has won more over the last two years than Thomas. This season may not have included a major, but Thomas was proud of his increased “It’s been a really consistent year, and I take a lot of pride in that,â€� said Thomas, who finished in the top 25 in 20 of 23 starts, including 10 top-10s. “I feel like I’ve gotten better as a player this year. I don’t have as many wins and I didn’t win a major, but statistically I think I’ve improved in about every category, which is huge.â€� Below, find some noteworthy numbers and statistics from last season. Every shot on the PGA TOUR is important. More than one-third of PGA TOUR events were either decided in a playoff or won by a single stroke. The average margin of victory was 2.4 strokes. The largest winning margin was eight shots. Dustin Johnson (Sentry Tournament of Champions), Francesco Molinari (Quicken Loans National) and Michael Kim (John Deere Classic) each won by a touchdown and two-point conversion. There were 37 scores of 62 or lower this season, highlighted by Brandt Snedeker’s 59 at the Wyndham Championship. Snedeker is one of five players to shoot 62 or lower multiple times this season. Kevin Na is the only player to do it three times. Na and Fleetwood did it multiple times in the same event. 59, Brandt Snedeker: Wyndham Championship, first round 62, Brandt Snedeker: FedEx St. Jude Classic, second round 61, Kevin Na: Fort Worth Invitational, fourth round 62, Kevin Na: Fort Worth Invitational, first round 62, Kevin Na: BMW Championship, second round 61, Webb Simpson: A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, first round 62, Webb Simpson: Wyndham Championship, fourth round 62, Brian Gay: AT&T Byron Nelson, second round 62, Brian Gay: Wyndham Championship, third round 62, Tommy Fleetwood: BMW Championship, second round 62, Tommy Fleetwood: BMW Championship, third round Lowest 72-hole scores 257 (27-under), Michael Kim, (63-64-64-66), John Deere Classic 259 (21-under), Francesco Molinari, (67-65-65-62), Quicken Loans National 259 (21-under), Brandt Snedeker, (59-67-68-65), Wyndham Championship 260 (20-under), Justin Rose, (66-64-66-64), Fort Worth Invitational 260 (20-under), Justin Rose, (66-63-64-67), BMW Championship 260 (20-under), Keegan Bradley, (66-64-66-64), BMW Championship Low finish by a winner 62 (8-under), Francesco Molinari, Quicken Loans National 63 (7-under), Bubba Watson, Travelers Championship 64 (8-under), Rory McIlroy, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard 64 (7-under), Gary Woodland, Waste Management Phoenix Open 64 (6-under), Justin Rose, Fort Worth Invitational 64 (6-under), Kevin Na, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier 64 (6-under), Keegan Bradley, BMW Championship Largest 54-hole lead 7 strokes, Webb Simpson, THE PLAYERS Championship 6 strokes, Dustin Johnson, World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions* 5 strokes, Ryan Armour, Sanderson Farms Championship 5 strokes, Michael Kim, John Deere Classic * – Did not win Biggest come-from-behind victory (entering final round) 8 strokes, Justin Rose, WGC-HSBC Champions 6 strokes, Satoshi Kodaira, RBC Heritage 6 strokes, Bubba Watson, Travelers Championship 5 strokes, Paul Casey, Valspar Championship Most consecutive rounds of par or better 24, Patrick Reed 24, Justin Thomas

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MELBOURNE, Australia – My colleagues at the PGA TOUR still laugh about it to this day. For me, though, it was no laughing matter. It was Saturday afternoon in the media center at Liberty National in New Jersey during the 2017 Presidents Cup. The U.S. team were in the middle of an epic performance, demolishing the Internationals at almost every turn. In fact, it was almost over before Sunday Singles even arrived. There I was … slumped in a chair, a defeated man. Some say they could see tears. I don’t know about that, but I was certainly drained of my usual enthusiasm, which many can attest is strong – and perhaps occasionally over-the-top — in patriotic matters. PRESIDENTS CUP: Match previews for Day 1 | Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Data-driven Els | What will Tiger be like as captain? | Inside Internationals’ win in 1998 | Quiz: Who should you support? Now you can argue I shouldn’t have cared that much. Should’ve been more objective – or at least less partisan. Or maybe that I should have even expected defeat, given the one-sidedness of this event. But I am a very proud Australian and have always been a passionate supporter of the