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And he's skeptical that the Presidents Cup will ever be a bigger event than the Ryder Cup.
"I doubt the Presidents Cup will ever compete with the Ryder Cup because of its history and the economic muscle of the U.S. and Europe," Hinds said. "There has been some noise made here about allowing the International team to compete alongside the U.S. and Europe in the Ryder Cup, but given the success of that old rivalry I doubt it will ever happen. Again, I think the Presidents Cup's future will depend wholly on how many top-flight players the non-American and European nations produce. If there comes a time when the best four players in the world are from Australia, South Africa, India and China, then it will have some real muscle."
Closer to home, Lorne Rubenstein, a columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail, said interest among fans in Montreal, the Presidents Cup host city, is intense, especially since Player picked the Canadian golf hero Mike Weir for the International team.
"When there's a rooting interest, that's what gets Canadian fans' attention," Rubenstein said. "It wouldn't be nearly as personal without a Canadian golfer in the tournament. It's not as big out west. The interest increases the closer you get to Montreal."
Rubenstein expects Toronto sports bars to be showing the tournament this week, although he noted that even in Florida he sometimes has to ask a bartender to turn on a golf tournament. And even though hockey dominates the Canadian sports world, if you look in the garage of a regular guy here, you are just as likely to see a set of clubs as a hockey goal or a bacon grill.
"Canadians are crazy about golf," Rubenstein said. "It sounds stupid to say in hockey country, but it's true. In Toronto, there's no end to the amount of golf courses they're building. Intuitively, it must be the biggest participant sport."
Asked about Nicklaus's belief that the Presidents Cup could someday be a bigger deal than the Ryder Cup, Rubenstein said, "You'd never say no." He noted that until the rest of Europe was added to the UK and Ireland side in 1979, only hardcore fans had any interest in the Ryder Cup.
"The last time the Ryder Cup was in the U.S., it was in Detroit, which isn't too far from here, and there weren't a lot of people in Toronto talking about the Ryder Cup," Rubenstein said. "Nicklaus is right. Golf is a worldwide game. It would be tough to beat the Ryder Cup's intensity and emotion, and you won't ever have that national fervor, but who would have thought the Ryder Cup would have become so big?"
However, he does see one thing that could stop the growth of the Presidents Cup. Like so many things in the game, it involves the Swooshed One.
"The one problem I could see is if Tiger or Mickelson decided not to play," Rubenstein said. "They'll play as long as Nicklaus is captain because they're not going to snub Nicklaus. But if there's a new captain and Tiger decides not to play, then I think the Presidents Cup would have a real problem."
