Japan's Shigeki Maruyama believes multiple major winner Ernie Els can inspire the Internationals to victory over the Americans at next week's Presidents Cup in the same way Peter Thomson did in 1998. Maruyama accumulated a 5-0-0 win-loss-tie record as a rookie at Royal Melbourne 21 years ago when the Internationals recorded their only victory to date in 12 editions of the biennial team contest. South African Els will captain the team representing the rest of the world outside the United States and Europe when the Presidents Cup returns to the sandbelt course next week to take on another powerful American side.