Aiken's Kisner embracing camaraderie, challenges of Presidents Cup

Sep. 21—CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kevin Kisner got the call during Tour Championship week.

Actually, he got several of them from U.S. Presidents Cup captain Davis Love III, but it was mostly just small talk — really just to chat about anything except for the team itself.

Kisner had reached out to Love first and asked if he needed to keep practicing — hint, hint — because if not he was probably going to take a break from golf for a while and hunt, fish, maybe work on gaining back some of the weight he sweated off during the PGA Tour season.

Finally, Love came through with the news the professional golfer from Aiken wanted to hear — Kisner was one of the six captain's picks and would be representing his country at the Presidents Cup for the second time in his career.

"Kevin, again, adds some veteran leadership, a guy in the team room that everybody loves having around and is really, really easy to pair," Love said earlier this month when he announced his picks. "We have veterans on the team that know the guys that are easy to play with. We have statisticians, analytics who tell us who is easy to pair and who fits the golf course, and Kevin as a veteran certainly fits that role."

Kisner's reputation as a match play ace is well known, but that hasn't exactly translated into a lot of opportunities to play for the U.S. in team competition. His appearance at Liberty National for the 2017 Presidents Cup was the only one before this week, and he's not yet had his named called as a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup. He wasn't so sure about his chances to even make this team until Will Zalatoris had to drop out due to a bad back.

A lot of that has been due to course fit — so many of those venues have favored the bomb-and-gouge style of the game's longest hitters, and that just simply isn't his game.

"So, they picked me for the worst one ever. That makes total sense," Kisner joked after Wednesday's practice round at Quail Hollow, a par-71 measuring a gargantuan 7,576 yards.

His game off the tee may not be the perfect fit for a course like this one, but his match play mentality and ability to put mid-to-long irons close to the flag — not to mention his putting — will travel anywhere.

"Oh, for sure," he said. "It's really annoying when guys play behind you and then they're tapping in in front of you. It gets old quickly. In a match play format, I love being back there and hitting shots that they're not expecting. That's what kills your mentality in match play. Hopefully I'll do that a lot."

Kisner will have to wait until Friday to get started on that, as he and Presidents Cup rookie Billy Horschel were left off Thursday's foursomes lineup. Since he's not playing, he'll probably he somewhere among a friendly crowd not far from home.

"It's super cool to be able to drive my truck up here," he said. "I've got a lot of friends and family, both my parents are from Charlotte, my brother-in-law's a member here at Quail Hollow, so we'll have a ton of friends and family out here. Whenever I don't play, I'll probably be perusing with the crowds."

He isn't worried about who he's playing alongside or against once his name is called. He's happy with any of his American teammates, all of whom are ranked in the top 18 (he's No. 25) in the Official World Golf Ranking, and he's never been one to back down from an opponent's challenge.

"You want to perform. You don't want to let your team down, and you want to be ready to go," he said. "Trying to get your game ready for that. I haven't played a lot, so hopefully not too rusty when I go. I think the experience will help, and then the atmosphere is really going to be a testament to getting me fired up to go to work."

The atmosphere was a raucous one in Kisner's previous Presidents Cup appearance, and he rose to the occasion. He went 2-0-2 for the week and teamed up with Phil Mickelson, who with 12 appearances has played in more Presidents Cups than anyone, to help set the tone in another U.S. blowout.

"Man, his preparation is pretty intense. You find out how crazy of a person he really is," Kisner said of Mickelson. "That's probably the first thing I learned from all the stories he told me throughout. One of my favorite stories was the first couple holes we played alternate shot, I left a few 30-foot birdie putts short in the gimme range. He came up to me and said, 'Stop doing that. You can hit them as hard as you want to. I guarantee I'll make every one of them coming back.' Phil being Phil, in the most Phil way."

Mickelson was the old man in more ways than one on that 2017 roster, and at 38 years old Kisner is getting plenty of grief about being the senior member of this team.

"They are relentless on that. I think that's the only thing they have on me, because I'm firing at them non-stop," Kisner said. "It's Grandpa or Pops all the time, and how short I hit it. Everybody here's a freaking bomber, so they all laugh at me."

Jordan Spieth is technically the most seasoned player on this team with three previous appearances, but he said they've appointed Kisner to that title based on his age.

Justin Thomas has also zinged him this week by joking that Kisner didn't fly the ball over a bunker that was 243 yards away.

Still, that doesn't mean the younger guys are getting the best of Kisner in any exchange of smack talk — either in volume or in quality.

"It's Kiz. He can do it. He feels comfortable, and that's what's great," Collin Morikawa said. "I think everyone feels comfortable on this team, and when you're able to have that, guys kind of bond, it's a lot — the flow of things just goes. No one is uncomfortable. No one is kind of hiding behind the curtain, even us young guys. It's kind of go with the flow and just keep moving on."

Kisner's best previous finish at Quail Hollow was a tie for sixth in 2014 at the Wells Fargo Championship, and in the 2017 PGA Championship played here he held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds before ultimately finishing in a tie for seventh.

That shows that he's had some past success here — and the course played even longer at that PGA Championship. So how will his game stack up this week?

"It's gonna be what it is," he said with a laugh. "I'm gonna dink it down the fairway and hopefully make a lot of putts and piss people off."