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Presidents Cup fever. Can you feel the heat?
Not even Mike Weir's mother would try to sell American golf fans on that line. The Presidents Cup is the "other" international tournament, known for the quality of its field (three of this year's four major winners are playing in Montreal this week), the sportsmanship of its participants (captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player agreed to a tie in 2003) and the headwear of its caddies (Vijay Singh's caddie, Paul Tesori, wore a "Tiger Who?" hat in 2000).
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup doesn't make American fans want to fly across the world, paint their faces and storm foreign courses like a Dockers-clad army intent on emptying the invaded country's beer reserves. Especially not when the Giants are playing the Eagles. But what about the rest of the world?
Jack Nicklaus, captain of the United States team for the fourth time, thinks the Presidents Cup already belongs in the same class as the Ryder Cup. Nicklaus, who has become tournament's most eloquent advocate, said at a news conference that compared to the Ryder Cup, "the Presidents Cup covers a far greater scope of worldwide golf than just United States versus Europe. I mean, it's a bigger match. It's grown in tremendous popularity."
Strong words to say about a teenage tournament (est. 1994). But Nicklaus is a great champion, a statesman of the game and a world traveler, while we're just tuning into the Golf Channel during commercial breaks of MTV's reality series The Hills. So we went around the world to find out how big of a deal the Presidents Cup really is.
Our first stop was Australia, where we talked to Richard Hinds, a sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. First we asked him where golf ranks in the hearts of Australian sports fans.
"Golf ranks just below cricket — our equivalent of baseball — and the local football codes (Australian rules football and rugby league) in the pecking order," Hinds said. "There was an enormous boom in participation here in the 1980s coinciding with Greg Norman's career. If you look at the large number of Australians on the PGA Tour now — more than 20 — almost every one would say he was inspired to play or to be a professional by what Norman achieved. That they were able to emulate him is due largely to the accessibility of courses and some very good coaching structures."
Those Norman-inspired players, like Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy and Nick O'Hearn, will be playing for captain Gary Player's International team this week, and the presence of so many countrymen will get Aussie fans' attention.
"Initially, there was a sense that the Presidents Cup was just an exhibition and lacked competitive edge," Hinds said. "But as Australians have watched more of the Ryder Cup — only televised here in the last decade or so — I think they've wanted a piece of the action. A lot of fans will watch it, but it still rates well below the majors in the consciousness of the average Aussie."
