Adam Scott has slammed the US PGA Tour’s decision to keep the current Presidents Cup format and says the competition will lose credibility and relevance if the International team doesn’t win this time.
Masters champion Scott will spearhead the International team in the biennial contest against the United States on October 3-6 at Muirfield Village in Ohio seeking yet again to end overwhelming US dominance.
Since the team competition’s inception in 1994 the Americans have won seven of nine clashes with one tie.
The only International win came way back in 1998 at Royal Melbourne.
“It’s vital, it think it’s crucial,” Scott said on the importance of victory.
“If the international team doesn’t win I think the Cup loses any credibility whatsoever because it’s essentially an exhibition, it’s not a competition.
“I’ve been in five and haven’t won one. I think it’s crucial we start winning or as I said, it looks like an exhibition and it has little relevance to me and that’s not good because it’s a great event.”
Nick Price, captaining the International team for the first time, tried to have the format changed to have less points on offer, similar to the Ryder Cup, the historic and enormously successful battle between Europe and the US.
In the Ryder Cup, not all players play in the team sessions, allowing for closer competition, but in the President’s Cup all players must play in every session, exposing the Internationals’ lack of depth.
“I think it is disappointing that Nick’s suggestions weren’t considered,” Scott said firmly.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with playing a Ryder Cup style format which seems to get an incredible result every time.
“I don’t think there is a team sport in the world where everyone has to go out on the field, you always have a bench.
“There is some strategy in that. If you are hiding your weak players, that’s the strategy you’re using, or if you don’t have (a weak player) you have to sit good players which is very tough.”
The International team is chosen on the basis of world rankings with the top 10 non-American or European players at September 2 gaining automatic selection before Price gets to choose two wildcards.
South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Ernie Els, Branden Grace, Richard Sterne and Tim Clark plus Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera currently join Scott and Jason Day as the top 10 players.
In a sign of the US team quality and depth, they currently have more than double the players ahead of Clark in the world rankings, including four of the top seven players in the world.
