If you look at the history of the President’s Cup, you will see that the International Team has never had anything shiny to bring to their families in the last 20 years. With the exception of 1996 and 2003, when they had to share the Cup, the International Team has a record of all losses to Team USA. If you were International Team Captain Mike Weir, wouldn’t you be a little disturbed by that?

However, Weir takes a more optimistic approach, “I think the guys are hungry,” he said in an interview on Sirius XM, citing their veteran players who have performed well in the PGA Tour this year. “As a competitor, you get tired of it… We’ve got two veteran guys on the team in Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott who have been part of the team a long time and haven’t won, so those guys are very motivated.”

The sentiment is particularly descriptive of Adam Scott, who has never been on the winning side. His rookie year in the Cup was 2003 when the Cup was tied, and he has played in nine Presidents Cups since, losing each time.

Mike Weir knows they have a chance too. He said, “We’ve been super competitive in the last few years but competitive and winning are different. We’ve been right there but we haven’t won.” In 2019, the Internationals lost by only two points, and in 2015 they lost by one point. Last time, in 2022, the Internationals lost by five points.

Weir also mentioned that he has been making efforts to get the team to gel better than in previous years. He noted that there used to be groupings of Australians or South Koreans, but now they all hang out together so that they know the player they are playing with a little better. This includes more practice rounds together and more team dinners.

Another way to gain an advantage in a team event is to get the crowd going for you. Since the Cup is taking place at Royal Montreal Golf Club, this may be why Weir has picked three Canadians for his team.

The most Canadians in the President’s Cup team

With the makeup of the International team being so disparate, it is a good idea to give the crowd a little bit of patriotism to cheer for. The Canadians who have made the team—Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, and Taylor Pendrith—will be the main focus for the Canadian locals who will come to support the team in Montreal. This team marks the year that the most Canadians have played in the Presidents Cup.

This may be a calculated transaction between crowd support and performance because Conners and Pendrith have a record of all losses in the Presidents Cup. Mike Weir would disagree, though. He said that last time was their rookie year and doesn’t really matter, and that they’ve played quite well this year.