MONTREAL — Judging the performance of a player at an event like the Presidents Cup can be slightly tricky, in part because it’s such a small sample size, and in part because results often depend so much on both playing partners and opponents. Still, in the era of strokes gained, we can isolate personal performance better than ever, and use the stats as one of three ingredients—the others being points won and play in critical moments—to measure the strength of each player.
So here, ahead of the Sunday singles session, with the Presidents Cup hanging (albeit tenuously) in the balance, let’s go team by team, in alphabetical order, and assess each player (and each captain) on the A-F scale.
UNITED STATES Keegan Bradley (1-1)
As far as 1-1 records go, this was a pretty solid outing for Bradley, who was slated to be an assistant captain (and maybe learn a thing or two about leading a team) before playing well enough down the stretch to earn a captain’s pick. Furyk decided to use him in fourball only, and on Thursday, he was the best putter by strokes gained in the entire session and buried one of the more dramatic putts of the whole event to clinch a victory on 18. He was pretty good on Saturday too, but Wyndham Clark couldn’t bring the heat and they ran into the Kim/Kim juggernaut. Overall, the man did his job, and finished with the third-best strokes gained number of any American.Grade: A-
Sam Burns (3-0) 
Minas Panagiotakis
Funny enough, Burns is the only undefeated American player at 3-0, but he actually lost strokes to the field over those three matches. He had the good humor to admit in his post-match presser Saturday that a lot of his good fortune came from his partners, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa. Nevertheless, he did his job at every step of the way, and they weren’t cakewalks—each match went at least to the 17th hole. And as you saw, he was more than up for playing in the face of a hostile crowd. That’s the kind of energy the whole team can feed off, and even if he wasn’t quite as sharp as some of his teammates, he was equal to the moment, and you can’t argue with three wins.Grade: B
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You’d almost be tempted to give Cantlay the highest possible grade just for the putt on 18 in the twilight to close out the Kims on Saturday night. It will be the enduring memory of this Presidents Cup, and it essentially—in my mind—ended the event. But there’s more where that came from. Cantlay finished with the most strokes gained of any American player, he finished 3-1, and the only guy who putted better than him was Tom Kim, who seemed to be dropping 25-foot daggers every 15 minutes or so. This was a consummate performance from a guy whose reputation as a match-play giant just got burnished a little more—watching him sink that final putt felt just like the Saturday finale of the Ryder Cup. When you need Patrick Cantlay, he’s there.Grade: A+
Wyndham Clark (1-2)
The thing is, Clark’s stats weren’t that bad. He ended up with positive strokes-gained numbers, albeit barely, and he got a leadoff win with Bradley. But the fact is that he rolled over on Friday and Saturday, losing twice by wide margins. I want to forgive him somewhat for the bad luck of the draw, facing Mackenzie Hughes/Corey Conners in alt shot first and then Tom Kim/Si Woo Kim in Saturday four-ball, but he was the worst partner in both matches and just never got any juice going, so I can’t see my way to a B- for him.Grade: C+
Tony Finau (2-1) 
Vaughn Ridley
Finau got two wins, to his credit, but he was heavily riding Xander Schauffele’s coattails in his Saturday four-ball win against an all-Canadian team in Hughes and Conners that picked that exact moment to play abysmal golf. He lost to that same team Friday when they were playing out of their minds. He got his other win Thursday with some admittedly good play in the middle holes, but yet again it was Xander balling out at the end. In fact, Finau finished as one of the worst Americans by the stats, and only secured a winning record by being in the right place at the right time in fourball.Grade: C
Brian Harman (0-2)
There’s not much to say here—his tee-to-green game was incredibly rough in both rounds, his putting was slightly better but still bad, and he went 0-2. By the stats, by the naked eye, and by basically every other measure, he was America’s worst player, and the only real puzzle is why Furyk put him out a second time on Saturday.Grade: D-
Russell Henley (2-1)
Henley seemed to have one job in this Presidents Cup—pair up with Scottie Scheffler. That seems like a great job, until you realize that Scheffler had gone 0-4-2 in pairs sessions in Rome and Charlotte. Suddenly, it looks like a pressure-packed gig for Henley, much like playing with Tiger back in the day in Ryder Cups. Henley fit the role phenomenally; he was steady, sixth-best overall in strokes gained among all players, and played well under pressure in what ended up being three close matches. Two of them turned into wins, and another looked like a half until Si Woo Kim hit his long putt on Friday. That’s everything you could ask for in a very specific, high stakes role—Henley might not have played quite to the “A” rating, but he did what no one else has been able to do with Scheffler, so he deserves this one.Grade: A
