Zach Johnson will assist US Presidents Cup captain Davis Love in opposition to the non-European Internationals squad at Quail Hollow searching for hints to assist his Ryder Cup trigger in opposition to Europe.
Zach Johnson. Picture: Facebook.
CHARLOTTE – US 2023 Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson is studying all he can this week as a Presidents Cup assistant captain, classes he hopes will assist produce victory subsequent 12 months in Italy.
Johnson will assist US Presidents Cup captain Davis Love in opposition to the non-European Internationals squad at Quail Hollow searching for hints to assist his Ryder Cup trigger in opposition to Europe.
“I’m going to learn and I’m going to keep learning,” Johnson stated Wednesday. “I’m taking notes. Sometimes they’re very, very large in magnitude, and then sometimes they’re really small.
“But generally these small issues can go a good distance.”
The Americans are coming off an epic 19-9 Ryder Cup blowout of Europe last year under captain Steve Stricker, another of this week’s US assistant captains, who has helped pass along systems and knowledge.
“You’re seeing higher staff outcomes from USA golf as a result of it is gotten extra constant from staff to staff,” Stricker said.
“We have this capability to go from every year to be taught increasingly and to create these pairings that we all know, or hope we all know, will work.
“I think that can only benefit us for next year’s matches in the Ryder Cup, and then we’ll use stuff that Zach did for the next year’s Presidents Cup.
Johnson won the 2007 Masters and 2015 British Open. The 46-year-old son of a chiropractor won 12 PGA Tour titles and played on four Presidents Cup-winning teams and five US Ryder Cup squads, including the triumphant 2016 lineup.
“I’ve realized loads, each from the captains that I performed for after which those I’ve served alongside,” Johnson said. “We’ve form of bought a template, a system, in place.”
That foundation, built in the wake of a 2014 US Ryder Cup loss at Gleneagles, has enabled captains to provide their touches to a basic formula.
“The great thing about it’s the persona of that chief can soar into that system and have his personal kind, add his personal nuances to it, and it may be their staff,” Johnson said. “You can personalize it even throughout the system.”
Johnson said he won’t tinker with the basic US program as he tries to lead the first US victory in Europe since 1993.
“I’m not going to reinvent the wheel subsequent 12 months,” Johnson said. “I feel the synergy we’ve got 12 months to 12 months is there. The rhythm of it’s there.”
LESSONS OF MEDINAH
Stricker, who also captained a 2017 US Presidents Cup rout of the Internationals by 19-11, says the Americans are not overconfident this week even with an 11-1-1 lead in the overall rivalry and eight wins in a row, having never lost on home soil.
But Stricker said that lack of complacency has roots in the US Ryder Cup 2012 Miracle at Medinah loss to Europe, which won 8.5 points in singles for a fightback over a US side captained by Love.
“We realized from the 2012 Ryder Cup staff and the way we had this chance to win the Ryder Cup at Medinah, four-point lead going into Sunday, and we did not take sufficient time, actually, or do the best issues,” Stricker said.
“Davis could be the primary to acknowledge that, I feel. We simply did not suppose that via sufficient in all probability.”
Stricker said he made sure those lessons were learned so there was no chance of a similar fate last year.
“We put in plenty of time, and we made certain that we bought that proper… understanding the historical past of what the Europeans did,” he said.
“There’s no complacency right here at all. These guys know anyone can beat anyone at this degree. There’s not one in every of them that is not taking this very, very significantly.
“That has been Davis’s approach to this in messaging, that we can’t just think we can show up and win this thing. We’ve got to go out and play well and take care of business.”