Internationals in the Presidents Cup. Even with an American wife and two American-born (but dual citizen) children, my loyalty remains tied to the Internationals. And so – having been so adamant we could and would win at the start of the week – I was, at least for a little while, broken. And so here we are again. Two years later and now in my home country. Pretty much everyone says the Internationals can’t win again. The Americans are stacked … look at the world rankings … the Internationals haven’t won since 1998 … Tiger Woods is the U.S. captain and he won’t lose. It’s true, the reasons are vast. But this is not the time for me – or anyone else who bleeds International – to give up on hope. This is not the time to be the broken man I was. This is the time to believe again. Truly believe. Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in his prime. Remember the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics? There is always a path to victory in a two-horse race and here it is for Captain Ernie Els and his underdog team. 1. PLAYERS MUST BELIEVE IN THE DATA Els has shaken things up in terms of pairings for his team. With the Internationals’ 1-10-1 record in the competition, Els figured something drastic had to change. So gone are the gut feelings and player-requested matchups. Els crunched the numbers with the gurus who helped Europe win the Ryder Cup in Paris. And despite the fact they are not what he thought they’d be, he’s running with it. Now the key is getting the players to believe in it. “Everyone has bought in completely. This is the way it’s happening, and that’s more important than anything else I think; that everybody believes that they are with the right guy and everybody’s out in the right groups and the captain’s got a plan,â€� assistant captain Geoff Ogilvy said Wednesday. “With so much information we have … you’d be silly not to access that. There’s been good results from other teams, and others doing it this way. So far, so good. I think everyone really is liking the process.â€� It would help to get off to a fast start Thursday to reinforce the approach. The first day may be the most critical this week. 2. FANS CAN’T BE STAR-STRUCK The Internationals are imploring the local Australian fans to get behind them. This doesn’t mean simply cheering loudly for the home team. This also means ignoring the opposition and making a challenging – but still respectful – environment. Not only is this outside the norms of golf, it’s particularly hard for Australian fans given they rarely ever see the American stars up-close like this. It may even be the last time they see Tiger Woods live. As former International Presidents Cupper Frank Nobilo said on Golf Channel this week, “Tiger is going to be treated like a rock star.â€� It’s easy for fans to forget he’s not supposed to be the winning captain this week. If the Internationals are to really feed off the crowd, the crowd has to adapt. If you are a New York Jets fan, do you cheer for the Patriots when they score? Obviously not. That same kind of attitude would be very welcome for one week. It certainly was hostile in New Jersey the other way around two years ago. “The crowd is going to help if they get on our side a little bit. I think it was quite lonely for us at Liberty sometimes with those mega-roars for them and crickets for us sometimes. It’s difficult to play in that environment,â€� Ogilvy said. “Hopefully that environment shows up a little bit here. That’s clearly an advantage, when you feel like you have got 20,000 members of your team, as opposed to 12, I think that really, really helps. I think that’s more powerful.â€� As for the Tiger factor, especially in the first Four-Ball match out on Thursday? “He’s gonna get respectful cheers,â€� Ogilvy said. “We just want it lopsided like when we play over there. Thursday or Friday, everybody will be excited to see Tiger play. They’re all heroes. Rickie Dustin, everyone watches them every week. Once we get into the tournament and we make putts, our cheers get bigger. And those cheers grow and escalate. “We need the crowd to buy into us.