The U.S. team may be the heavy favourites at Royal Montreal, but anything can happen on the course, especially in match play. The one thing certain during the Presidents Cup this week is that the outcome of any match — and I stress any — will be uncertain. Sure, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will be the favourite in any match he plays, no matter if it’s foursomes, fourball or Sunday singles. But he won’t be a lock in a pairs match or the singles. That’s not the way match play works.

When does the unrelenting weekly diet of stroke play really get exciting? That happens when a couple of players outdistance themselves from the field and, effectively, are in a match-play situation. Off the top of my head, I’m thinking of Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson during the 2016 Open Championship, in which they played the final round together. Stenson won. He was 14 shots ahead of third-place J.B. Holmes. Mickelson was 11 in front of Holmes.

Or I’m thinking of Tiger Woods and Y.E. Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship. Yang won, playing against Woods in the last twosome. Woods finished second. If you’ve watched much match play, you’ll know it wasn’t guaranteed that Woods would win.

This brings us to Royal Montreal, to which the Presidents Cup returns. It was held there in 2007. Along with, oh, 30,000 spectators, I followed Mike Weir, this year’s International captain, during his Sunday singles match against Woods. Weir won on the 18th green. It was never the case that he was the proverbial lamb thrown to the wolves —Woods being the wolf, of course. Weir could play, he was tough, and he believed in himself.

He also believes in his team this week, composed of six players who qualified on points and his six captain’s picks. The consensus as I’ve garnered from various media folks is that the U.S. will be favoured in most every match, and overwhelmingly so in the overall event. But hold on.

Back to Woods, a phenomenal match-play competitor, obviously. Australian Nick O’Hern beat him in singles matches in each of the 2005 and 2007 Accenture World Match Play Championship. He wrote in his insightful 2016 book, Tour Mentality: Inside the Mind of a Tour Pro, that he’s probably best known for this accomplishment. The lamb ate the wolf, or something like that.

Let’s pick a passage from O’Hern’s book in which he nails the essence of match play.

“You have to beat only one person over 18 holes rather than 156 players in a 72-hole PGA Tour event,” he wrote. “It’s always been my favourite format of the game because it’s the only time you truly go head-to-head with an opponent, unless it’s late on Sunday in a stroke-play tournament, and you and your playing partner are the only two contenders for the title (which is quite rare — for me, anyway!).”

Note that O’Hern refers to two golfers playing together. Readers of a certain age will remember the Duel in the Sun at Turnberry in the 1977 British Open when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus played together in the final two rounds. Watson shot 65-65 to win by a shot over Nicklaus, who shot 65-66. It all came down to the last hole. Hubert Green finished third, 11 shots behind Watson.

Much more recently, it felt like Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were up against one another in a match-play situation in June on the final day of the U.S. Open. But they weren’t playing together. They were close, but theirs wasn’t a direct confrontation.

That didn’t take away from the drama of DeChambeau playing a fabulous 55-yard bunker shot within four feet of the hole on the 72nd green and making the putt. McIlroy, up ahead, had missed a scary super-fast four-footer for par on the final green. As it turns out, he needed to hole the putt to get into a playoff and could only watch as DeChambeau hit that brilliant bunker shot and made his par putt to win.

For authentic match play, then, two golfers must be playing together. Mano a mano, that is. One on one. Said O’Hern: “Match play is like a game of chess; you have to not only outplay your opponent, but outthink them.” I think the former has more to do with the outcome than the latter, especially in a blowout match. But having both in one’s quiver is usually determinative in a close match.

Speaking of blowouts, they can be almost as entertaining as matches that comes down to the last hole. There’s something about watching a player in full flight dominating his or her opponent. Women’s world No. 1 Nelly Korda played the 12th-ranked Englishwoman Charley Hull in a singles match at the recent Solheim Cup. Theirs was the leadoff match Sunday, and Korda was most everybody’s favorite.

Hull won 6&4. She did what her captain Suzann Pettersen sent her out to do in the first match. She gave the European side some hope. The U.S. side had taken a four-point lead into the singles, so the clear margin that Hull maintained as she took control might have provided a boost to the European side. The U.S. team still won by three points, but again, a big favourite didn’t win.

That’s golf, right? Especially, that’s match play.

I had a coffee the other day with Marlene Streit. She’s 90, and there’s nobody with whom I’d rather talk match-play golf. Marlene won everything in amateur golf. Let me list some of her victories, although you probably know them. If Marlene reads this, she won’t be thrilled that I’ve drawn attention to her. She’s always been one to let her clubs do the talking. But I hope she’ll make an exception here. She knows a thing or two.

Marlene won the 1953 British Ladies Amateur when she was 19. She won the 1956 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1963 Australian Women’s Amateur, 11 Canadian Ladies Amateurs, the 1985, 1994 and 2003 U.S. Senior Amateurs — the last when she was 69.

Well, there we were sitting outside on one of the recent warm and sunny September days in Toronto. Marlene followed the Curtis Cup a few weeks ago and then the Solheim Cup. She’ll follow the Presidents Cup and hopes the International side will win. She knows Weir has what it takes as a captain just as the 2003 Masters winner had what it took as a player.

Back home, writing this piece, I’ve consulted my notes on Marlene’s views about match play. Here are a few things she’s told me. Her will to win is all over her views.

A bad shot or a bad hole can be overcome in match play, although this doesn’t mean you should be reckless, which can give holes away. But you are never out of the game in match play. Do not try the impossible shot and hope for a miracle. It is good advice not to try a shot that you have not practised. Practise all of the impossible shots — be prepared.

Do not look at the draw and make premature conclusions. One shot at a time, one hole at a time, one match at a time.

Match play encourages aggressiveness, improves concentration and determination.

I have won many matches being three down with five holes to play. It really is never over until it’s over. One learns to become more aggressive by playing match play. Concentrate on the job at hand.

With full confidence in his team of 12 talented golfers, Weir, I’m sure, will be advising just that: Concentrate on the job at hand.

I can’t wait for Thursday’s opening matches. Yes, the U.S. team is stacked with eight players in the top 15 of the world ranking. And yes, the International side has only one in Hideki Matsuyama.

But this is match play, the format that generates sometimes surprising, but never shocking, results. It’s golf at its best, and most engrossing. Any player can win any match. Agreed?