Max Homa (0-2)
This may end up being the harshest grade in the entire slate. Homa played twice, both times in foursomes, and both times he finished with positive strokes gained. But both times, he was paired with Harman, who just had a very rough week, and both times he lost matches that went to the 18th green against opponents who seemed eager to throw it away. The one criticism is that he never quite made the huge putt in the crucial moments, including a chance to convert what would have been a devastating par on 18 on Saturday. By and large, though, Homa has an argument that his 0-2 record is mainly down to his partner and his captain.Grade: B-
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Yet again, Morikawa found a way to be sneaky valuable for the Americans. The “sneaky” part is likely because his putter wasn’t particularly hot—in fact, he lost strokes there—but his tee-to-green game was solid throughout, and he ended up filling a number of important roles for Furyk en route to a 3-1 showing. On Thursday, he carried a struggling Sahith Theegala to a 1-up win, and after a Friday thrashing, he booked two more close wins on Saturday, including an important turnaround in the afternoon when he and Sam Burns flipped what looked like a loss against the Canadian team of Conners and Hughes into a big win. He played all four sessions and was almost a chameleon in the different roles he embodies—big brother to Sahith Theegala, support crew for Scottie Scheffler, new partner for Sam Burns. And in each, he did his job.Grade: A-
Xander Schauffele (3-1)
There are truly not enough superlatives for Schauffele, who played every session, went 3-1, finished with the fourth-best strokes gained of any player on either team and ground out two incredibly tough victories. His one loss was a doozy, a 7-and-6 thrashing at the hands of Matsuyama and Im, but it’s easy to write that one off as running into an absurd juggernaut—the Internationals made a whopping eight birdies in 12 holes, which has to be one of the greatest performances in alternate shot history. Otherwise, he made huge putts, struck great irons, and was tremendous off the tee. On top of that, plenty of his teammates pointed to him emerging as a team leader, which only makes sense after the breakthrough year he had. In all ways, X stepped up as the face of his team.Grade: A+
Scottie Scheffler (3-1)
It was a funny week for Scheffler, who appropriately finished in the middle of the upper half in strokes gained, +1.68 total, but whose statistically “even” performance was actually composed of some pretty wild peaks and valleys. His Saturday foursomes match was a great example—he started off missing some egregiously short putts, and suddenly got it together on the back nine to bury some clutch putts and drop some approaches on a dime. He was similarly average for most of Saturday morning, but then imposed his will late to secure an important U.S. victory in four-ball. Ironically enough, his best round statistically came in his only loss, on Friday, when it took a Si Woo Kim to prevent him and Russell Henley from stealing a half point. For the most part, though he wasn’t his usual superlative self, Scheffler stepped up in the huge moments and played like the no. 1 golfer in the world when it mattered. Oh, and by the way, he was the best player on approaches in the whole event.Grade: B+
Sahith Theegala (1-1)
You have to feel bad for Theegala; he was iffy to rough in Thursday four-ball while picking up a win with Morikawa against an abysmal Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, and in a perfect world maybe he would have been rested on foursomes. Instead, the fact that they won led Furyk to run them out again Friday, and in alternate shot Sahith was bad enough in a blowout loss to Scott and Pendrith that Furyk benched him all day on Saturday. You can’t fault the benching, but you can fault Furyk for putting Sahith in a position to fail in a format that doesn’t suit him on a good day, and is particularly bad when he’s struggling in most facets of his game. It was a rough rookie campaign for the promising young American.Grade: D
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An was one of four players who rode the pine all day on Saturday, telegraphing that captain Mike Weir didn’t feel he could risk running him out again in a suddenly close Cup. It was a tough but fair call—An played just OK in a narrow Thursday loss, then had to be dragged around Royal Montreal by a red-hot Si Woo Kim on Friday. The fact that they barely hung on to beat Scheffler and Henley was almost totally down to Kim, right up to the excellent last putt. An himself left a lot to be desired, and paid for it on Saturday.Grade: C-
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (1-1)
He was the worst player in Thursday four-ball, and a few missed putts toward the end of a close match—particularly on 17, when to make it would have given his team a great chance at a half point in a drubbing of a session—cost the Internationals dearly. In what felt like a puzzling move, Weir went with him again in Friday foursomes, where he made a few putts but was gruesome tee to green, and needed a brilliant Day chip (after an awful short iron into the green) to seal a tight victory on 18. A session too late, Weir opted to sit him out Saturday morning, and again Saturday afternoon … Bez will want to erase this one from the memory banks pretty quickly.Grade: D-
