The Presidents Cup is a series of men’s golf matches between a team representing the United States, and an International Team representing the rest of the world, minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup.
[caption id="attachment_11963" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Liberty National Golf Club will play host in 2017[/caption]Since 1994, the Presidents Cup has been held biennially. Originally, it was held in even numbered years, with the Ryder Cup being held in odd numbered years. However, due to the 9/11 attacks in 2001, both tournaments were pushed back a year and the Presidents Cup is now held in odd numbered years.
The scoring system of the event is match play with the format begolfing drawn from the Ryder Cup and consisting of 12 players per side. Each team has a non-playing captain, usually a highly respected golf figure, who is responsible for choosing the pairs in the doubles events. These consist of both alternate shot and best ball formats (also known as “foursome” and “fourball” matches, respectively).
[caption id="attachment_11960" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The 2015 US Team Presidents Cup Winners[/caption]This year, the Presidents Cup is to be played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. The matches will be played from September 28th – October 1st, with Steve Stricker and Nick Price captaining the US and International teams, respectively.
The US team features the 10 players who earned the most official FedExCup points from the 2015 BMW Championship through to the Dell Technologies Championship, with points earned in the 2017 calendar year counting double, as well as two captain’s picks. All 15 players in the US team are former American golfing student athletes.
The International team features the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking at the conclusion of the 2017 Dell Technologies Championship, and two captain’s picks.
The US has dominated the Presidents Cup since its 1994 launch, going 9-1-1. However, in the 2015 Presidents Cup, the US team won by just a single point, 15.5-14.5, the closest results since the two teams tied in 2003.
