🏆 The Course Horse With A Partner Problem
Presidents Cup Preview | Stats, Trends & More!
🏆 The Course Horse With A Partner Problem
Presidents Cup Preview | Stats, Trends & More!
In this week’s RunGood RunDown:
Optimal Lineup From Fortinet Championship
Long History of American Dominance
The Path To Quail Hollow Success
It’s All About Opporuntity
Rick’s Picks For Pairings
Tip of the week (RRG Website)
The Course Horse With A Partner Problem
The Coattail Riding Canadian
International To Carry The Load
Know The Schedule
🏆 Last Week’s Optimal
This is the second consecutive start for Max Homa in which is he appeared in the optimal lineup.
💸 American Domination
In the 13 editions of the Presidents Cup, the United States has lost just once (1998) and sports an 11-1-1 record all-time. They are currently in the midst of streak of eight consecutive wins.
The last time the United States lost a Presidents Cup, The Waterboy was in theaters. Fun Fact: The Waterboy grossed $150,042,308 in 1998 — the 5th highest grossing film of the year.
💣 Hit It Like Happy
Quail Hollow has always been partial to the best drivers on TOUR. It is long and demanding meaning Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee will be critical. In fact, SGOTT is the most correlated stat to success at Quail Hollow. It’s nearly 3x as important here as the average PGA TOUR course.
Here is every player with their SGOTT in the Last 50 rounds:
🏫 Go Back To School, Do Your Homework
Remember, this format is completely different than regular weeks! It’s all about volume and which golfers will play the most.
Justin Thomas has played 19/20 possible sessions in four different team events.
Xander Schaffuele has played 8/10 possible sessions and has been paired with Patrick Cantlay in 5/6 possible partner sessions.
Adam Scott has played 44/45 possible sessions in nine different Presidents Cups.
Hideki Matsuyama has played 17/20 possible sessions in four different Presidents Cups.
The International Team doesn’t have the luxury of depth like the Americans so they will lean on their best players, while riding the hot hands. I expect heavy volume from Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im and Corey Conners.
If you’re looking for an x-factor — consider Tom Kim. Captain Immelman sang his praises on the First Cut podcast and he is very valuable in this format.
He’s 20-years old, so fatigue will not be an issue. He’s been acting as a translator for other Korean teammates which makes him a natural fit to play with Sungjae, Si Woo Kim or KH Lee. Finally, he’s damn good! He might just catch fire and make a lot of noise for this team.
💪 If I Were The Big Daddy…
…and they let me choose all the core pairings. It would look something like this:
USA:
Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele
Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth
Collin Morikawa & Max Homa
Scottie Scheffler & Tony Finau
Sam Burns & Billy Horschel
Kevin Kisner & Cameron Young (sorry, Cam)
International:
Sungjae Im & Tom Kim
Adam Scott & Cameron Davis
Corey Conners & Taylor Pendrith
Hideki Matsuyama & Si Woo Kim
Mito Pereira & Sebastian Munoz
Christiaan Bezuidenhout & KH Lee
📊 Tip of the Week: Run Model w/ Captain
Candidly, the Custom Model at RickRunGood.com wasn’t created to handle the one-off Captain Mode that we are seeing this week. However, I’ve loaded it in a way for the same goal to be accomplished.
I’d recommend locking a captain and de-selecting the others before you run lineups. This will ensure that you receive one captain per lineup and the rest of the will be “regular” players. It’ll also ensure that you’re getting the most out of your salary cap.
💡 Golfer Spotlight (USA): Cameron Young
On paper, Cameron Young should be a Presidents Cup force. He’s a dominant driver of the ball (2nd in SGOTT, 3rd in Distance) and puts much better than his long-hitter peers (68th in SGPUTT).
Combine the elite course fit with his ability to make birdies (6th on TOUR) and you’ve got a recipe for a match play stalwart! So what’s the problem?
Ehh — the rest of his team. Where does Young fit into the team side of things? Team USA is a plethora of riches and many of the top players already have a natural partner. Young’s Presidents Cup production will likely be determined by his partner which will drive the opportunity he has to score points.
If Young goes out with Scheffler on Thursday… game on!
If Young sits on Thursday and gets paired with Kisner on Friday… oh boy!
💡 Golfer Spotlight (INTL): Taylor Pendrith
Pendrith has plenty of similarities to Cameron Young — long off-the-tee (10th) and he makes plenty of birdies (26th). Pendrith is nowhere near the putter (134th) that Young is and that matters in match play.
Still, Pendrith’s course fit should be appealing. He also has a partner problem but that could be rectified quickly. Pendrith could be paired with the other Canadian on the team, Corey Conners, which would open up a decent pathway to opportunity for both golfers.
The problem with this — who putts? Both Canadians struggle with the flatstick and would need to ball-strike their way to victory.
💲 Share The Wealth
These team events are all about finding the guys who will play all five sessions. Thanks to the American depth, historically they haven’t required a ton of guys to play all five sessions.
I went back and reviewed the last six international team events — (3) Ryder Cups and (3) Presidents Cups.
In those six events, the Americans had 17 golfers who played all five sessions. The Internationals/Europe had 24 golfers accomplish the feat.
I expect the International team to ride their horses who are most likely to be Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Corey Conners and Sungjae Im.
📝Format Notes
Wednesday 4PM ET: Day 1 Pairings Announced
Thursday: (5) Foursomes Matches — Alternate Shot
Friday: (5) Fourball Matches
Saturday AM: (4) Foursomes Matches — Alternate Shot
Saturday PM: (4) Fourball Matches
Sunday: (12) Singles Matches
Good Luck
Rick