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You don’t ask Ernie Els how his planning is going for December’s Presidents Cup and expect a simple answer.
“We could have 10 nations represent our team. There are a lot of moving parts there. There are a lot of little things that become very important,” Els said in his pretournament press conference for last week’s Zurich Classic on the PGA Tour.
As the captain of the International Team, Els was using last week’s tournament – a rare team event in a Presidents Cup year – to work on everything from player pairings to player bonding ahead of the Presidents Cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Australia, from December 9 to 15, where his team will face off against Tiger Woods’ Americans.
Although all the players who may end up making Els’ team were not in New Orleans last week, Els still took advantage of making sure those in contention stayed in the same hotel and enjoyed a dinner together.
What Els is trying to overcome with some early player bonding is the kind of comment made by Branden Grace when he played in the 2015 edition and declared, “You get guys you spend time with in the Presidents Cup and form a real bond with. Guys like Danny Lee. I knew about his golf but I didn’t know the off-course person. He’s one of the nicest people you’d ever think of meeting.”
Els would prefer his players to know more about each other than what they find out in the week of the event. The Europeans have perfected the art of bonding across cultures for the Ryder Cup, but the Internationals are still trying to discover this sweet spot.
And according to Tony Johnstone, who served as assistant captain to Nick Price in three Presidents Cups, it’s all about those little details.
“We have a great sense of camaraderie in the International Team, but we do have to work harder than the Americans to achieve this because our players are all from different tours and different backgrounds.
“The bottom line is that the International Team in the Presidents Cup never has home ground advantage like the Americans because of all the countries involved. So we need to do a bit extra to get the guys bonded. We need to do everything to make sure they’re comfortable and happy by the time the cup starts on Thursday.
In 12 Presidents Cups to date, the Internationals have beaten the Americans only once and had a famous tie at Fancourt in George in 2003 Otherwise, it’s been a rout that has had many questioning whether the contest is still even a contest. Those questioning its future conveniently forget that in the last 12 Ryder Cups, America have only won three. But the Internationals do desperately need a win against America to reignite interest in the event.
For Els, it’s almost a personal crusade. Of the eight Presidents Cups he has played in, he’s been on the losing team six times. Then came the 19-11 rout at Liberty National Golf Club, New Jersey, US, in 2017, when he was assistant captain to Nick Price. It’s starting to hurt.
Clearly, the big man is getting tired of being pushed around.
