Americans will stroll through Harding Park

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Recent major winners Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink bolster an American squad that is strong and deep.

On paper -- or here in cyberspace -- it looks like the red-white-and-blue will be leading a host of colorful flags to the shredder at The Presidents Cup.

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Why the Int'l team will win

Australian golf writer Bruce Matthews opines for the International Team, a squad loaded with young talent and experienced major winners at Harding Park. Click here for story

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At least on paper, this should be an absolute disaster for the Greg Norman's International Team. They are outgunned, out-manned and out-numbered in every way possible. This should be like one of those early season college basketball games where Carolina or Kansas plays Campbell. It should be ... but it won't. We all know that. It should be a walkover but it will be a battle in spite of the overwhelming numbers.

Still, there are some things to consider. Let's start with the fact that there is only one player ranked in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking on the International Team. Geoff Ogilvy stands 10th behind five of the players from the U.S. who won two years ago in Montreal and then validated that win with a victory in the Ryder Cup last year. All but one of the 12 players on the U.S. is ranked 25th or better while seven of the International players are ranked below that number. That includes both of Greg Norman's Captain's Picks -- Ryo Ishikawa, who rose nine spots after winning his fourth Japan Tour event on Sunday, and Adam Scott, who fell to 65th.

Of course, there are exactly two people and a dozen computers that understand how the world ranking system works so let's move on. There is no disputing the recent playing record of the Americans. All four events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup were won by Americans -- and one of them is not even on the team. Phil Mickelson won THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Tiger Woods captured the BMW Championship on the way to winning the FedExCup and Steve Stricker's victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship proved once again that he just isn't going to go away.

The International side has two guys who won multiple tournaments on the PGA TOUR this year. Quick, can you name them? It is not the two future World Golf Hall of Famers, Ernie Els or Retief Goosen. It's not even the only guy on either side that is already in the Hall, Vijay Singh. The two multiple winners are Ogilvy and Y.E. Yang, who hit the two best golf shots of the year at the PGA Championship.

Nearly half the American team won multiple times this year with five players combining for 16 victories and a total of 20 wins for the entire team. Throw in a couple of major champions, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, and the U.S. team looks unbeatable. The only Presidents Cup rookies carrying the Stars and Stripes are Anthony Kim and Sean O'Hair. In spite of his brashness and overwhelming confidence, A.K. showed he can be a team player at last year's Ryder Cup where he was one of several youthful catalysts for the victorious Americans. And questions about Sean O'Hair's game were answered a long time ago.

The International squad, on the other hand, boasts three rookies. Camilo Villegas and Ishikawa are the young guns while Y. E. Yang falls more in the veteran rookie category. And only four players on Norman's team have PGA TOUR wins this year, a total of six combined, although Yang and Angel Cabrera won the other two major championships.

One of the many things that differentiate The Presidents Cup from the Ryder Cup is the fact that a struggling player can't be hidden or sidelined. On Thursday and Friday everyone plays. On Saturday there are two sets of five matches, morning Foursomes and afternoon Four-ball, where a couple of players from each side will get a rest. In the Ryder Cup the only time all 24 Americans and Europeans are in action at the same time is on Sunday for the Singles.

Woods

I bring up the format because it is probably the most decisive chunk of evidence that points toward a U.S. rout. Every American is playing great golf. Anyone on the International Team want to take on Woods or Mickelson or Stricker right now?

The answer to that question is yes, though, because they have nothing to lose -- and that's the most dangerous opponent in any sport. The International side has seven guys who have won majors in the last 10 years -- led by a resurgent Els and Goosen and a gritty pair in Weir and Ogilvy. In spite of evidence to the contrary they are not going to lay down, but it still won't be enough.

The knock on every team not from Europe is the suggestion that there is little team chemistry -- and that can certainly be true when you are talking about a group of guys from various points on the globe. But there is no more unifying aspect in sports than that of a prohibitive underdog. So what if Adam Scott forgot that he was Adam Scott earlier this year and Ishikawa has never beaten anyone on this side of the Pacific? And who cares if there is a chance that the sun is beginning to set on Singh's career or that Tim Clark has figured out more ways not to win on the PGA TOUR than anyone else over the last decade?

The problem with be an underdog is that you are an underdog for a reason. It will take every bit of that possible unification and then some for this International squad to have a chance. It is not just that the Americans are playing great, it is the fact that the International contingent isn't playing well at all. Prior to Yang's victory at the PGA the last TOUR win among the Internationals was Cabrera's at the Masters. Granted, the kid from Japan has won four times on his home tour this summer -- including on Sunday -- but the last I heard Tiger, Phil and the rest of the Americans weren't in the field. It is scary to think that he may be playing better than anyone on his team right now. If the matches had been played late spring or early summer it would have looked pretty good for the Internationals. But that was months ago, and more than a dozen victories later for the Americans.

It has been more than a decade since the Americans lost The Presidents Cup. And all of that was going on while the U.S. team was being embarrassed every other year by the Europeans. Now, every player on the American team but Sean O'Hair has won either the Presidents Cup or the Ryder Cup -- and most of them have now won both.

All signs point to a good old-fashioned Team USA white-washing. Obviously there is the small matter of actually playing the matches but that may just be a formality. Let's hope that the victory party lives up to its billing and that they don't let Michael Jordan give the victory speech.

Former PGA TOUR player John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.