CHARLOTTE, N.C. — You know what Charlotte really needs, and what the U.S. Presidents Cup team can help us all out with this weekend?
An actual winning streak.
Charlotte’s sports fans would like to stop getting battered by a hurricane of bad news and actually start celebrating a few wins in a row.
Tuesday was a fine beginning, as the city of Charlotte landed the ACC headquarters, snatching it from Greensboro. That was a big deal for our city, albeit one drawn up in corporate boardrooms.
But what we also need is a win on the field of play. That’s where the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club can come in, as 12 of the best American golfers face 12 of the best international golfers Thursday through Sunday in the biennial match play tournament that will be played in Charlotte for the first time.
The U.S. is favored, and rightly so, although it may be worth pointing out that the Carolina Panthers were also favored over Cleveland in their home opener.
The U.S. Presidents Cup Team has five players in the world top 10 in its lineup. The International Team doesn’t have any Top 10 players, in part due to substantial LIV Golf defections.
This is a little like a 3 seed playing a 14 seed in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
And yet we all know the upset stories — shoot, our city literally hosted the first-ever men’s 16-over-1 seed upset in 2018, when UMBC stunned Virginia in March Madness. And what Charlotte really doesn’t need this weekend is to host something like that. Charlotte needs a victory by the home team.
I mean, c’mon. We need this. The 0-2 Panthers, who will play New Orleans at home Sunday while the Presidents Cup is concluding at Quail Hollow, haven’t won a game at home in a calendar year.
The Charlotte Hornets have missed the playoffs the past six years in a row. The new Major League Soccer team has been a lot of fun and has drawn good crowds, but it’s also 12-17-2 and would be on the outside looking in if the MLS playoffs began today. The Charlotte Knights? They have a gorgeous stadium in uptown, but they’re also one of the worst teams in Triple-A baseball and 32 games under .500.
There are a few bright spots — the revived attendance at NASCAR’s Charlotte Motor Speedway, the always strong Davidson men’s basketball team, Queens’ leap of faith into Division I athletics. But there haven’t been enough.
Charlotte is a thriving city, and one that doesn’t stomach sports-team losers well, and that’s why the vitriol around the Panthers (10-25 under head coach Matt Rhule) is so intense. The Hornets are no picnic, either, especially given the felony domestic violence court case enveloping Miles Bridges that makes it unclear whether he will ever play for Charlotte again.
The Presidents Cup is going to attract close to 200,000 fans to Quail Hollow over the next four days, many of them wearing patriotic garb and wanting to be entertained.
Charlotte is never going to host the Olympics. But here’s an event with an Olympic feel to it, with “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chants about to ring out over the course. Here’s a U.S. squad that’s easy to get behind, filled with PGA Tour loyalists who passed up the big money of LIV Golf and will play instead for their country, in an event with pride but no prize money at stake.
But if the U.S. team loses? That’s going to be nasty.
So while the U.S. Team didn’t ask for this, it turns out it’s not only going to be playing for its country.
It’s going to be playing for its adopted city this week, too, trying to earn a win for America, but also for Charlotte.
