Schauffele-Finau has been linked with leading the US to the Presidents Cup

Adam Scott has never played on a winning team in the Presidents Cup, a sad story as the Internationals lost their streak against the Americans.

He has played 49 games and collaborated with 16 players. He was part of this team in South Africa when he made his debut in 2003, losing nine in a row. The Australian, 44, realizes that he will not get any more opportunities.

However, his hope is still much higher than before.

“We are determined to go out there this year to change the script of this event,” said Scott. “I definitely want to improve my record in this event and I’m very determined. I don’t know how many more opportunities I’ll get, if any. So this is a big week for me.

“But I really believe in this team,” he said. “I don’t remember feeling so relieved coming to the President Cup.”

That has been the ring for Royal Montreal in three days of practice as the internationals prepare for Thursday’s opening four-ball game against a US team that looks stronger than ever on paper. The Americans are led by Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, two of the best players in the world.

American captain Jim Furyk threw a few wrinkles in the opening pairs.

He separated Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay for only the second time since they started playing in these team cups in 2019. Schauffele is in the opening match with Tony Finau against Jason Day and Byeong Hun An, while Cantlay is in the fifth and final match with Sam Burns. against Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners, one of three Canadians on home soil.

Scott is in the second match without Min Woo Lee, one of his many players, against Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.

International captain Mike Weir has been preaching at the moment to his team. In a way, they consider the start of these games as the year 2019, when Ernie Els led a change in the logo to give the team from around the world an identity.

They have a great opportunity in Australia in 2019. They had a big meeting at Quail Hollow in 2022 after getting into the big hole early with a losing streak at LIV Golf.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys on the team, and they don’t remember past losses or anything like that,” Weir said.

Scott would never be one of those little guys, even though he now embraces the youth movement. He is one of only three players — Matsuyama (5) and Day (4) the others — who have played more than twice in the President Cup.

Nothing compares to 10 tries without a win.

“That’s a long time,” said Finau. “That’s tough luck in the end. Adam is an unbelievable guy. As a competitor I don’t feel bad for him. I’m sure he has the President’s trophies where he had a win-loss record. You can’t just blame Adam.

“But at the end of the day I’m on the US side and this week we don’t want any of these guys to win.”

That was a message to the American people, who don’t want their game to end. They hold a 12-1-1 record since the Presidents Cup began in 1994. But they came off another road defeat in Europe in the Ryder Cup, and risk being out of the professional cup for the first time since 1998 if they don’t. t win in Montreal.

“You have to find it,” said Finau. “It doesn’t matter how good our record is in the Presidents Cup. At some point they’re going to win the Presidents Cup. It’s going to happen. We’re not going to play this many and … they want the Americans to win the next 50. It’s not going to happen.

“They will start [winning]. We don’t want that group against us.”

The opening four-ball session is followed by five foursomes matches on Friday, a doubles session (four matches each) on Saturday, followed by singles on Sunday.

Scott is a strong voice given his experience, although it is often a losing experience. He is very determined to deliver his best performance. You are running out of time.

“I started having very high goals when I was a child. “My dreams were big, and I have achieved some of them but not all of them, including winning this event,” said Scott. “It’s the lack of fulfillment that keeps me motivated at this point.”

What would victory mean? Scott can’t even think.

“I think if I answer now,” he said, “I would probably underestimate the impact it would have if we were to win.”