International team shaping up for future dominance
By Craig Dolch, Special to PGATOUR.COM
It's a good thing for the Europeans the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup has no direct impact on the Ryder Cup. Otherwise, the Euros would see a quick end to the domination they've recently enjoyed in the biennial competition.
Just two Europeans -- Sergio Garcia of Spain (No. 3) and Carl Pettersson (No. 17) of Sweden -- were among the 30 who qualified for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola at East Lake in two weeks.
And Pettersson, the recent winner of the PGA TOUR's Wyndham Championship, didn't even make the European team.
Heck, as many golfers from South America (Colombia's Camilo Villegas and Andres Romero of Argentina) made THE TOUR Championship as golfers from Europe.
By comparison, more than half the 30 players to qualify for THE TOUR Championship -- 17, to be exact -- are Americans: No. 4 Jim Furyk, No. 6 Anthony Kim, No. 7 Justin Leonard, No. 9 Phil Mickelson, No. 10 Ben Curtis, No. 11 Kevin Sutherland, No. 12 Steve Stricker, No. 13 Kenny Perry, No. 14 Dudley Hart, No. 15 Stewart Cink, No. 16 Hunter Mahan, No. 22 Ken Duke, No. 24 Briny Baird, No. 25 D.J. Trahan, No. 28 Billy Mayfair, No. 29 Bubba Watson and No. 30 Chad Campbell.
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Fact is, only two other Europeans -- No. 44 Fredrik Jacobson and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington (No. 50) made the top 50 in the FedExCup standings. By comparison, there were 30 Americans in this group.
Does that mean the Europeans have no chance in next week's Ryder Cup at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville? Of course not. Especially with the world's best player still hobbling around his Orlando-area home. There's a reason why the Europeans have won the last three Ryder Cups and five of the last six matches -- they've simply played better than the Americans during that three-day stretch every two years.
With golf being the fickle game that is it, all that matters is how the 24 players perform at Valhalla next week. Not what they did last week.
In fairness to the Europeans, one of the reasons why so few of them are ranked highly in the FedExCup standings is many of their players have re-arranged their schedules to play more in Europe to try to make the Ryder Cup team.
When you think about it, though, perhaps neither the Europeans nor the Americans have the best international team. If you go by recent results, it's the International team that plays the U.S. next year at the Presidents Cup in San Francisco that's shining the brightest.
The International team boasts the FedExCup winner, Vijay Singh -- as long as he can walk 72 holes at East Lake -- as well as the current No. 2, Villegas. Besides Harrington, who won the British Open and PGA Championship, Singh is the only other top player who has stepped up his game in Woods' absence.
International captain Greg Norman also should be pleased to know Canadian Mike Weir is fifth in the FedExCup standings, giving him three of the top five. The other Internationals in the top 30 are No. 8 K.J. Choi of South Korea, No. 18 Robert Allenby of Australia, No. 19 Trevor Immelman from South Africa, No. 20 Stuart Appleby of Australia, No. 21 Ernie Els and No. 23 Tim Clark of South Africa, No. 26 Ryuji Imada of Japan and No. 27 Romero.
With the exception of Imada and Romero, the other International players in the top 30 are all experienced in match-play team competition. In other words, expect to see many of these same names at next year's Presidents Cup.
While the Americans and Europeans are searching for leaders for next week's competition with Woods sidelined and Colin Montgomerie not making the European team after eight consecutive appearances, the International team has no shortage of take-charge guys. Start at the top with Singh, who allowed his former caddie, Paul Tesori, to wear "Tiger who?" on his hat when he played Woods in a singles match at the 2000 Presidents Cup.
Singh and Weir provide the quiet stability, with Villegas adding a dash of excitement.
Let's put it this way: When three-time major champion Ernie Els is eighth in the FedExCup standings among International players, that's a pretty good team.
Some purists will dismiss the significance of the current FedExCup standings because they are too volatile and determined in a three-week stretch. But with the pressure on in the last month, these players have performed the best.
Kind of like what happens in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.
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