Corey Conners (1-3)
I won’t lie—this is harsh. By the raw numbers, Conners deserves much better than this, having finished in the positive figures in strokes gained. But the fact is, his inability to make a big putt under pressure really, really hurt the International team. This is someone who actually won more holes than he lost this week, but finished at 1-3 simply because his performance under the gun was what we’ve come to expect after his 0-4 performance in Charlotte. He’s a classic example of how you can succeed in stroke play, and even win some tournaments, with superb ball-striking, but how weak putting will bury you in the more volatile form of match play. Now, he did win a match, putting on an absolute clinic with Hughes in Friday foursomes, managing to close it out with a stellar iron on 13 that Hughes converted for birdie. And in some of his losses, particularly Saturday morning, he got no help from his partner Hughes. But again and again, Conners couldn’t capitalize on what was some solid to very good play, and in front of his home fans he couldn’t rise to the occasion. The loss to Morikawa and Burns was particularly dispiriting late in the day Saturday.Grade: B-
Jason Day (1-1)
Day’s strokes-gained numbers were neutral to slightly below average, but it will be hard to forget the tremendous match-winning chip/flop from off the green on 18 on Friday. Not only was it brilliantly executed, but it came at a huge time for the Internationals as they were desperately trying to erase an 0-5 deficit and get as close to the Americans as possible. As it happened, they got all five points back in that session, and Day’s shot was massive enough to elevate a grade that should otherwise have been a bit lower. And to be fair to Day, he had to do some heavy lifting long before the 18th hole to win that match, since his partner Bezuidenhout was not at his best. He sat all day Saturday, but the word is that had more to do with his back than any captain decision.Grade: B
Mackenzie Hughes 
Minas Panagiotakis
Hughes had his moment on Friday, thanks in large part to the ball-striking of Conners, but beyond that memorable victory, his ball-striking was just poor. He seemed to be out of far too many holes in his Saturday four-ball match, and in the afternoon, on 18, he followed up a poor drive with an even worse chip to hand the match to the Americans. As we said in the Conners section, that was a dagger for the Internationals, and basically assured that any hope of a comeback was dashed. You hate to pile on the Canadians, but they just didn’t bring it on their home turf.Grade: C
Sungjae Im (1-3) 
Ben Jared
Im was a victim of some unhelpful partnerships late in the weekend, and he himself got off to a difficult start on Thursday, leaving Tom Kim with no support in their loss to Scheffler and Henley. But he picked it up on Friday in his dynamic match with Matsuyama—again, the best any team performed all weekend—and he was very good in both matches Saturday. It was his bad luck that his partner for both matches, Matsuyama, had an awful showing. At the start of the week, you’d have taken what Sungjae gave you, even with the odd stumble, like his drive into the water late in the match with Scheffler and Henley. His timing was just off, and that led to a 1-3 record that wasn’t quite representative of how he played.Grade: B
Si Woo Kim (2-1)
This was, frankly, an inspiring performance from Kim. We’ll always remember the hole-out on 16, followed by the hilariously out-of-context “go to sleep” celebration, but long before that he was dropping bombs left and right, striping the ball off the tee, and bringing massive infusions of energy to his team. In hindsight, it looks like a huge mistake by Weir to have sat him in the opening session on Thursdsay. The final tally for Kim was +6.65 strokes gained, the best performance by anyone on either team; it’s a shame he lost the plot late in the day on Saturday and wasn’t able to finish the job, but his play throughout the weekend was so superlative that you can’t possibly hold that against him.Grade: A+
Tom Kim (1-2) 
Jared C. Tilton
It’s wild to think Tom Kim ended up 1-2 and will only take a single point from the pairs sessions, because the man was a dynamo all weekend. He brought fire to the Internationals in a brutal day on Thursday, cheered for them all day Friday when he was unconscionably benched, came back for a big win Saturday morning, and then teamed with Si Woo Kim yet again in the match of the event, only succumbing to Schauffele and Cantlay late after burying long putt after long putt. He was tremendous, and this is one time where we’re very fortunate to have statistical analysis that shows just how good he was: he finished third in strokes gained among all players, trailing only Si Woo Kim and Patrick Cantlay. Combine that sharp performance with the energy he brought to this team, and you can forget the record—this is a second great Presidents Cup for a very exciting young talent.Grade: A
