Shane Warne knew the greatest sledges in cricket weren’t really sledges at all. The legendary leg spinner was also a Hall of Fame nuisance, having served an apprenticeship under Allan Border.
Warne’s mantra was that sledging was a “fine art”. He believed the most effective way to throw a rival off his game was to make him think about something unrelated to the game at hand, but still related to his career. Warne once revealed the greatest sledge of his career was a line he delivered to South African batsman Daryll Cullinan. Cullinan had been working with a sport psychologist to ‘play the ball and not the man’, as Warne had read in the newspaper ahead of a Boxing Day Test one year. When Cullinan came to the crease, Warne asked, “What colour was the couch?” A confused Cullinan wheeled around, stared briefly at Warne, and was dismissed within a couple of deliveries.
You might be wondering what relevance Shane Warne’s chirping has to another sport. Well, Marc Leishman believes the galleries at Royal Melbourne can give the International side a leg-up with similar tactics to Warnie. Chasing a long-awaited second victory in 25 years of the event and facing a star-studded American team featuring the likes of Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele, to name a few, the International team and their fans will need to think outside the box.
“It’d be great if we had an atmosphere like Australia versus England in the Ashes; give them a bit of stick and make them feel uncomfortable, or think about things they don’t want to think about,” Leishman tells Australian Golf Digest.
In other words, get creative.
“But do it in a fun spirit, because Aussies are very good at that,” Leishman says. “After all, they are the opposition and we want to win. A home-crowd advantage is extremely important for us this time. The Americans certainly had that at Liberty National two years ago.
“You shouldn’t be disrespectful to them, because that’s not fun for players and it’s not in the spirit of golf. But if they hit a good shot, you don’t have to clap. They don’t clap over there for us.”
“You shouldn’t be disrespectful to them, because that’s not fun for players and it’s not in the spirit of golf. But if they hit a good shot, you don’t have to clap. They don’t clap over there for us.”
– Marc Leishman
The 2019 Cup will be the third time the event has been staged at Royal Melbourne. In 1998, a Peter Thomson-led International team smashed Jack Nicklaus’ American side by nine points – the only occasion the Internationals have tasted victory. When Fred Couples brought the Americans back to Australia in 2011, the tourists got their revenge.
For the most recent Cup, Ernie Els was an assistant captain and was memorably outspoken in calling for changes only moments after the side was embarrassed at New Jersey’s Liberty National course. Tweaks were made to the format, perhaps most importantly by increasing the number of captain’s picks from two players to four as well as stipulating that each player shall only be required to play a minimum of one match prior to the final-day singles matches.
Now, Els is desperate to win his debut as International captain. Like Leishman, he believes the Australian crowds can be part of the team.
“Obviously, it’s a home game for us,” Els says. “It’s the third time we are playing in Australia at Royal Melbourne. As an International team, we would like to think that we’re going to have the majority of the support.”
But Els, a winner of four Majors, admits the team has to earn that support from fans. They can do that by getting off to a fast start in Thursday’s opening session. It is why Els has spent the past 18 months, since he was announced as captain, encouraging International team members to play practice rounds – and even the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic teams event – to establish relationships before arriving at Royal Melbourne.
“Momentum is a big part in matchplay, team sport, I think if we can get some putts moving our direction into the hole, like we did in 1998, I think the crowd can really get behind and we can get some more noise coming our way.”
Understandably, fans will be in awe of 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods, who will become just the second golfer in the Cup’s history to line up as a playing captain. Tigermania will grip Melbourne, particularly with Woods winning his fifth Masters title at Augusta earlier this year and his 82nd PGA Tour title at the inaugural Zozo Championship in Japan in October.
But Woods, who now shares the record for all-time wins on the PGA Tour with Sam Snead, doesn’t want to be adored by fans. Woods, 43, says he’d welcome a Ryder Cup-style crowd in Melbourne.
“I think it might be a little bit like that; you could see that happening,” Woods says. “With the team [having] Leish, Jason (Day) and Adam (Scott), those core Aussies, the [crowds] are going to support their own, right? The International team has been very difficult to beat [in Melbourne]. The only reason we won last time is we made a few more putts.
“The matches are very close, especially on that golf course. It can swing so many different ways because of how difficult it can play. It’s about getting momentum. In this format, you really thrive on momentum; making key putts at the right time and closing out matches. So far, over the course of the Cups, we have been able to do that. But in Australia, it’s one loss, one win. Hopefully we’ll get the better side of it.”
No one on the International team is more frustrated with the side’s woeful record than Scott. With a ninth cap looming, the 39-year-old will take the outright record for most appearances for the Internationals. The Queenslander was a part of the tied result in South Africa in 2003, but Scott wants to right the ship. Scott says it is up to the players to bond and have the fans feel their camaraderie.
“It’s a very difficult equation to solve, our International team,” he says. “It’s not throwing one nation in a room [like the American team], so the bond is obviously a little more difficult. But it doesn’t mean we don’t want to play hard.
“As an old guy like me who hasn’t had any success in the Presidents Cup… it would mean so much to be on a winning team; just to turn it around would be quite an achievement.”
Read on for more on the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club
