The Albany Gazette - USA overconfidence no worry for Love at Presidents Cup

Love named multiple major winners Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth among his six US captain's picks on Wednesday, completing a powerhouse lineup led by top-ranked Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.

The Americans, with an 11-1-1 lead in the all-time rivalry and an eight-event win streak, will face a 12-player Internationals team in matches on September 22-25 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The final lineup includes seven members of the US squad that routed Europe 19-9 in last year's Ryder Cup, inflicting the most lopsided loss since continental players joined a British and Irish roster.

Captain Trevor Immelman's Internationals were hurt by not being able to include players who defected from the US PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

They lost British Open champion Cameron Smith of Australia plus a handful of other big names.

But Love shook off any notion of American complacency and overconfidence.

"You call (sports psychologist) Dr. Bob Rotella a lot the next couple of weeks and make sure you have a game plan for the messaging," Love said.

"It's still going to be that stadium, first tee, American flags, USA. They want to win for this team.

"I don't think we'll have to do much messaging or motivation. And we know we'll be up against it. Trevor will have a team with a chip on its shoulder. These guys aren't going to take it lying down."

US domination of the non-European lineup helps, but only so far, Love warned.

"We go in confident," Love said. "We've got to take it seriously and get prepared."

US players qualifying on points included Scheffler, two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele plus Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns and Tony Finau.

Joining them as Love's US picks will be three-time major winner Spieth, two-time major champion Morikawa, Max Homa, Cam Young, Kevin Kisner and Billy Horschel.

"We've got some veterans in there and some guys who have played Ryder Cups," Love said. "I'm excited about this 12 and ready to get going."

With an average age of 29.6 years, it will be the youngest Presidents Cup team ever for the United States.

Spieth makes his fourth appearance in the Presidents Cup and Kisner his second but the other four captain's choices are rookies, as are Burns and Scheffler.

"We have a lot of players who can pair well with a rookie," Love said.

- Seven Ryder Cuppers in -

Back in red, white and blue after last year's Ryder Cup romp are Schauffele, Scheffler, Spieth, Finau, Cantlay, Thomas and Morikawa.

The Americans lost ninth-ranked Will Zalatoris to a back injury and lost Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka from that Ryder Cup squad after the trio jumped to LIV Golf, which brought turmoil and record $25 million purses to lure top talent, prompting indefinite bans from the PGA.

Among those the Internationals lost were 19th-ranked Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Mexico's Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, Australian Marc Leishman and South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.

Immelman completed his lineup by making captain's picks on Tuesday as a record five Asian players made the list, led by 2021 Masters champion and 16th-ranked Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

South Koreans on the Internationals include Im Sung-jae, Kim Joo-hyung, Kim Si-woo and Lee Kyoung-hoon.

The squad also features Canada's Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith, Australians Adam Scott and Cam Davis, Colombia's Sebastian Munoz, Chile's Mito Pereira and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

(K.Müller--BBZ)