Nick Taylor and Corey Conners want to beat the Americans at the Presidents Cup this week. They would prefer to leave the naming of lakes out of it.
Which is unfortunate, because OutKick had a suggestion for adding a little something extra to the competition at Medinah Country Club: The winning team gets to name the lake.
Nick Taylor and Corey Conners laughed off the Lake Ontario vs. Lake America debate ahead of the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club this week. (Getty Images)
Lake Ontario if the Internationals win. Lake America if Team USA wins.
The two Canadians weren’t sold.
“I think we’ll leave the naming of lakes out of it,” Taylor said with a laugh Tuesday.
Conners laughed at the suggestion, too.
“I don’t think anyone would be too excited about that prospect,” he said. “I don’t know who’s in charge of lake naming.”
Fair enough. Probably not a responsibility either golfer expected to be offered during his pre-tournament media availability.
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27 directing that Lake Ontario be renamed Lake America for U.S. federal use, including government maps and documents.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the change.
With Taylor and Conners preparing to face a team of 12 Americans, OutKick asked them about the name change in a series of lighthearted questions.
“I just laughed. That was pretty much it,” Taylor said when asked about his initial reaction to the announcement.
Conners said he hadn’t closely followed the news of the name change.
“I honestly haven’t read too much into that. I don’t really have an opinion one way or another,” he said. “I feel like being a proud Canadian, I think a lot of Canadians probably still refer to it as Lake Ontario.”
“Making the Great Lakes Even Greater” signage is displayed during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
So, does any of this provide a little extra motivation to beat the Americans?
“No, that has nothing to do with my motivation,” Taylor said. “But our motivation is to come in here and win, so we have plenty of that.”
Conners gave essentially the same answer.
“No, I mean certainly not that,” he said. “I want to win for my teammates; I want to win for Canada; I want to win for the captains and myself.”
Apparently neither needs a lake thrown into the deal with their pride already on the line.
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Seven countries, one Presidents Cup team
The Presidents Cup is similar to the Ryder Cup, with 12 American golfers competing against a team of 12 opponents. But while the Ryder Cup pits the United States against Europe, the Presidents Cup’s International team draws players from countries outside the U.S. and Europe. Competition begins Thursday, Sept. 24, at Medinah.
This year’s International team represents seven countries: Canada, Australia, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. For Taylor and Conners, that means figuring out how to turn players from five different continents into one team.
“We’re all from different parts of the world, different nationalities, different traditions, different languages,” Conners said. “Captain [Geoff] Ogilvy’s done a really great job of getting us together all throughout the year, giving us something to play for.”
He pointed to the team’s shield logo as something the players can rally around and said the time they’ve spent together has made a difference.
“We’ve definitely grown close together throughout the last few years,” Conners said.
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A Presidents Cup team display on the grounds of Medinah Country Club features the USA and International teams. (OutKick/Dan Zaksheske)
Taylor described team dinners, practice rounds and visits to the course as opportunities to build those relationships before the competition begins.
“There’s obviously challenges with everyone growing up in different spots and obviously having different backgrounds,” Taylor said. “We made an effort to get to know each other and the camaraderie has been great.”
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Taylor said a practice round with Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim helped him get to know them better and earned him the nickname “Brother Kim.”
“It doesn’t matter who you are, the more time you spend with somebody and you’re all rallying together for one common goal, it’s easy to build relationships and make that stronger,” he said.
Any lake-naming negotiations will have to take place elsewhere.