â€� 3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HOME COURSE Royal Melbourne is sandbelt golf. A different style where length is not always the advantage, thanks to hard and fast greens and a design that punishes anyone who doesn’t respect the correct angles of attack. With Els, the Internationals have a Royal Melbourne specialist. He won the Heineken Classic at the course in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and was runner-up in 2005. In 2004 he opened with a 12-under 60, still the course record today. The team also has Ogilvy. He grew up playing Victoria Golf Club just down the road and has played Royal Melbourne more times than he can remember. Add Adam Scott, an honorary member at the course, and Marc Leishman, who is also from the wider area and there is significant course knowledge to tap in to. “If we ever feel like we have a slightly higher level of comfort with a golf course, it’s here,â€� Scott said. “Ernie, the assistants and the guys who have played here have really settled our first timers to Royal Melbourne nicely. I’m very optimistic.â€� 4. MAKE ROOKIES A PLUS There are seven rookies on the International Team. And with an average age of 29.8, it’s the youngest team in Presidents Cup history. So yes, there is inexperience. On the flip side, there’s less scar tissue and more raw enthusiasm. The youngsters aren’t haunted by the memories of past failures, especially from two years ago. The youthful infusion can rub off on the older guys. “I think when you look at some of the guys like Scotty and Hideki and Louis that have been around for a while, in a certain way it’s given them a little bit of life, too, to find some guys that they really can mentor and show them around, particularly on a golf course like this,â€� said assistant captain Trevor Immelman. “You know, maybe just a fresh perspective and maybe a little bit of a new energy and we’ll see what happens Added Ogilvy: “The young guys are just bouncing out of their skin to come play. The excitement level is just contagious.â€� 5. RIDE THE NEW RULES Els successfully argued a change in the rules for the competition this time around that could potentially work in his favor. It is now required for each player to only play one of the four team sessions before Singles on Sunday. If he needs to, Els can hide out-of-form players much better now. That could help negate the fact that 10 of the 12 U.S. players are ranked higher in the world rankings than the highest-ranked International. 6. PLAY YOUR BEST (DUH!) At the end of the day, this is what it all comes down to. Only Louis Oosthuizen has a personal winning Presidents Cup record on the International Team. More Americans have played closer to top form. Argue if you must about any disparity in talent level, but that assumes all players will have their ‘A’ game this week. The deeper American team might have a better chance of winning without bringing their best, but the Internationals don’t have that luxury. It’s why, as mentioned earlier, Els is taking a different approach. “If the Internationals just went strength with strength, we know on paper they are going to lose,â€� Nobilo said. “To a certain degree when you look at this, Ernie Els thinks the only way they can win is that they have to roll the dice.â€� Yet, they can negate that reliance on luck and risk-taking by simply playing well. Every golfer inside the top 100 in the world has a legitimate shot in beating a top-10 player on any given day. It’s why the No. 1 seed doesn’t always win the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play each year, or why the top point producer in the regular season doesn’t just roll to the FedExCup title each season. At their best, the International Team has a chance. It’s a big ask, to be sure, but Els’ team is full of great stars and they have all proven good enough to best their American counterparts. In all the Presidents Cups played outside North America, the Internationals have actually fared half-decent. There was the win at Royal Melbourne in 1998, a tie in South Africa in 2003, a loss at Royal Melbourne in 2011 and a very tight loss in South Korea in 2015. Points-wise, due mainly to the big 1998 win, the Internationals lead 67-63 in points in those four Presidents Cups. Sure it is drawing somewhat of a long bow but clearly the U.S. team is more vulnerable after lengthy travel and on foreign soil. “Look, at the end of the day, the talk is cheap,â€� Immelman said. “We’re going to have to get out there and play some of the best golf of their lives if they want to have a shot at beating an amazing American Team. It’s going to be a lot of fun for us to watch over the next few days.â€� Indeed. If the Internationals bring their best, they can win. When that happens, you won’t see me slumped in any chair. In fact you might just have to hold me back from a victory lap.

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