THE PRESIDENTS CUP UNDERWAY DOWN UNDER

Professional golfing fans worldwide eagerly await the famous Ryder Cup Competition which pits the best golfers from the European circuit against the top pros from the United States of America every two years.

A lesser known, but very similar, event takes also place biennially, this time featuring the best of the American golfers on the PGA tour against the whole rest of the world, excluding Europe.  It’s called the Presidents Cup and has only been around since 1994; and has so far been dominated by the teams from the USA.

For 2019 the big event is taking place down under at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.  Unlike normal golf matches where the guy with the lowest score wins, both the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup tournaments use a format known as ‘match play’, which even some seasoned golf fans still have difficulty grasping.

Match play uses a format known as ‘Foresome’ aka alternate shot golf. Each hole is played by two teams of two players each, but only two balls. The players take turns shooting until the ball is sunk, and team members also take turn teeing off on alternate holes. Each hole scores a winner and a loser.

In Presidents Cup competition the ‘Foresome’ format is alternated with the ‘Fourball’ format, which once again consists of two teams of two on each hole, but this time each player plays his own ball and the lowest score among the two counts for the team on that hole.  ‘Fourball is also known as ‘best ball’.

Basically match play involves pitting two players from each side and determining winners and losers after each hole is played. Each team consists of a Captain, this year Tiger Woods for the USA and Ernie Els for the International Team, who then selects 4 players, in addition to the first 8 automatic selections, plus two alternates and 3 assistants.

To date the teams from the USA have dominated the Presidents Cup competitions and with 12 or the top 24 ranked golfers in the world on the USA roster, it appears that they will be the favorites going into the matches once again in 2019. The top eight slots are won by the 8 golfers who have accumulated the most FedExCup points between the 2017 and the 2019 BMW Championships.

Tiger Woods, as team Captain, has the next four picks and well and naming the alternates and of course his assistants.  This year’s Team USA consists of Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau making up the top 8 FedExCup leaders, then Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed as the personal choices of team Captain Tiger Woods.

Captain Woods also named Fred Couples, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker as his assistants for the tournament and Chez Reavie and Kevin Kisner as the alternates should anything happen to one of the principals.

Legendary South African golfer Ernie Els captains the International Team for 2019 and once again the top eight spots on the roster were won by the leading golfers on the International tour between August 2018 and August 2019.  They are Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Abraham Ancer, Li Haotong, Pan Cheng-tsung and Camaron Smith with the Captain’s selections consisting of Jason Day, Jazz Janewatananond, Justin Harding and Corey Conners.

Some of the greatest golfers on the planet will be in Melbourne for this great competition.  Those lucky enough to be in the galleries will witness some truly legendary links heroes in action.  But there is no purse money awarded to the winners of the Presidents Cup Tourney, no millions of dollars in prize money, no fancy sports cars given out.

Instead, all proceeds from the event will go, as they always do, to charities nominated by the players, the captains and the captains assistants.  So far the Presidents Cup events have raised over $32,000,000 for charities around the world.

LSU SWEEPS SEC HONORS

Joe Burrow and his receivers worked out together over the summer down in Baton Rouge in 90+ degree heat and humidity until they stated to click like a well oiled machine.  Burrow was throwing passes before his intended receiver had even made his break. It was magic. They knew that they had something special, but hardly anyone else even gave the LSU Tiger football team a passing thought before the season began.

Then the Tigers of LSU beat the Texas Longhorns in Arlington for the season opener and sports writers commented that was ‘pretty good’, and how’s about that Burrow guy, eh?  But that was only the beginning for Coach Ed Orgeron and his revamped Bayou Bengals. Check out LSU with a RPO offense!

‘Coach O’ quietly put together a coaching staff that rivaled any in the land and the players bought into their programs and training, and the Tigers went on the win game after game until, on November 9^th, they came up against Nick Saban and the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, a team which LSU had not defeated since 2011.

It was the most watched college sporting event of the year, and it was a hell of a game with a total of 87 points scored and the Tigers coming out on top by a final score of 46-41.  Then everyone took notice, and LSU entered the discussion for the final four to compete for the national championship.

With that same victory over Alabama, Coach Orgeron probably secured his position in Baton Rouge for years to come, and that is a good thing as Oregon is a true native of south Louisiana. A bit gruff and perhaps not always socially acceptable, but ‘Coach O’ has become one of the most beloved figures in the state of Louisiana today.

The SEC has also rewarded Coach Orgeron, who is in his third season as head coach of the Tigers, with their coveted ‘SEC Coach of the Year Award’, which takes on a special meaning considering that the honor is voted on by all the coaches in the SEC.  Senior quarterback Joe Burrow also won the top honor from the leagues’ coaches with the ‘SEC Offensive Player of the Year Award’.

Burrow also finds himself in the enviable position of being the front runner in this year’s Heisman Trophy race, actually Joe is out front by quite a bit.  Coach Ed Orgeron is also a likely candidate for the coveted ‘Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award’ as well as the ‘George Munger Coach of the Year Award’.

Along with Joe Burrow at quarterback, 5 other players on the LSU squad were named to the SEC First String Team.  They include Clyde Edwards-Helaire at running back, Ja’Marr Chase at wide receiver, Lloyd Cushenberry III at center, K’Lavon Chaisson at linebacker and Grant Delpit at defensive back.

Finally, wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator Joe Brady, who has been credited to a large degree for the positive changes that have come to the offensive side of LSU football this year, was named the winner of the Frank Broyles Award, which goes to the top assistant coach in college football.

And so finally, after LSU went undefeated at 13-0 for the season and had soundly beaten a highly touted Georgia Bulldogs team by a final score of 37-10 in the SEC Championship game, and the Wisconsin Badgers had out played the then number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes throughout the first half of their game, the CFP Committee broke down and conceded that the LSU Tigers should be the number one ranked DI college football team in the nation.

Ohio State was then relegated to the number two spot and will face number three ranked Clemson as 2.5 point underdogs in the Fiesta Bowl out in Arizona on December the 28^th. This is a replay of last year’s matchup.

By virtue of their victory over the Baylor Bears and Georgia’s loss to LSU, the Oklahoma Sooners were awarded the fourth and final spot in this year’s CFP semi finals, which is also played on December the 28^th in Atlanta at the Peach Bowl, when the Sooners (+13) will try to tame the number one ranked Tigers of LSU.  The winners of these two semi final games will meet for the CFP National Championship on January 13^th down in New Orleans.