The President’s Cup is a series of men’s golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team. The International Team draws players from all other countries except those in Europe. The event was first created in 1994 as a contrasting event to its similar counterpart, The Ryder Cup. The event is played every two years. The President’s Cup is held in even-numbered years, and the Ryder Cup in odd-numbered years, but the September 11th attacks in 2001 pushed both events back a year. The President’s Cup then occurred in odd-numbered years before reverting back to even-numbered years with the postponement of the 2020 Ryder Cup. The Cup is hosted alternatively between the United States and countries representing the International Team.
The scoring system of the event is match play. Match play has the match broken down into winning individual holes rather than the lowest total-stroke score. Thirty matches are played over four days. There are eighteen team matches and twelve singles matches. The team matches are in four-ball or alternate shot format. Four-ball occurs when there is a group of four players, two from each team, that all play their own ball. The best score on the individual hole is taken from each pair and the lowest score on the hole claims it. Whichever pair leads in score either before or at the 18th, depending on the score, wins the match. If a pair has won three holes with two remaining, then they win the match, as it is not possible for the other team to win. The scenario applies to any score that is higher than the holes remaining. An alternate shot is when members of each pair of players alternate, hitting the ball until it is in the cup. The winners are tallied in the same format as four-ball.
All thirty matches are worth a point each. Whichever team has more points wins. There are no ties, and any draws are worth half a point, which is added to the total out of thirty available points. The first team to 15.5 points wins the Cup. If the end of the tournament is tied at fifteen, then the cup will be shared between both teams. The United States has won twelve of the fourteen editions of the President’s Cup.
Each team has a captain who is vital in choosing pairings and selecting players to play. Former-U.S. Open winner and FedExCup champion Jim Furyk served the U.S. Captain this year, while former Masters champion Mike Weir led the International captain. Both teams are chosen through six automatic qualifiers and six captain’s picks. United States players are picked by being in the top six in the FedExCup point system, which is the top six players in the nation. The next six are chosen by the captain to complete the full team of twelve. The first six players on the International Team are chosen by the best international players on the Official World Golf Ranking list, with the next six chosen by the captain.
The 2024 President’s Cup was played from September 24 to September 29 and resulted in a United States 18.5-11.5 victory. The Cup was played in Canada at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal. The next President’s Cup will be held in 2026 at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, United States.
