Why the International team will win the Cup

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Adam Scott's struggles may be over in time for The Presidents Cup, where he could play a big role for Captain Greg Norman.

Editor's note: Bruce Matthews has a unique perspective on the Presidents Cup as the long-time golf writer of the Melbourne Herald Sun.

Golf's equivalent of hand-to-hand combat is just what the captain ordered as the best medicine for Adam Scott.

Greg Norman is banking on Scott's inherent match play instincts to enable him to impact in this week's Presidents Cup.

Scott, like Australian teammates Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby, was raised on a healthy diet of match play in his formative years in the sport. As amateurs, most of their weekends were occupied with knockout competition, either interclub or in state teams against similar emerging talent. Simply, match play and the tactical subtleties compared to standard stroke play is second nature to the Aussie trio.

It's one of the principal reasons why Ogilvy won his second World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in late February. And, while Scott's results are not so prominent, you dismiss his match play prowess at your peril.

Scott's boyish, wholesome image brings far more than glamour to the International team. His steely resolve to not let down Norman's faith in him as a bold captain's pick should help the team.

Norman is the reason Scott abandoned the beaches of northern Australia to lug a golf bag instead of surfboard around the world. Captain Norman even steered his fellow Queenslander to cut his golf cloth in Europe before venturing to the PGA TOUR. By any definition, Norman is the mentor and he wouldn't subject his man to Presidents Cup focus unless he firmly believed the student could handle the assignments.

No one came within what Australians call cooee (calling distance) of Ogilvy in the Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this year where he has now been a finalist in three of the past four events.

Ogilvy is backed by six fellow major winners on this talent-laden International team, all of whom thrived rather than merely survived in the furnace heat of the back nine on Sunday at those grand events.

Vijay Singh, a perennial Presidents Cup competitor, takes a 14-15-6 scoreline to Harding Park, a deceptive record as he's often pitted against the strongest American players.

South Africans Retief Goosen and Ernie Els are old hands at this team thing. Both are tailor-made for match play. Compact, effortless power, silky short games and gentlemanly but take-no-prisoners competitive attitudes. You could order a 21-gun salute greenside and Goosen wouldn't flinch over the putt.

Imagine standing on the first tee with Angel Cabrera. As friend or foe, you're guaranteed to expect the unexpected -- such is the shot artistry of this Argentine powerhouse. The former Cordoba caddie is a two-time major winner and, rightly, he fears no one in his fourth Presidents Cup appearance.

Steady-Eddie could replace Richard as Mike Weir's middle name. Understandably, he was the hero of the 2007 Presidents Cup with solid 3-1-1 results including a last-day 1 up Singles victory over Tiger Woods that more than sated the Royal Montreal galleries.

When you talk about handling big occasion expectations, Y.E. Yang certainly didn't blink with a Tiger stalking him in the final round of this year's PGA Championship. His nerveless long-iron approach to the 18th to seal victory belies his status in the team as merely a rookie. Another South African Tim Clark, stepping up for his third Presidents Cup, whipped Woods 4 and 2 in the Accenture Match Play Championship second round this year.

So, at the risk of prodding a sleeping Tiger with a 2-iron, the great man is not always a daunting opponent in match play. Sure, this U.S. team is far from a one-trick outfit, but everyone will be looking to the world No.1 for their lead. While his Presidents Cup win-loss record is satisfactory, he hasn't in the past lauded over the field with the same intimidation he brings to regular tournament play.

Speaking of presence, these Internationals won't be fazed either by the entirely appropriate "in-the-hole" support from San Francisco fans for the American team.

Els, Singh, Ogilvy and colleagues ply their golf trade by necessity away from their homelands most of the year. They slap passports on to airport counters more often than their credit card at a supermarket checkout. And all have been paired with the likes of Tiger and Phil Mickelson often enough to know the drill with home galleries.

Which brings us to the critical role of Norman and his assistant Frank Nobilo as they pull this collection of wonderfully diverse personalities into a cohesive team pursuing one goal.

While Norman and Nobilo may sound like a comedy act, these experienced players and commentators were constructive members of that victorious 1998 team in Melbourne, Australia. The principles that melded that International unit remain viable today.

One time during the daily 45-minute coach ride to Royal Melbourne, each team member had to belt out a song of origin, obviously unaccompanied and on demand. Pointedly, everyone laughed with them rather than at them.

Captain Greg and co-pilot Frank won't need any prompting to be the lead singers if they pull off the first win on American turf.