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Tom Kim and never-failing Tim Hortons: 50 Presidents Cup observations
Tom Kim and the International team on Sunday at Royal Montreal.
Getty Images
EATING TIM HORTONS DONUTS, MONTREAL — Here’s how the sentences and paragraphs are made.
Sunday, as the Presidents Cup headed toward its finish, I was putting the final touches on a Tom Kim piece that was making the case that he’s the face the event needs. He’s its lightning rod, I wrote. A bit of an antihero. Its Ian Poulter, if you’re seeking a Ryder Cup comparison. And Kim’s doing it in the most vital way: organically. His Presidents Cup actions over his two appearances are seemingly not manufactured, and he’s on his way to being box office — if you’re an International fan, you love TK; if you back the red, white and blue, you loathe him; but you’re watching regardless. I’d even texted Mark Immelman, who was on the call for the world broadcast, and he replied: “Could be.” Could be. I liked that.
But then Kim apologized for some comments he made on Saturday, and I punted on about 1,200 words in order to cover the news. Such is life.
I’m still sticking to my thesis, though. And you should be hoping that he maintains form and qualifies for the next Cup, which, notably, will be played at Medinah in Illinois — where Poulter once solidified his Postman moniker.
As we look back here at the week that was at Royal Montreal, let’s make that observation No. 1. The goal is 49 more, and there is very little doubt we’ll get there — I’m saddled up at a Tim Hortons, and the wi-fi, coffee and donuts are all hot.
2. Timbits are a gift from the gods.
3. Si Woo Kim is another potential face of this event. I’m not going to forget his ‘night-night’ celebration anytime soon, following a pitch-in during Saturday afternoon play.
4. Nor will I forget Wyndham Clark’s response, when Kim and Tom Kim lost to Patrick Cantlay and Schauffele on the 18th hole.
5. Nor will I forget some online chippiness between Clark and the International’s Ben An.
6. Nor will I forget that Cantlay had no clue what the celebration was all about.
“Yeah, all the guys were saying that,” he said Saturday night. “I didn’t even know what the goodnight gesture was until about 10 minutes ago.”
7. Nor will I forget this song, which was being played about every 15 minutes on the first-tee build-out:
8. I don’t think there’s any question now that Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are the faces of the American team. If you’re a U.S. fan, you’ve already booked their points; if you’re an International or Europe fan, you hope your skipper lines up your studs against ’em.
9. To that end, I’m still marveling at the first match on Friday, when Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im whalloped Schauffele and Cantlay 7 and 6, one day after the U.S. swept opening-day play. The U.S. was punched, then almost immediately fell over, getting swept themselves on day two.
10. But yet they rebounded, winning the Presidents Cup convincingly. If you’re a U.S. fan, you should hope they bottle that bounce-back ability ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage. I’ve had a loose thought that the American failures in that team event have a bit to do with an incapacity to recover when momentum switches, which inevitably happens, especially on the road.
11. Though I think the biggest U.S. Ryder Cup issue now is perhaps just a psychological one — are the Americans simply pressing too much away from home, given the fact that they haven’t won on the road since 1993? Playing on foreign soil seems to be little problem in the Presidents Cup. Sure, the European talent level is better, but it’s not drastically so.
12. A lack of play ahead of the Presidents Cup didn’t seem to be much of an issue for the Americans, either, though it had been a talking point after last year’s Ryder Cup defeat. Only Clark, Sahith Theegala and Max Homa played tournament golf following the Tour Championship.
13. The Americans should be a lock at Bethpage. The atmosphere will be a carnival, and the home team rolls.
14. But does that bore you? You know the outcome — whoever’s playing in their own park, wins.
It’s still wonderful theater, though.
15. But does the Presidents Cup bore? You also know the outcome — U.S. wins, often by many.
On site? It’s a hoot. The play is condensed, the atmosphere is loud, the beverages are cold.
But on TV? Yeah, something needs to change. Constant U.S romps may boost your American patriotism, but not ratings.
16. For one, you can’t kick off Sunday play against King NFL. Golf broadcaster Shane Bacon suggested a 9 a.m. start. I totally agree.
