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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Dan Evans

Scottie Scheffler’s Performance in Team Events Shrinks Gap Between Team USA and Team International

Scottie Scheffler has spent the last several years separating himself from just about everyone else in professional golf.

If you put him in a normal PGA Tour event he is almost always the player everyone is chasing. Team golf has been a different story.

NESBITT: Why All the Pressure Is on the Star-Studded U.S. Team at the Presidents Cup

Scheffler enters this week’s Presidents Cup at Medinah with a 3-5-1 record in his first two appearances. His Ryder Cup record is 3-6-3, including a 1-4 showing last year at Bethpage Black.

For a player who has been nearly automatic everywhere else, those numbers stand out.

That is also part of what gives the International Team a little more hope than the overall talent gap might suggest.

The United States still owns a massive historical advantage in the Presidents Cup, going 13-1-1 since the event began in 1994.

But match play has a way of making individual rankings matter less. Scheffler is 2-0-1 in Presidents Cup four-ball, but just 1-3 in foursomes and 0-2 in singles.

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If the world’s top player is not piling up points, the International Team does not need to outplay the entire American roster. It only needs to take advantage of a few matchups that normally would look like automatic U.S. points.

For Team USA, getting the regular version of Scottie Scheffler could make all the difference this week.


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