Brennan's Blog - Presidents Cup

In a sport that is such an individual game, it is not that often that we get to play on teams like we do this week at the Presidents Cup.  The last Presidents Cup was help in Montreal and what a great job they did hosting the event.  The atmosphere was one of the best I have been apart of in my eleven years on Tour.  Unfortunately as a team we were so far behind the last day that we really didn't have much of a chance to win the Cup so that was a little disappointing. 

This year's event is being held in San Francisco at Harding Park which last hosted a World Golf Event in 2005.  Although it is a municipal course, it is still a very good course. 

One of the big differences about playing here or anywhere near the water is that the ball doesn't travel nearly as far as normal.  There is obviously no elevation but also the air is much heavier and the ball just seems to go nowhere.  This course really isn't that long so I don't think yardage will be that big of a factor.  Like all match play events, momentum is going to play a big role.  Four our team to be successful we have to get off to a good start in foursomes or alternate shot format.  This is where we have been soundly beaten the past few Cups and it is a must for us not to fall so far behind if we plan on winning.

In the fourball matches we seem to play a lot better than the Americans. I really don't have any explanation of why we play so poorly in foursomes and so well in fourball.  Hopefully Greg Norman, our captain, will have an answer for it!  The bottom line is that you have to play good golf.  You can have all kinds of strategy for winning but the key is to simply play better than your opponents.

One of the great things about the week is getting to hang out with all the guys in our International Team House.  Each team has their own hospitality area where we eat breakfast and lunch.  There is also a ping pong table and some video games for the guys to play while we have some time to kill.  The team travels together to and from the hotel in one bus to build camaraderie-really the only time all year we do this sort of thing.  At the hotel where everyone stays, the caddies also have a hospitality area there where they have a TV, snacks, and drinks and just a fun area for all of the guys to hang out at night.  The event is organized and run in a first class manner and they make you feel very special for being part of the International Team.

It is amazing how much attention Ryo Isikawa draws from the Japanese media.  On the range today there must have been 100 cameras focused on him.  This is far more than any other player on our team and I am willing to bet more than Tiger had today.  I have never seen anything like it and can only imagine what this kid has to feel like dealing with that attention at such a young age.  I think this will be a great stepping stone for him and I expect him to play some very good golf!

Overall this is meant to be a fun week with some great competition.  I hope we can come out on the winning end this year and bring the Cup back to the International side!

As always, thanks for the support
Brennan