Opinion: Why it's a mistake to replace Trevor Immelman as Presidents Cup captain
Mike Weir has fully earned his appointment as captain of the Presidents Cup team in 2024, to be played in his home nation of Canada, but could this undo the hard work of Trevor Immelman?
On Wednesday, Mike Weir was announced as the captain of the International Presidents Cup team for 2024 at Royal Montreal in Canada. The perfect venue for Weir to take the hot seat.
At the 2007 Presidents Cup at the same venue, Weir famously beat Tiger Woods 1 up in the Sunday singles in what was another defeat inflicted by an American side captained by Jack Nicklaus.
The 2003 Masters champion also produced a fruitful relationship with Ernie Els at the event 15 years ago, earning two points out of two when being paired together by captain Gary Player.
Weir has been a vice-captain on three consecutive occasions, most recently under the leadership of Trevor Immelman in 2022 at Quail Hollow.
After suffering from the absence of Cameron Smith, Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann due to their moves to the LIV Golf Series, Immelman dealt with forced changes and last-minute adjustments to take on a strong American team which had humbled Europe 19-9 at the 2021 Ryder Cup.
You could argue a 17.5 - 12.5 scoreline didn't represent the quality and spirit of the International team in North Carolina. Tom Kim, Si-woo Kim, Sungjae Im and Sebastian Munoz were standout performers in what was a brave defeat.
There were moments on the final day when the Internationals had hope of turning a four-point tide, the gap that was bridged by Team Europe in the singles session of the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah.
For many players in the International team, their stock shot to the roof and Immelman's passion and emotion for the event were evident on a number of occasions.
"We had an amazing week. They were fighting. These guys have massive hearts. I'll go into battle with them any day," the South African said after the five-point loss.
It will be Weir going into battle in two years' time. He was the obvious choice and rightfully so. He has been part of the leadership team at three consecutive Presidents Cups and has no doubt absorbed every moment of every match, using every detail to shape his own decisions for 2024.
He thrilled the fans at Royal Montreal when beating one of the game's greatest players in 2007. They certainly won't have forgotten that and Weir could harness the energy of the Canadian crowd to earn what would be the Internationals' second-ever win since 1994.
One of the most disappointing performances of this year's Presidents Cup came from Corey Conners. The impressive 30-year-old scored 0 points for the Internationals, despite finishing third at the WGC Match Play back in March.
Perhaps Weir could get the best out of his fellow countryman next time around, as well as Taylor Pendrith should he make the side for the second time in a row.
But in my view, Immelman made huge strides with the underdog team three months ago. There was the same spirit and collectiveness that has often taken Europe over the line in the Ryder Cup.
The new @IntlTeam captain has game
Some of the best shots from @MWeirsy's career. pic.twitter.com/21oE4TKpJw
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 30, 2022
As we saw at numerous points of the week in September, relationships were born and flourished and the core of Tom Kim, Im, Conners and Hideki Matsuyama etc... should be present again in 2024.
I should point out that Immelman isn't perfect, as is no team captain. His omission of Ryan Fox and Lucas Herbert turned heads ahead of the event. Fox won twice on the DP World Tour this season and Herbert made his PGA Tour breakthrough in Bermuda at the back end of 2021.
Herbert has since admitted his frustration at not being selected for his Presidents Cup debut, while Fox capped off a superb season in Europe by coming second in the end-of-season rankings.
With team match play events, there is always a desire to choose a new captain, a fresh pair of eyes and Weir to captain the Internationals in Canada was inevitable.
We should consider that Immleman was confirmed as the new lead golf analysis for CBS in June after Sir Nick Faldo's departure, so perhaps his broadcast commitments would make another leadership stint impossible.
But after such a significant week for the International team where they performed valiantly having lost key players to the LIV Golf Series, Immelman could've made further strides and more progress having had a taste of the captaincy.
