President Cup could be anchored by Spieth-Day showdown
If August’s PGA Championship left you clamoring for a sequel to the Jason Day-Jordan Spieth showdown, then the Presidents Cup captains may just give you what you want.
Unlike at the Ryder Cup, captains don’t blindly submit their lineups for the biennial matches pitting the U.S. against the Internationals. That means the captains can collude, sort of, to give the public a match they want to see, particularly during the Sunday docket of 12 singles matches. What match would anyone prefer to see more than the two-time 2015 major winner and new FedEx Cup champion No. 1 against the PGA Championship-winning Aussie No. 2 who has won four of his last seven starts?
Day is all for it, but realizes that it’s not necessarily a given.
“I think a lot of people around the world are interested to see if that will happen,” Day said Tuesday from South Korea, site of this week’s matches. “It would be a lot of fun playing against Jordan, but then again I’m not too sure what the strategy is with that.”
U.S. captain Jay Haas and International captain Nick Price will sit in a room across from one another, announcing name after name, making match after match. The question is, if Haas puts forth Spieth’s name, will Price respond with Day? Or vice versa? Depending on how close the matches are after the first three days, either captain may want to put their top player in a position to earn a critical point against a relatively easier opponent.
With the Internationals seeking their first win in the series since 1998, Price will likely chase the victory over delivering a marquee match.
“It all depends on where the points are, how everyone is playing … and from there make that decision who I’ll play against,” said Day. “But I think it would be a lot of fun. We’ve both played pretty good golf.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
