Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

FRIDAY 6TH DECEMBER • Junior Presidents Cup Practice Day SATURDAY 7TH DECEMBER • Junior Presidents Cup Practice Day • Fan Experience at Crown Riverwalk opens SUNDAY 8TH DECEMBER • Junior Presidents Cup – six matches AM & PM MONDAY 9TH DECEMBER • Junior Presidents Cup – 12 singles matches • Media Launch of the Fan Experience at Crown Riverwalk with captains and players TUESDAY 10TH DECEMBER • Practice Day • Gala Dinner at Crown Palladium WEDNESDAY 11TH DECEMBER • Practice Day THURSDAY 12TH DECEMBER • Tournament: five matches • Celebrity Tournament • Commissioners Reception FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER • Tournament: five matches • ISPS HANDA Disabled Golf Cup SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER • Tournament AM: four matches • Tournament PM: four matches SUNDAY 15TH DECEMBER • Tournament: 12 singles matches • Fan Experience at Crown Riverwalk concludes But Ogilvy and Els said the one thing that would really help them wrest back the Cup in Melbourne was vocal and passionate home-crowd support. “We want to feel like we’re playing on home turf, get the fans behind us from the get-go, and that will give the players a big boost,” Els said. “It’s a lovely feeling to feel like you’re playing in front of a home crowd, so to speak. From my recent visit there, talking to various people, it feels like the Australian public will be right behind us.” But that will be easier said than done. Australian golf fans, like those everywhere else, want to see the best players in the world and revel in their brilliance. They will undoubtedly fall under the spell of a resurgent Tiger Woods, eminently likeable Rickie Fowler, flamboyant Bubba Watson and imposing Dustin Johnson. How can they be expected to cheer louder for players they know little about – such as world number 42 Harding, Canada’s Corey Connors, who won the Texas Open this year, and China’s Haotong Li – than the established stars of the game? It’s a question that Ogilvy has been pondering. “I think we’ll need to get the Fanatics really fired up,” he says. For Matt Kamienski, the Presidents Cup Executive Director, Woods’ stunning victory in the Masters in April has helped kick ticket sales along – the talismanic American now seems certain to be his team’s playing captain – and everything is in place for a bumper tournament in December. Kamienski doesn’t buy into the talk that the Americans’ recent dominance in the event has somehow sullied its relevance. He points to the early editions of the Ryder Cup when the US team would regularly hand out hidings to Great Britain and Ireland – and no-one could possibly have foreseen what a mega sports event that would turn out to be. “Look, it is important for the event that the Internationals are competitive at the very least, but the Presidents Cup is still very young,” Kamienski said. “Current players have grown up watching the Cup and they want to play in it; Abraham Ancer, for example, says he thinks about making the International team every time he tees it up. So attitudes are changing and that will only help the growth of the tournament.” Now, Kamienski says, most if not all of the Internationals ply their trade on the PGA Tour and the barriers between them are breaking down; they now have a much greater understanding of each other. And if Ernie Els has his way, after December they’ll have a special bond together that will last a lifetime. PRESIDENTS CUP TIMELINE 2019 TICKETS: WWW.PRESIDENTSCUP.COM 32 Golf Victoria