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Immelman wants respect for Internationals: 'This team is no joke'

Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Americans may have won 12 of the 14 Presidents Cups in the event's existence, but Trevor Immelman believes in his International team and is excited for a chance at redemption.

"This team is no joke. I'm sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke," Immelman said, according to Golf Magazine, after the Internationals lost 17.5 to 12.5 on Sunday. "We love this event and we love our team. We cannot wait to run this back and have another shot."

Immelman was in the unenviable position of captaining this year's International team, which lost some of its best players to Greg Norman's LIV Golf throughout the season.

Among those players were World No. 3 Cameron Smith, No. 21 Joaquin Niemann, and No. 24 Abraham Ancer. It also included long-time International team stalwarts Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman, who likely would've been key captain's picks to add some depth to Immelman's roster.

Just two of Immelman's players are currently ranked inside the world's top 20 - Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im - as opposed to 11 Americans, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

The difference in ranking positions was evident throughout all four days at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina. The U.S. breezed its way to a five-point victory, with the Internationals only winning one session. It marked the ninth straight victory for the Americans.

Despite the loss, there are still positives that the Internationals can take into future events.

Tom Kim, just 20, really stepped up for the International group, bringing some momentum to the team with his celebrations and clutch putts, while young South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout earned 1.5 points in his two matches.

Sungjae Im, only 24, played well at Quail Hollow and was one of the Internationals' five match winners Sunday, along with Si Woo Kim, Sebastian Munoz, K.H. Lee, and Bezuidenhout.

The Internationals will have to wait another two years for their next shot at the Americans, but they'll have the advantage of home turf, as the tournament heads to Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada.

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