Golfers Geoff Ogilvy and Karrie Webb of Australia pose prior to the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Club on February 06, 2019 in Geelong, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
GO: A little disappointed, actually. I think it’s not for every week, but the weeks that it happens in Australia, they play the Vic Open, they play two different tournaments – a men’s Open and a women’s Open over two courses at the venue at the same time, men’s group, women’s group, men’s group, women’s group, it’s fantastic. The guys’ love playing in it, the girls’ love playing in it. The fans have got two different games to see for a direct comparison. I think it makes people respect the ladies’ game a bit more. It makes us respect the ladies’ game more. We get something out of how they go about it. They get something about watching how we go about it. A concurrent tournament is great. I think anything together would be amazing. I think it’d be well received, and it would be great.
GWK: Do you think women should be integrated into the Presidents Cup to make it a more competitive and better event?
GO: I don’t know. I think that you could probably have an event that was PGA-LPGA versus the rest of the world men and women or something, you know, international versus America. I think Presidents Cup stands up pretty well. It’s a pretty solid event. I don’t think the Presidents Cup needs enhancing. But that doesn’t mean more team events wouldn’t be good.
GWK: How much time do you invest in thinking about the Presidents Cup?
GO: A fair bit. I mean, Trevor (Immelman), we’ve had the WhatsApp thing going for, it’s almost a continuation of the one from last time. The banter never really stopped. It slowed down there for about a year, but the last 12 months has been winding up. And he’s really keen. So a fair bit. I mean, we get the list that he sends us every Monday and we sort of discuss what’s going on. There’s been some stress on our side and probably the US side about losing players along the way, not really knowing what’s going to happen. So yeah, we think about it a lot. Talk about Charlotte, talking about the course, who we think should be in the team, the ones who aren’t in the team and talking about picks and stuff already.
GWK: How much do you think Adam Scott, Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Hideki Matsuyama care about the Presidents Cup?
GO: Lots. Scottie, Leash, Cam, Hideki loves it. I can’t have deep conversations with Hideki, obviously. But Scotty is very passionate about it. Cam was jumping out of his skin last time around Melbourne. Leash loves it, like loves it. They’re fantastic. If you had 12 of them, you’d be great. I mean, most guys who play it love it. It’s hard not to love those tournaments. But Adam has been doing it a really long time. He hasn’t won one. Yeah, they love it. They’re really into it.
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