Mikes Diary - Presidents Cup Preview

This week, before playing the Deutsche Bank Championship, I took a little side trip to Montreal to play the Royal Montreal Golf Club, site of this year's Presidents Cup. The course underwent some big changes in preparation for the event and I wanted to have a look since I hadn't played there for some time.

After touring around, I was impressed with what I saw. The course is certainly longer and the fairways are more generous than they used to be and they aren't so pinched in at the doglegs as I remembered them. I recall that if you were just a yard or so off the fairway at the doglegs, you almost had no shot. I found the greens on the back side to be a little more severe than the front but overall, I liked the changes. It will be a good test for the two teams.

Unlike a Canadian or U.S. Open, I'm not expecting them to set up the course extremely difficult. It's not a stroke-play event so you want the players to make some birdies and have some excitement. I'm sure they'll do a good job with Royal.

For me, being on this team is a real honour. I actually thought Gary Player had chosen someone else as I didn't hear anything about being picked on the Sunday night after the PGA Championship. I woke up the next morning believing I would be watching the event and then about five minutes before the teleconference to announce the captain's picks, my phone rang and assistant captain Ian Baker-Finch was on the line to give me the good news. It was all very sudden but certainly welcome.

I love the Presidents Cup and with it being in Canada, I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of the team. Maybe it's my years of growing up playing team sports, but I get charged up for this event. I've noticed that compared to the other guys on the team, I get a little more fired up. It just brings out the best in me and I've always enjoyed the idea having a partner and playing that format.

I was asked a lot yesterday about whether I'd like to play Tiger Woods in the singles matches on Sunday. That would be cool, very cool, but the bottom line is whomever is playing really well that week is going to be playing Tiger. I can't speak for Gary, but in 2000, Peter Thomson told me that if we went to a playoff, I was going to be the guy. Even though I wasn't one of the higher-ranked players, I was probably playing the best on the team. You just kind of wait and see who's really on form that week and go from there. Obviously it would be a great challenge playing Tiger, we all know what he can do but I'd love to do it.

The singles matches are just one part, though. The foursomes and fourballs make up most of the event and how we get paired up is a big job for Gary. He talks to us about who we want to play with and what makes sense and then he makes his decisions. He's asked us to give him some thoughts now and when we get to Montreal on Monday, we'll have a pretty good idea of who we're going to play with. In fact, you can usually tell just by seeing who we play with during the practice rounds.
 
For me personally, there's a few guys I'd enjoy playing with. Where I've had success in the team format is playing with players who are similar. I think Nick Price and I played really well together. I think we were 3-0 in our time together and our success was probably because our games were the same. I think guys like K.J. or Trevor or Nick O'Hern would be good fits for me. They have similar games to mine being position players but I'll play with anyone.

One thing I'm hoping for is lots of fan support. I think it's going to be great for me being the Canadian guy but I think there will be support for both teams. Being so close to the border, I expect a lot of Americans will make the trip to cheer on their side. Hopefully the Canadian fans will give a boost to our squad. I think we have a really good chance to win this thing and the fan support could be the difference.

Overall, this event is a great showcase for golf. It's been friendlier than some past Ryder Cups and to me, that's the way it should be. Maybe some people want more of that edge, that us-versus-them thing, but to me that's not what golf is about. It's competition. You want to beat the guy but it's not like hockey, you're not trying to knock his teeth out. It's totally different. I think the way Jack and Gary summed it up in South Africa when they shook hands when it was a tie said a lot. That was a perfect example of what this has become.

Now it's off to Boston for the second round of the FedEx Cup. I think for the first year, the Playoffs are doing just fine. If I have any observation, it's that there's not enough movement in the points. If a guy misses a cut, he doesn't move much. Conversely, you have to really finish up high just to move a few spots. So I think they might have to address that and perhaps a few other small things. But for the most part, it's OK for year one. The best thing to do would be to get through this year and then take a good look at it and see what worked and what might need to change. I think it's important that if they do make changes, we all understand what's going on at the beginning of the year so there aren't any questions when it comes time to start.
 
As always, thanks for your support.

Mike