'This team is going to be a problem in Ireland' - USA bullish but weaknesses remain for Adare

Brandt Snedeker

Brandt Snedeker believes the USA “is going to be a problem in Ireland”, but there was little in Sunday’s Presidents Cup singles comeback victory to suggest that Luke Donald will be quaking in his boots ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup.

There is no doubt the United States is a formidable golfing superpower, as shown by its singles dominance at Bethpage last year and in Sunday’s mano a mano play in Chicago.

In New York, Europe won just one of the 12 singles but still got over the line thanks to their dominance in team play.

And it was a similar tale at Medinah, where the International team, leading by three points overnight in their bid for just their second Presidents Cup win in 32 years, won just two of the 12 singles to go down 17-13.

Snedeker won’t be in charge in Adare, but it was damning that 2027 Ryder Cup skipper Jim Furyk was one of his assistant captains and still allowed the skipper to make what he admitted to a host of strategic mistakes that speaks to a lack of understanding of what it takes to dominate a team like Europe.

“I didn't do the matchups right this week,” Snedeker said on Sunday night as the USA claimed their version of the Miracle at Medinah against an International team that boasted a grand total of zero members of the world’s top 10 to the Americans’ seven.

“You know, I kept letting Geoff [Ogilvy] kind of run his lot the way he wanted to by putting Scottie [Scheffler] and Sam ] Burns out first.

“Those first two sessions, I should have held them back so that I could have gotten a better idea of what they were going to do and be able to kind of match up that way.”

That the USA trailed an International team 10.5-7.5 — a team without LIV Golf stars like Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Lucas Herbert Marc Leishman — exposed the level of tactical naivete in the US team room.

“I tried to work my tail off to put these guys in the best situation possible, and I don't think I've done a very good job this week to be where we are right now,” Snedeker said on Saturday night. “They look to me to put them in the best position where they're comfortable. I hold myself to a high standard. I don't think I've done the best job for them in that room.”

A 5-0 whitewash in Friday’s foursomes, when he paired the notoriously erratic Justin Thomas with Cameron Young because he "just kind of felt like I'd roll with it”, and insisted on playing world No 1 Scottie Scheffler (beaten again) in a format where he had lost seven of his previous eight matches, almost cost Snedeker’s troops the match.

The American men’s record in team match event foursomes since Marco Simone in 2023 is an eye-watering 8-26 against European and International team opposition.

Snedeker could justify his decision in picking rookie Jackson Koivun (21) over JJ Spaun after the youngster ended the week unbeaten with 2.5 points from three.

But being forced to produce a miracle singles comeback, laudable though it was, speaks to underlying problems when it comes to constructing fourball and foursomes line-ups.

The overall result papers over the cracks for the USA and Snedeker was bullish on Sunday night.

“I think we’re all tired of this narrative that we don’t care about each other, that we don’t know how to play team golf,” he said. “I think this proves it. You don’t come back the way we did if these guys haven’t all bought into each other. This team is going to be a problem in Ireland. It’s going to be a problem.”

The result was certainly a bonus for Furyk, who was in Medinah as an assistant captain, after the Americans had failed on several occasions to close out matches in the foursomes and fourballs on the first three days.

“Walking into a Sunday three points down, having a lot of pressure, playing like they had nothing to lose, going out there and showing off for these fans, getting them into it, I really want them to enjoy what they did today because it's pretty darn special,” Furyk said.

“We've made some good runs on Sunday, but it's hard to really get them over the hump and actually finish it off, and these guys finished it off like I've never seen before. I'm proud of them.”