Written by Stephen Moloney (www.twitter.com/TheCheeky9)

Once the singles session last Sunday was followed up with the all-important drinking session to celebrate their comeback win against Ernie Els’ International side in the Presidents Cup, you’d wonder if, at some point between Tiger buying ‘libations’ for everyone and the seventh off-key rendition of “We Are The Champions” since arriving back at the hotel, did Steve Stricker’s mind, just for a second, wander towards Whistling Straits and next year’s Ryder Cup? After all, in his role as one of Tiger’s vice-captains, he’d just spent the previous four days watching, what could very well end up being, the bones of how his American team might look next September performing in an event that was, essentially, a high-pressure ‘dry run’ before Europe rocks up on the shoreline of Lake Michigan in 2020 looking to make it five from a possible six Ryder Cup wins this decade.

And if he did do that – whilst looking wistfully off at Bryson DeChambeau bench-pressing Gary Woodland over his head in a show of strength as impressive as it was somewhat terrifying – I wonder what were some of the positives he was taking from everything he’d seen?

Well, because I can’t read his mind (yet), in an approach not unlike how I’d handle a driveable par 4 with a blind tee shot, I’m just going to have a wild crack at guessing what I think could have been five possible things that will have buoyed Captain Stricker ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup.

Tiger’s Masterclass

The most obvious ‘positive’, but probably one of the most important for Stricker, was the performance of Tiger. The mastery with which he accumulated his perfect 3-0-0 record around the truest of golf examinations that was Royal Melbourne was a sight to behold and belied the otherworldly level at which Woods is able to play when he’s as focused and driven as being Captain of the Presidents Cup team made him. Given you’d expect Woods to be as focused and as driven when it’s his vice-captain’s turn to make the calls next September, Stricker will, not only have a potential points machine on his hands when he chooses to play him, but a legend who’ll have a red-hot crowd chomping at the bit to send loud roars echoing around the Straits and who’ll lead by example for the eleven others that’ll be representing ‘Old Glory’.

A New Pairing ‘Lock’

Heading into the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup, I think, as a captain, the fewer decisions you have to mull over, the better. And what facet of these events causes the biggest headaches of all for captains? What clothes everyone’s going to wear – but after that it’s probably the pairings for the foursomes and fourballs. 

Who gets on well? Who has the potential to dovetail well? Who’s best suited to what format? These are just some of the questions a captain and his ‘brains trust’ of vice-captains have to take into consideration and answer before putting anyone out on the course together to try and win some points.

What makes this whole process a tad easier, however, is having one pairing (more, if you’re lucky) that you know heading into a match will be an absolute lock to put out together, whether it be in the foursomes or fourballs or even both. With Patrick Reed & Jordan Spieth being the last American pairing to have this status, however – with the two of them notching up a very impressive 9½ points from 12 appearances together between Presidents and Ryder Cups – there’s now room for another potential pairing to step up; and, in Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay, I think Stricker has his guys.

If getting the nod from Tiger to play every session of foursomes and fourballs at the Presidents Cup wasn’t enough of an endorsement for the two Californian rookies as a pairing, their record speaks for itself. Now, sure, they went 0 for 2 in the two fourballs matches they played (losing both of them 1UP and 3&2), but they were flawless in their two foursomes matches, racking up wins of 1UP and 2&1 over Joaquin Niemann & Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im & Cameron Smith respectively. Combine that with the fact they then each went on to win their individual singles matches (with Cantlay defeating Niemann and Schauffele seeing off Scott) and you’ve got two solid team guys who I would definitely be pencilling in to get a crack in the opening fourballs session next September and, most certainly, to play both foursomes sessions.

JT’s Statement

Two years from now, when the various golf channels are going about putting video packages together to recap what happened at Royal Melbourne as part of their coverage for the 2021 Presidents Cup, one of the very first clips they’ll be dragging and dropping into ‘Final Cut Pro’ will be from the Foursomes on Day 2 when, after sinking a putt to see him and Tiger win their match against Hideki Matsuyama & Byeong Hun An on the 18th, a pumped-up-to-the-eyeballs Justin Thomas dropped his putter and did his best Terrell Owens impression to an equally pumped-up-to-the-eyeballs Tiger.

