Brandel Chamblee reacts to Geoff Ogilvy putting Nico Echavarria out against Scottie Scheffler at the Presidents Cup

Brandel Chamblee has heaped praise on Geoff Ogilvy’s decision to put Nico Echavarria up against Scottie Scheffler for the Sunday singles at the Presidents Cup.

Ogilvy could surely not have imagined that his team would be in such a great position with one session to play at Medinah. The International Team is currently three points clear after managing to win two of the four matches on Saturday afternoon in Illinois.

With that, there was a lot of intrigue for how the two captains would send their teams out on Sunday, with Team USA likely to have the advantage in the singles.

Brandel Chamblee praises Geoff Ogilvy for putting Nico Echavarria out against Scottie Scheffler at the Presidents Cup

Traditionally, it is a huge risk to leave all of a team’s biggest players for later in the lineup. Many will remember Europe winning the top five matches on their way to completing the Miracle at Medinah in 2012. Meanwhile, Team USA were punished at the recent Solheim Cup for throwing out the likes of Megan Khang and Angel Yin in the very early stages.

Momentum is key, so many would have expected Ogilvy to seriously consider sending the likes of Si-woo Kim and Ryan Fox out early to try and take the team to the cusp of history.

However, he has opted to send Ryo Hisatsune out in the first spot. And when Brandt Snedeker put Scottie Scheffler out in match four, Ogilvy responded by picking Nico Echavarria – who has not played since Thursday.

Speaking on Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee believes that Ogilvy’s lineup is inspired.

“Geoff Ogilvy had the first pick, so he wasn’t about to put one of his strength players out there, and have them throw Young or Gotterup out there, or Scottie Scheffler. So he threw Hisatsune. They threw out Young. The next time he’s got a pick, he throws out Conners, again, not about to throw out one of his strengths. So when they put Scheffler out fourth pick, they put Echavarria out,” he said.

“They put their weakest player out there. They’re like, ‘alright, maybe Echavarria plays out of his mind’, because again, his ceiling is high. This guy’s won three times, he can go. He can play when he’s on, so maybe they get half a point out of that. But they’re not going to risk losing one of their best players. All they have to do tomorrow is get five points out of these 12. Why would they risk going up strength for strength against a team that’s far superior? The USA team put Gotterup out first, so they put out Bezuidenhout against him. Why would they risk their strength?

“They sprinkled a little strength early, backloaded strength, against the grain, against the belief. Again, it’s a rope-a-dope. I’m going to call it brilliant and I think it works.”

Another misstep from Brandt Snedeker in a nightmare Presidents Cup week

There is a real possibility that Team USA win all of the top six matches on Sunday. If that is the case, then that would put enormous pressure on the Internationals in the last six matches to deliver.

However, it still feels as though Snedeker made a mistake with his lineup. Firstly, Hisatsune has had a mixed week. He failed to take some great opportunities on Saturday morning. Meanwhile, Cameron Young has arguably been Team USA’s best player.

So deciding to use Young in that match seemed a bizarre call. Similarly, allowing Ogilvy to put whoever he wanted up against Scheffler was surely a mistake by Snedeker.

As Chamblee notes, Echavarria should not be written off. However, Snedeker should have surely looked at Russell Henley or Justin Thomas to take on the Colombian. Instead, he has allowed Ogilvy the chance to hand Echavarria a free run at making himself a hero.

Whatever happens on Sunday, it has been a week to forget for Snedeker. Ogilvy, meanwhile, will be able to hold his head up high regardless of the final score.