Min Woo Lee (0-1) 
Keyur Khamar
You have to feel terrible for Lee. He’s the only player who played only one of the first four sessions, and while he was pretty rough on Thursday, he wasn’t the only player who was rough, for either team. But he was the only one who never played again on Friday and Saturday, and who will be going into singles both cold and probably a little deflated, believing his captains don’t have a ton of faith in him. His inexperience likely made the difference for Weir, because the truth is that his partner, Adam Scott, wasn’t a whole lot better in their Thursday loss to Morikawa and Theegala. The silver lining is that he’ll have more bites at this apple.Grade: D
Hideki Matsuyama (1-3)
Funny enough, Matsuyama might have played the best match of the entire event with Sungjae Im in Friday foursomes, and maybe, as mentioned in the American section, one of the best foursomes matches ever. Beyond that, though, it was nothing but disappointment. When the dust settled Saturday night, Matsuyama had the worst strokes-gained stats of any International player, and he was notably bad on the greens. You didn’t need any metrics to know that, though—he kept missing makable putts in his final match with Im en route to getting steamrolled on the back nine by Scheffler and Henley. He hit some good irons throughout the week, but by Saturday he was completely spent, and objectively one of the two or three worst players on the course. Weir needed much more than the unimpressive 1-3 he got.Grade: D+
Taylor Pendrith (2-2)
Give Pendrith some credit for bagging two wins, but man, he really flagged late under pressure, especially on Saturday evening as he seemed dead set on handing the Americans a win they wouldn’t have deserved. Lucky for him, Adam Scott dragged him to the finish line, but his stats to end the week told an ugly story—he was fourth from last in strokes gained, dead last Saturday morning, and close to last Saturday afternoon. He got worse as the weekend went on, and absolutely should have been sitting for the foursomes in favor of Jason Day. That part’s not his fault, but his iffy ball-striking and poor putting are. Here again, we have to say that one of Weir’s Canadian captain’s picks couldn’t turn it on in front of his home fans.Grade: C-
Adam Scott (2-2) 
Harry How
You have to give the veteran Scott a hand—when his team really needed him, he put Pendrith on his back and dragged him across the finish line to secure what looked like a critical point on Saturday night. That’s more than any of his teammates could say, and despite playing his fourth straight match and being the oldest player on either team, he delivered the point. It wasn’t all roses—his stats were dead average and he missed a few important putts, including a short one on 15 in Saturday foursomes that let the Americans crawl back into it, but overall he filled his role admirably, particularly when Weir called on him to go all four. He even came close to earning a half point on Thursday paired with a fellow Aussie in Min Woo Lee who gave him very little help. He’ll be spent for Sunday singles and I’d bet anything that he’ll lose to Morikawa, but he did his job and then some.Grade: B
THE CAPTAINS Jim Furyk, USA 
Chris Condon
Overall, you have to credit Furyk for sticking to his guns, resting most of his players at least once, and—especially—finding a successful partnership for Scottie Scheffler. The one mistake that sticks out to me is that despite taking Max Homa with a controversial captain’s pick, he didn’t set him up for success. By using him just twice, in alternate-shot sessions, he failed to maximize a really good match-play golfer, and even worse, he saddled him with a player in Brian Harman who clearly didn’t have anything to offer. You could also ding him for somehow blowing a 5-0 lead in a single day, but none of his pairings Friday were egregious (minus the fact that Theegala shouldn’t have been anywhere near that session), and sometimes crazy things happen. His pairings Saturday mostly worked, though, and he’s got a much fresher team heading into Sunday. That’s solid work by any measure.Grade: B+
Mike Weir, Internationals 
Minas Panagiotakis
On one hand, you can understand Weir wanting to keep his best pairings on the course on Saturday afternoon, even if that meant benching four guys for the entire day. On the other, it worked out predictably—the last hour on Saturday was a disaster, and you can easily argue that it was because of fatigue, seeing as how literally all of them played two rounds on the day, and many of them were playing their fourth round in three days. And some of his players, including Matsuyama and Pendrith, were really struggling and clearly should have been rested in favor of someone like Jason Day. So not only did he blow a chance to go into Sunday even when his team lost their mojo late on Saturday, but he’s got four guys who will be going into the singles session cold. Weir deserves heaps of credit for keeping his team’s head in the games and mounting that insane comeback from an 0-5 deficit, but he didn’t manage the lineups well on Saturday, and it’s going to cost him a chance to win.Grade: C
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
