United States captain Brandt Snedeker has history and the world’s No. 1 golfer on his side at the Presidents Cup this week at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago.
The U.S. has beaten the International team 10 consecutive times in the biennial competition which gets underway Thursday at a venue that has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup.
“It’s obviously a big ballpark, right? We’re talking a very long, difficult golf course,” Snedeker told reporters Tuesday. “Obviously the hardest thing for us, I think for both teams, is getting used to it. This is a completely new ballpark for us. The green complexes are super difficult. You’ve got lots of slopes on them.
“I think the team that gets the most comfortable the quickest is going to have an advantage. So trying to get these guys comfortable with the layout, trying to make sure we’ve got a good game plan for them. This is a championship-style golf course. It’s meant to play tough. It’s meant to play long. I can’t wait for our guys to step up and rise to the challenge this golf course is going to create.”
Snedeker, 45, was a member of the 2012 Ryder Cup team that lost to Europe at Medinah after entering the final day with a 10-6 lead.
“I think you learn way more from your losses than your wins, and what happened Sunday at Medinah that year taught me a lot,” he said. “It taught me how much these guys care, seeing my idols of the game and who I was as a teammate with crying in the locker room on Sunday night when things didn’t go our way.
“I think you learn from those experiences. You try to build up a team around those experiences. I’ve built my career around that.”
Snedeker said he was excited to be back in the Chicago area.
“I think this is a great sports town,” he said. “I remember that vividly from the week of Medinah how great the fans were. Being back here is one thing I’m going to lean on. These fans here are fantastic. It’s a great sports town, and they love golf. Hope they come out in droves this week.”
Fans will no doubt flock to see a U.S. contingent that includes top-ranked Scottie Scheffler.
“Scottie Scheffler being Scottie Scheffler is the most important thing for us as a team,” Snedeker said. “We can’t ask him to do more than he can do. He can only deliver five points at his best, if he goes out and plays unbelievable. We just want Scottie to go out there and be comfortable and go out there and have fun and be the Scottie Scheffler he is every week.
“I don’t want him to take a burden on. He’s not going to win or lose us this Presidents Cup. The Presidents Cup is won or lost by 12 people. Hopefully not the captain, hopefully the 12 guys.
“I think we’ve been really intentional about trying to make these guys come together, and nobody is going to get what they want out of this without all 12 of us pitching in and doing our job. That goes for us as vice captains and captains, the back office guys. And with Scottie, we want Scottie to go out and be Scottie Scheffler. He doesn’t have to be anybody other than that.”
