For the second time in this journey Around the World in 80 Sporting Events, I left the friendly confines of the United States.
This time, rather than boarding an airplane and leaving the continent I drove through a tunnel to south Detroit (e.g. Windsor, Ontario, apologies to rockers Journey) and began a 2-day drive to Montreal, Quebec, for a day at the Presidents Cup.
Event 7 also wound up being my first without a sidekick. When planning began and I asked my father – who’d attended five of the first six events – he demurred. My wife and adult daughter did travel with me to Montreal, but since budgets for Around the World in 80 Sporting Events and vacation travel are – in some ways – inter-connected and there is not an endless supply of money to attend these events they chose to do something else for the day I was at the course.
Plus, neither of them would be considered golf fans.
Team USA’s Black Friday
displayed all over Royal Montreal Golf Club.
As I’ve shared previously, for an event to count it must be an actual competition date and not a practice or exhibition.
Because of our overall travel plans, I felt that Friday would be the best day for me to attend.
But – and I’ll cop to a total lack of research on my part – I was unaware of the format of the Presidents Cup and, assumed (quite incorrectly!), that Friday would feature morning and afternoon play like I’d experienced earlier in the month at the Solheim Cup (Event 6).
I could not have been more wrong.
The Presidents Cup, unlike both of the other team golf events (Solheim and Ryder Cups), actually has five matches on Thursday and five on Friday.
In my case, I was onsite for Foursomes play (e.g. alternate shot).
By the time we pulled into our hotel Thursday evening, Team USA had swept the first five matches (Four-ball format) which meant Friday could have gone a couple ways: Team USA could pretty much salt the competition away by winning a majority of Foursomes or the International Team could be mad as hell and come out loaded for bear.
I was witness to an old-fashioned butt-whooping. By the time I walked out of Royal Montreal Golf Club late Friday afternoon, it didn’t look good for the Americans. And by the time I overheard the results of the final match on the course aboard the shuttle, the Presidents Cup was all square, 5-5.
Shuttle Busses
Speaking of shuttles, as documented in my recap at the Solheim Cup, there was a significant issue with a lack of shuttles to the course on the opening day of competition in Gainesville, VA. Fortunately, I didn’t need to use the shuttle service whilst there. The Presidents Cup was a different story altogether.
Royal Montreal Golf Club is on an island, L’ile-Bizard, and parking there was limited to officials and other VIPs. There were several parking lots off-site that utilized shuttles as well as two downtown Montreal locations that offered shuttles. That’s where I was coming from.
The trip was anticipated to be 40 minutes to an hour. It lasted every bit of that (who’s idea was it to close two lanes down on the only bridge to the island?) and I cannot recall the last time I spent an hour on a school bus:-)
Totally worth it!
After spending 45 minutes on a school bus, waiting in queuing line to get into the venue was A-OK.
I arrived comfortably before the 10 a.m. gate openings and was well-positioned to nab one of the approximately 2,500 spots at the first tee stadium to experience the arena-golf mashup I was fortunate to witness at the Solheim Cup.
The return trip from the course, mercifully, was aboard a motor coach and several fellow passengers around me were streaming the Sirius/XM coverage of the day’s final matches.
At 5:40 p.m. I heard simultaneous cheers (from International fans) and sighs (from American fans) when Russell Henley and Scottie Scheffler failed to halve with Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim and the International side’s 5-0 Foursomes sweep was complete.
First Tee Experience
It was a considerable walk from the main gate near the shuttle bus drop off to the first tee. The majority of us who were there at open had one thing on our mind: Make it to the first tee stadium for one of the coveted wrist bands that allowed entrance to the stadium for the pre-match folderol and opening tee shots.
Success!
Once there, I picked a location I felt would afford me views of the first tee, the tee shot, and the overall experience in this “arena.” Of course, I was there so early the tee markers weren’t yet down and, wouldn’t you know it, they put them near the rear of the tee box which greatly diminished my view.
Did I regret my selection? Somewhat.
The first two players to tee off during Friday’s action were Xander Schauffele for the USA and Sungjae Im for the International side.
Views of the players teeing off were a bit impeded.
Regardless, the vibe was electric. All the standard anthems we hear in sports arenas and stadiums were played, the crowd was into it an hour in advance, and – with a Canadian captain (Mike Weir) – and three countrymen in the day’s lineup (Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, and Taylor Pendrith) the crowd was on go from the jump.
For my money, though, the highlight was the impromptu crowd-generated “Canadian National Anthem” sing-along before Conners and Hughes were introduced for their match.
World’s Best Golfers
Among an otherwise dismal day for ther American side, this American was finally able to see the best golfer in the world: Scottie Scheffler.
Despite having attended both the U.S. Open and the The Open Championship this year, he proved to be elusive to me. But there he was, anchoring Team USA along with Henley during Friday’s Foursomes at the Presidents Cup and I took a beat to relish the moment.
With the addition of Scheffler, I was able to see – in person – 23 of the top 25 male players in the world hit at least one shot live this year. Ironically, one of the two I didn’t see was Keegan Bradley who was the clinching point for Team USA in this Presidents Cup but was not in the lineup on Friday. The other, by the way, was Billy Horschel.
If we drilled down to No. 50, it’d be 43 of the top 50, which feels like a pretty significant amount.
A few other sights from my time at Royal Montreal Golf Club, clockwise from upper left, me and the Presidents Cup; the sun begins it descent over Fan Central; the first tee stadium; the Canadian flag flutters with the clubhouse in the background; the merchandise store; and signage touting Montreal’s Mont Royal (yes, I understand the repetitiveness).
