Brendon de Jonge enjoyed a long career on the PGA Tour that included 317 starts. While he never won, de Jonge posted 10 top-5s, 28 top-10s and 68 top-25 finishes between 2007 and 2018. The 46-year-old now works in broadcast media as an on-air analyst and radio host.
In this week’s episode of Subpar, de Jonge joined hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz to reflect on some of his career highlights, including his experience on the 2013 Presidents Cup team, where he was paired with Ernie Els and tasked with taking on Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar in the Saturday afternoon foursomes.
“That’s when Ernie was having trouble with the putter. He wasn’t putting it right,” de Jonge said. “I think (he) was, using the belly putter at the time before it was banned, but it really didn’t fit, and he wasn’t happy that we had to play Tiger.
“Nick (Price) had put us against them, obviously with the Presidents Cup, you have to decide your matchups. It’s not like the Ryder Cup. So, Nick had put us against Tiger and Kuchar, and Ernie was convinced that we were almost going out as sacrificial lambs, he was not really happy.
“And, of course, he starts missing like a 3-footer on the first hole. So, like, that didn’t help. But from there, he just played incredibly well and it turned out that he made a 4-footer on 18 to put us 1 up.”
Els and de Jonge were the only International team to post a win in that session. Heading into Sunday’s singles, the Internationals trailed the Americas 14-8. They then mounted an impressive charge on Sunday, winning 7.5 of the 12 points available, but it wasn’t enough, and Team USA claimed victory by a score of 18.5-15.5.
“But, you know, talking about playing with a guy, having him as my partner for the four sessions, that was the absolute dream,” de Jonge said of playing Elsgide. “This was a guy I grew up respecting, he was an idol of mine, and now I’m going to play with him on the Presidents Cup team. I mean, I, I couldn’t have drawn it better than this.”
For more insights and stories from de Jonge, check out the full episode of Subpar below.
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