Greenwood, Creed and Kanye: U.S. Presidents Cup newcomers partake in rookie karaoke night
· Yahoo Sports
When new people are introduced to a team or group in the world of sports, there's often some sort of initiation ritual. The U.S. Presidents Cup team is no exception.
The biennial match play competition between the U.S. and International squads begins Thursday at Medinah Country Club near Chicago, but before it gets underway, a few newcomers had to show off their pipes.
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"Last night, the rookies, we had to sing a song for everybody," Jacob Bridgeman said. "There was maybe 40, 50 people in the room. No phones, no videoing, nothing. That was nerve-racking but hilarious."
So what did everyone sing?
"I sang 'God Bless the USA' by Lee Greenwood," Bridgeman said. "I probably made it a minute and a half and Sneds came up and said, 'That's good enough.'"
After Bridgeman belted out Greenwood's 1984 patriotic ballad, the two other rookies took a slightly different route: "Christopher [Gotterup] sang a Creed song," Bridgeman said. "What was it called? I'm blanking on the name."
The Creed tune of choice was "One Last Breath," according to Gotterup, which he "destroyed, in a bad way."
"Not good," said Gotterup. "It was bad."
As for the youngest member on the team, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun went with one of the most popular songs in the discography of the host city's native son: Chicago's own Kanye West.
"Jackson sang 'Heartless' by Kanye," Bridgeman said. "They were hilarious."
It's unfortunate for us ― but perhaps not for the three rookies ― that there's no footage of this behind-closed-doors karaoke session.
Bridgeman might have had to suffer through 90 seconds of singing in front of the team, but the night before, he was given a king's welcome when he arrived to the team room just hours removed from securing his second PGA Tour victory of the season at the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
"The team reception for me when I came in Sunday night after winning was super cool. Everyone in there cheering, clapping when I walked in the room. I saw someone posted online about that. That was pretty special," Bridgeman said. "The team as a whole this week has just been a lot of fun. We're a really tight-knit group, and the few days we've spent together so far has been a blast"
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Greenwood, Creed and Kanye: U.S. Presidents Cup newcomers partake in rookie karaoke night