In its most dramatic moments, this Presidents Cup delivered something special
17. Bacon also suggested putting singles in the middle of the competition. I like that, too.
18. But why aren’t things closer? At the 1998 event, Team INT won this thing 20.5-11.5, then it never won again.
Here are some thoughts from Ernie Els, who this year was an assistant captain, and has been as instrumental as anyone in building up the Internationals:
“We were in a really golden period there for a while. Not sure why [the Internationals have struggled]. We had a lot of people in the top 10, top 15, top 20 in the world for a long period of time in the ’90s and early 2000s.
“It could be that the way people play now it’s tough to pick up world ranking points. On the U.S. Tour, it’s very competitive. Just to stay on Tour, you’re doing very well. It’s so competitive on the Tour, the U.S. PGA Tour. Money is very competitive. People want to play in the U.S. It’s tough to play Europe. My day, we played a lot of Europe, picked up a lot of ranking points.
“I remember going through Dubai, and you play well at Dubai, you’re good to go. You’re top 10 for the rest of the year, basically, and some of the other tournaments. But that’s kind of gone away a little bit now. A lot of our players were lost to LIV.
“So we’re in the process. These guys may not rank very high in world ranking, but they’re coming. There’s a lot of good, great talent here, so we’ve got to give this a little bit of time. When they start winning tournaments on the U.S. PGA Tour, their real confidence is going to come through. Give it a bit of time.
“It was a different animal back in the day, but this thing’s coming, I promise you. Even the U.S. Team, how many players in the top 20 this week?
“A lot of the guys live here. We’ve just got to give it some time. I think the next year or so, these guys start winning tournaments, the whole thing will change again.”
19. Other suggestions for the event?
Add back the LIV guys? It’s the easy fix, and it’ll likely happen if a deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia PIF gets done.
Big ‘if.’
20. Add the ladies. I love this thought. During the Presidents Cup two years ago, I messaged Gemma Dryburgh about it. Last year, she played on the European Solheim Cup team.
Presidents Cup Q&A: Biggest hero, biggest mistake, what TV viewers missed
“I definitely think the girls would be interested in it,” she wrote back. “I think it would be great for the event, too. I’d love to see it happen.”
21. Another big brain thought?
Make the Presidents Cup the pro-golf season-ender. Make the event the last pro golf you’ll see until January.
22. Which players ride Presidents Cup momentum?
I think we might be on the verge of a Sam Burns breakout.
23. Might see one from Theegala, too.
24. His parents, Murli and Karuna, are among my favorite people in golf.
Nick Piastowski
25. On the International side, Min Woo Lee might be on the verge of superstardom.
26. Why he sat Friday AND Saturday was a mistake.
27. My favorite moment was seeing Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners win a point on Friday on the par-3 13th. The green was encased by corporate seating, and the duo were properly saluted. A career moment for both.
28. Who’s on the U.S. Ryder Cup team?
Let’s go with Schauffele, Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa as locks.
Let’s go with Max Homa, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka as near-locks. Burns, Clark and Justin Thomas are close here. Maybe Theegala. Only a couple spots are left.
29. What about the captain, Keegan Bradley?
Here’s Bradley on whether he’d pick … Bradley:
“I would love to join these guys and play next year. I don’t know how that would ever be possible, but seeing what Jim did [U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk], seeing how nervous I was today to play. But I’m going to push that down the road. Like I said, if I make the team on points, I’ll consider playing, but outside of that, I won’t do that because this is really important to me next year.
“I don’t care about my personal gains of playing in the tournament; I only care about winning the Ryder Cup. I think the best way to do that is to let these boys play and let them do what they do. We’ll see. I don’t see it happening, but we’ll see.”
30. Time for another donut.
In line is a man with a Titleist hat.
31. Was this the final Presidents Cup for Adam Scott? The 44-year-old is still showing form, and he’s currently 18th in the world.
Here are his thoughts:
7 hilarious moments from a drunken U.S. Presidents Cup press conference
“I think I can play for another couple years. I’ve come this far. If I can play in a couple more years and contribute a point, then I’d love to be on a winning Presidents Cup team. Like I said before, I believe there’s something happening with this team internally under this Shield. I’d love to push along and give it one more shot if I can.”
Here, Tom Kim interrupted.
“Let’s make it three more. Three more.”