Now, as much as it was a great moment that captured the sheer intensity and passion that team events like the Presidents Cup evokes in players, what I think it showed – or perhaps ‘confirmed’ is a more apt word – is that Justin Thomas is ready to step up and be “the guy” for the American team. You can tell that he wants those tough pairings; that he wants the onus put on him to go out and put some red on the board; and, most importantly, that he wants those big pressure putts.

And whilst it’s all well and good to want to assume that mantle and “want the ball”, so to say, you have to show that you can actually deliver if you do get it – and, looking at his numbers, Justin Thomas has shown that he can do just that. From the three team events that he’s played in (Presidents Cup ‘17 & ‘19, Ryder Cup ‘18) he has an overall record of 10-3-2, which is good for an impressive total of 11 points from a possible 15 – with 3½ of those coming in Australia alone.

So, if I’m Steve Stricker and I’m looking at those numbers, I know that if I’m wondering who to send out in the very first match on the, always electric, opening morning next September, the only question I really have to ask myself is, “Ok, so who’s going out with JT?”.

Rickie’s Gut-Check

When Rickie got the call to replace Brooks Koepka in the Presidents Cup team – after the latter got into a fight with some wet concrete and, unfortunately, hurt the knee he’d only recently had a medical procedure on – it was one of those decisions where I said it was something of a strange one, for, it was both the conservative choice, yet at the same time, a bit of a risk. It was conservative because … well, it’s Rickie Fowler, a guy with four Ryder Cup appearances and – before last week made it three – two Presidents Cup appearances under his belt. But what made it somewhat risky was the fact that, before playing in the Hero World Challenge the week before the Presidents Cup, he hadn’t played competitively since the Tour Championship back in August, but, on top of that, he was also recovering from an intestinal bacteria infection that he’d picked up on his honeymoon.

Either way, as it transpired, there was no need to worry about Fowler as he went unbeaten at Royal Melbourne and clocked up a total of 2½ points from the 4 he played for – so, not a bad haul for someone who was only able to practice for the bones of four months and had to deal with a nasty dose of the runs in the same time.

As for why this is, ultimately, good news for Steve Stricker? Well, if it comes to next September and Rickie, for whatever reason, hasn’t automatically qualified for the Ryder Cup team, then, unless he’s after spending the entirety of 2020 ‘shanking’ his way from event to event, Stricker can feel safe in the knowledge that, because of what he saw down in Australia, he could spend one of his ‘picks’ on Fowler and he’d come in and do a job for him – and, again, the easier that decisions are to make, the better for a captain.

The Missing Ingredient

Now, whilst we can never say for certain what would have happened if Brooks Koepka hadn’t slipped on that aforementioned wet concrete and, as a result, had been able to tee it up at Royal Melbourne, I think we can reasonably assume that, given he’s the current World No.1, the overall year he’s had and just the sheer calibre of player that he is, his presence wouldn’t have exactly “hampered” the American effort to insure the Presidents Cup made the return flight back to the States.

But I think his absence, in a roundabout way, ended up being something of a plus for Steve Stricker. I mean, over the course of those four days in Australia, he saw a strong American team fall behind, hang in there at vital times with some clutch performances and then rally on the final day to overturn a deficit and win the cup … without Brooks. So, again, if I’m Stricker, I’ve surely got to be thinking to myself that, yeah, I’ve got the makings of a really strong team here – a team that’s had the galvanising experience of what they accomplished down in Australia – but, chances are, I still get to go and add one of our best players into that mix come next September; someone who’s a proven winner; someone who’s a powerful, yet accurate, striker; someone who’s a good putter; and someone who’s incredibly versatile in both foursomes and fourballs.

In other words, right now, Steve Stricker can look at the American team that won down in Australia without Koepka as being a lot like the Avengers in the Battle of Wakanda – they’re really good, but they’ll be even better once Thor returns.

And maybe – just maybe – of those five things, that thought might just be the one that makes Steve Stricker the happiest of all … and perhaps Pádraig Harrington the most wary.

Title Photo Credit: ‘www.skysports.com’