2024 Presidents Cup Predictions and Teams: The Road to Victory for the USA at Royal Montreal

The United States President's Cup team will be fully focused on its path to 15th as it moves into Royal Montreal this week – the points the Americans need to win their 10th consecutive President's Cup – a winning streak that stretches back to 1998.

Traditionally, this has not been a problem. Since a 17-17 draw in 2003, the USA have only had two real opponents. The first time was in 2015, when they secured a late 15.5-14.5 victory in South Korea. The other time was in 2019, when Tiger Woods led the red, white and blue to a 16-14 victory in Australia. This required a tremendous individual performance on the final day of competition to outdo the international team.

So how can that task be accomplished on Sunday – sooner rather than later? What are the options for the USA to reach the 15 points?

Here's the good news: Because of the talent shortage, there are multiple paths to victory. The Americans don't have to hit all of those notes, but if they do, we could pull off another 19-11 victory like we did in 2017 at Liberty National.

Let's take a look.

The USA’s path to victory

1. Maintain dominance in the foursome: The following statistic is breathtaking. The USA completely dominated the foursomes in this event. This makes sense, of course, because foursomes naturally reveal a team's weaknesses. The most talented team should almost always win foursomes. What not While it makes sense that the United States has a 3-19-2 record in foursomes in its last three Ryder Cup away games, that is beside the point.

At the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, the United States took a 4-1 lead in foursomes on Thursday, and the tournament was essentially over. This time, the foursomes will not be played until Friday, and if the result is the same, the tournament will still be in the balance on Saturday morning.

2. Start hot and keep the mass out: With that in mind, the U.S. has taken a 20-12 aggregate lead on the first day of the last six President's Cups. It's rudimentary and reductionist to tell a team that it has to play well to win, but that's been crucial to the U.S. formula over the last decade. It actually looks like this Canadian Ryder Cup will be pretty wild – more so than in countries like South Korea or perhaps even Australia, which have hosted the last two President's Cups outside the U.S. Taking the visiting crowd out of the game early will perhaps be even more important than usual.

3. Unlock Scottie: I've been adamant this week about Scottie Scheffler's problems. Since his first Ryder Cup, he's gone 0-5-3 in team events. That's probably nothing… but maybe it's not nothing? He and Sam Burns enjoy playing together, but maybe it's worth splitting the two up and trying something different. Putting him on the course with someone like Sahith Theegala or Keegan Bradley or even Max Homa – someone who can play his composure better – might be a better bet.

These matchups are more often determined by statistical compatibility than psychological synergy. In that sense, Burns and Scheffler may actually be the best fit for each other. But when the best player in the world, fresh off the best season in 15 years, gets rolling and goes 4-1-0, that becomes a problem. The U.S. won Quail Hollow by five points in 2022 when Scheffler went 0-3-1. What will they do if he actually scores points?

4. Keep the flow of internationals in check: The International team has a couple of golfers who aren't playing as well but are scary when they get going: Tom Kim and Min Woo Lee. Both can be hells, even if they've been some of the weaker players in the field over the last three or six months. Depending on the matchup, it might be smart to put one of those guys against a duo of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, just to dampen what I'm sure will be a lot of positive emotion and potential momentum on the International team's side.

5. Crush vegetables: The US team is almost always the best when it comes to tee-to-green play, and this year is no different. What Is different? The golf course.

“The golf course is incredible,” said Collin Morikawa. “Small greens. Kind of suits what I do. There's a lot of bumps. The greens run unbelievably. You just have to make a lot of putts here, like in any match.”

The part that stands out here is the “small greens.” This U.S. team is so good at hitting greens, and it sounds like that will be harder than usual this week at Royal Montreal. Keep an eye on the strokes you gain on approach shots on Thursday and Friday. That's always a clue, but I suspect the team that actually takes a slightly more conservative approach will lead in that category and in matches.

Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Patrick McDonald and Greg DuCharme preview the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.