Said Scott: “Tom will play in 20 of these. He’s got two before I even played one.
“I have a lot of fun with these guys. I told them at the start of the week it’s them who is motivating me and inspiring me to make this team. The standard of golf is so high, and it’s getting harder for me to keep up, but it’s them that I look to to see what the standard is that I need to compete and be on this team.
“Hopefully I can keep it up for another couple years.”
32. The U.S. bunch seemed united against Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, who suggested to Furyk ahead of the Presidents Cup that an International win would be good for the event, considering the American domination of it — to which Furyk eventually responded: “So it’s not like I’m killing you right now, but f**k you. Go f**k yourself. You can quote me on that one,” he said.
The words apparently were repeated a few times during the week. On Sunday, in the post-tournament press conference, Furyk and Schupak had this exchange:
Said Furyk: “For the record, I was never angry with Adam. I did say that without a doubt, but we got a chuckle out of it. Adam and I, we’re always good. We’ve texted a lot since. I was a little surprised you were rooting for the other team. You have to stand now and look at all these guys. It was fun.”
Said Schupak: “I never said I was rooting for the other team.”
Said Furyk: “You said you were pulling for the other team to win.”
Said Schupak. “No, I didn’t. I said, don’t hate me, but I wouldn’t hate it if the other team won.”
Here, members of the American team booed.
Said Furyk: “My favorite part of it was when — after the first presser when we came in, we did our pairings, and I walked out, I actually gave you a little fist bump, and two of my assistants told you to go ‘F’ yourself. That was my favorite.”
33. The Woody Austin, fall-in-the-water moment from the 2007 event at Royal Montreal was replayed a handful of times, and last Monday, I took a look at the spot myself — then took off a shoe and grabbed a ball that had been resting a couple of feet from the edge.
The water was kinda warm.
34. On Sunday, I heard a fan shout at Burns: “Boo-urns” — which is a deep, deep, deep “Simpsons” reference. The clip is below.
35. A Canadian reporter had read my story about role models and said he thought the U.S. presidential election looked “heated.”
I wasn’t too sure how to respond to that one.
36. I didn’t spot Labatt on the grounds.
Sacre bleu!
37. I did have a Belle Mer, a West Coast IPA from Microbrasserie Archibold. It was lovely.
38. Here are a few of my favorite reads from my colleagues on the grounds. This recap of the week from Dylan Dethier was excellent.
39. This piece from James Colgan that questioned the decision-making of International captain Mike Weir was excellent.
40. Our wrap-up video, shot and produced by Emma Devine, was excellent. You can watch it below.
41. A day after Tom Kim and Taylor Pendrith questioned the crowd noise, I had fun measuring decibel meters. You can read that story here.
42. Last Monday, I asked readers for Montreal food recommendations. Here are a few of the responses.
“Gibby’s in old Montreal is a great old world steakhouse. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there, but one of the best steaks in my life!”
43. “Try Modavie in Old Montreal. Mussels et frites especially good!”
44. “Our favorite city in the world. (We have Canadiens season tickets and live in the U.S.)
The Burger Bar on Crescent Street (just below Sherbrooke Street); Hurley’s Irish Pub (also on Crescent Street, toward the bottom of Crescent); Nil Blue Ethiopian restaurant, owned by two dear friends of ours; Dieu du Ciel up on the Plateau, it is also near the Jean-Talon Market, which is big and very cool.”
45. “Go to Beauty’s for breakfast. Most famous dish is the mish mash.”
46. “Schwartz’s, of course”
47. “You should try Le Club Chasse et Peche in Old Montreal. High-end eats at a fraction of the Toronto/NYC expense.”
48. Unfortunately, because of work, I got to only one of the spots during the week. Gibby’s was outstanding. The food. The service. The vibe. So good.
49. But Monday night, after this article publishes, I’m heading to Dieu du Ciel to toast the week.
50. I won’t forget an interaction with a shuttle driver. On Monday night, he told me that he’d never played golf. It was too expensive.
“But you and I,” he said, “we’ll one day play in heaven.”
Sounds good, my friend.
Editor’s note: I also wrote observations on the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. You can read the Masters story here, the PGA Championship story here, the U.S. Open story here and the Open Championship story here.
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