NINETEEN months out, the 2019 Presidents Cup is being billed as the mother of all showdowns and Asia’s golf stars are already dreaming of being in the heart of the action at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.
Two of the game’s icons, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, will captain the United States and International teams, respectively, from December 9 to 15, 2019, setting the stage for a match unlike any other considering their historic playoff duel in the dark in South Africa in 2003, which concluded with the only draw in the storied competition.
The race to make the International team (excluding European golfers) will begin in earnest from August 27, 2018, where Official World Golf Ranking points accumulated during a 12-month period will see the leading eight international golfers qualifying for the team, with another four to be picked by Els.
In eight previous editions since the inaugural match in 1994, the International team has featured a sprinkling of Japanese and Korean golfers, including Jumbo Ozaki, Shigeki Maruyama, K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang, and it wasn’t until 2015 the International team welcomed their first team members from India (Anirban Lahiri) and Thailand (Thongchai Jaidee).
A captain’s pick last year, Lahiri expects a greater spread of Asia’s golfing stalwarts to challenge for a place in Els’s team, considering their success in recent times. “It’ll be a tantalizing contest [in 2019],” said Lahiri. “Tiger and Ernie have played arguably the most exciting moments in the Presidents Cup history. I don’t think there’s a Presidents Cup where I want to be more a part of, so I’ll be working really hard to get into the team again.”
Lahiri, Asia’s No. 1 in 2015, reckons the new breed of stars from China, India, Thailand and Malaysia, who are all in their 20s, could feature prominently for the International team, who will be eager to secure a second victory at Royal Melbourne, coincidently the site of the team’s lone triumph in the competition in 1998.
“We’ve had K.J, Y.E. and Hideki [Matsuyama] being stalwarts over the years but you can see that trend changing with guys from the other countries emerging as the strength of golf in Asia is improving dramatically. We’ve got Haotong Li and Shubhankar Sharma now and more will follow. Someone like Phachara [Khongwatmai] has the potential and Kiradech [Aphibarnrat] has played out of his skin this year. I definitely think over the next few years, more Asians will be in the Presidents Cup teams,” he said.
Following two impressive top-5 finishes at the World Golf Championships this season, Kiradech, 28, hopes to emulate Thongchai’s feat by getting into Els’s team. The burly Thai came close three years ago but with his career trending upward, the Thai star, now ranked 30th in the world, is upbeat. He said: “It’ll be an honor to be in the Presidents Cup. Everyone wants to be on that team. My form has been good and hopefully I will be able to keep it going.”
At the time of writing, seven Asians currently feature in the world’s top-100 ranking, including the 45th-ranked Haotong Li from China. The 22-year-old narrowly missed qualifying for the Presidents Cup last year but hopes to maintain his push in 2019. “Yeah, for sure [I want to play] since the last time I was nearly there but I didn’t get in. I just need to keep playing well and then hopefully get in next year. As no Chinese has played in the event before, I want to be the first,” said Li, who shot a final-round 63 in the company of Els at The Open Championship where he finished third last July.
Malaysia’s Gavin Green, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, is potentially another contender. The 24-year-old is keen to throw his name in the hat. “There are not too many people who will get the opportunity to play in the Presidents Cup, so it’s definitely on my radar, it’s on my goal list. The Presidents Cup is a big deal,” said Green.
Japan’s world No. 10 Hideki Matsuyama and Satoshi Kodaira, who won his first PGA Tour title in April, are tipped to also jostle for a spot in the International team alongside South Korea’s Si-woo Kim, The Players champion in 2017, and India’s Shubhankar Sharma, 21. The Indian has taken the golfing world by storm following two victories in South Africa and Malaysia over the past seven months, which he followed up with an eye-catching tied ninth performance at the WGC-Mexico Championship in March. Interestingly, Sharma caught Els’s eye as a 10-year-old during a golf clinic in India over a decade ago.
“It would be fantastic if I can make it to the Presidents Cup. It’ll be a dream come true,” said Sharma. “When I attended his clinic in the 2008 Indian Masters, he [Els] said I’ll be a great player one day if I kept practicing. And for a kid like me who was only 10 at that time, it just made my day.”
It would certainly be a shot in the arm for golf in the Philippines if local golf stars Miguel Tabuena or Angelo Que, now a regular on the Japan Golf Tour, can force their way into Els’s team next year. And it’ll certainly make Asia’s day if a bunch of the continent’s stars tee up at Royal Melbourne and feature in an International team victory over the US.
Note: Chuah is senior director, communications of the PGA Tour and is based in TPC Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
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