Trevor Immelman has a plan for International Team

Melville Fuller, a former chief justice of the United States, once said, “Without continuity men would become like flies in summer.”

As far as we know, Fuller wasn’t speaking about the International Team for the Presidents Cup, but he might as well have been. South African Trevor Immelman was named the 2021 Presidents Cup captain for the International squad at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

This was a vote for team continuity as Ernie Els passed the baton to Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, who served as understudy at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. What Els did to breathe new life into the matches can’t be underscored enough. He created “a family dynamic” and gave the team “an identity,” Immelman said.

“We felt that over the years that might have been something that was missing,” he said. “It’s a pretty big hurdle to try and overcome when you have players coming from seven, eight, nine different countries, different cultures, different languages. It’s a big hurdle for us to have to overcome that particular week.”

True continuity, one could argue, might have been Els coming back for a second tour of duty. Instead, he threw his efforts behind a bigger and more personal cause: Els for Autism, a disease his son, Ben, suffers from. But Els did create a blueprint for Immelman and future captains – whether it be Canadian Mike Weir, Korea’s K.J. Choi, or Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott.

Trevor Immelman
Born: Cape Town, South Africa
Turned pro: 1999
Professional wins: 11
PGA Tour wins: 2
Major victories: 1 (2008 Masters)
Highest ranking: 12 (Sept. 2006)

“What he has created for our team, I think, is going to be so massive, not just in Charlotte but I’m talking about three, four, five, six Presidents Cups down the road,” Immelman said. “I think what Ernie did for our team, giving us something to build off of, we sure are hoping that that is going to be some kind of turning point for our team to where we can find a way to finally win this Cup again.”

While no one on the International Team, especially Els, was celebrating a moral victory in holding the lead entering Sunday’s singles before the U.S. rallied for a 16-14 victory at Royal Melbourne, Els and Co. believe they have put an end to a lopsided competition (the U.S. leads 11-1-1 in 13 matches). Someday, Els may be remembered as the International team’s version of Tony Jacklin, who accepted the European Ryder Cup captain’s role in…