The Presidents Cup Facts & Stats for Fans of Team Golf
Are you looking for some background on golf’s Presidents Cup competition?
Then you’re in the right place!
The Ryder & Solheim Cups sometimes have a higher profile, especially in Europe, but the bi-annual Presidents Cup still plays a major part in the golfing calendar.
As the 2024 tournament tees-off at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Quebec, Canada we thought we’d take a look into the history of the competition and share some fascinating and a couple of random Presidents Cup facts and stats!
About the 2024 Presidents Cup – Frequently Asked Questions
The Presidents Cup is a mens matchplay event played over four days.
It is a team competition between the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe.
Like the Ryder Cup there are 12 players on each side.
The venue for the Presidents Cup alternates between a golf course in the USA and a course in one country represented by the International team.
The Presidents Cup is a biennial event held alternatively at a golf course in the USA and a course in one country represented by the International team.
There are 12 players on each team. The players are supported by a team captain and up to four vice captains.
Like the Ryder Cup The Presidents Cup is a four-day, matchplay event.
There are a total of 30 matches. Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup begins play on Thursday of tournament week.
The team that earns the most points after four days of competition wins the Presidents Cup.
In 2024 the winning team will be the first to 15.5 points
- Thursday: Five matches total, four-ball (best ball) or foursomes (alternate shot)
- Friday: Five matches total, foursomes or fourball (the opposite of Thursday’s format)
- Saturday: Eight matches total, four-ball and foursomes split the morning and afternoon
- Sunday: Twelve matches total, singles
Days one and two include morning rounds of foursome matches and afternoon rounds of four-ball matches.
The team captains will chose which players are paired together for each team.
Not every player on the team will necessarily play in any of the foursome or fourball matches. However, captains tend to pick players for at least one of the rounds on the first two days of the competition.
A player can be picked for each round of the event if the Captain chooses to play them.
The final day is made up of singles matches where each player on the team plays a matchplay round.
The order in which the players play is decided by the Captain and Vice Captains.
The Presidents Cup is played using three different matchplay golf formats:
Foursome Matches
“Foursome” golf is a match where two golfers from the same team are paired up to compete against two golfers from the other team.
Each team only plays one ball and the golfers from each team play alternate shots until the ball is holed.
Four-ball Matches
“Four-Ball,” or better ball ,play is another team match with two players from each side competing against each other.
Unlike foursomes in four ball golf each player plays their own ball.
Four balls are in play on each hole. The lowest score from each team will be the score for that team. Hence why fourball golf is also known as “better ball”.
Singles Matches
In the Solheim Cup a “Singles”golf – played on the last day of the event – is a match where one player from Team USA competes against one player from Team Europe.
Each will play their own ball.
All 12 members from Team USA will compete against the 12 members from Team Europe in singles matches.
This means there are a full 12 points available on the final afternoon!
As mentioned the Solheim Cup is played using a matchplay format.
Match play is a form of play where a player (or team of players) plays directly against an opponent (or opponents) in a head-to-head match.
You win a hole by completing it in the fewest number of strokes, and you win a match when you are winning by more holes than remain to be played.
The Solheim Cup points system works by awarding 1 point for each team or individual match win, half a point if the match is tied (or halved) and no points for a match loss.
There are a total of 28 points up for grabs during the Solheim Cup matches. This means a team needs to get at least 14 ½ points to win the Cup.
However if there is a 14-14 tie, the cup stays with the defending team.
In the history of the Solheim Cup there has not yet been a tied match.
The two captains for the 2024 Presidents Cup will be Jim Furyk (USA) and Mike Weir (Internationals). Between them have been involved in 13 Presidents Cup campaigns.
Team USA
Jim Furyk
Team USA will be captained by Jim Furyk at the 2024 Presidents Cup.
Furyk won 17 times during his PGA Tour career including the 2003 US Open.
He is no stranger to team format golf having played in 9 Ryder Cups between 1997 to 2014. Furyk also represented the US in 7 Presidents Cup, winning 5 of them, and played in the 2003 World Cup.
Furyk is joint record holder for the most number of wins in one Presidents Cup with 5.
He also has captaincy experience having led the 2018 US Ryder Cup team at the 2018 tournament in France.
International Team
Mike Weir
Mike Weir is probably Canada’s best know male golfer. He has won 8 times on the PGA Tour twice on the European Tour and is now competing on the PGA Champions Tour.
But it was when he won the 2003 Masters that Weir became globally recgonised.
In 2009, Weir was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
In 2010, Weir was selected as #12 on a list of Canada’s 100 Greatest Athletes of All Time.
He has represented the Internationals 5 times and Canada in the World Cup 6 times.
Team Europe and Team USA have slightly differing qualification processes for players to get into their teams.
Let’s take a look at both selection rules for the 2023 Solheim Cup:
Team USA
The top seven players on the U.S. Solheim Cup points list at the end of the Qualifying Period will be the first group of players into Team USA.
They are joined by the top two players on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (having not already qualified).
Team captain Stacy Lewis then selected three players to complete the team.
Team Europe
The first two members of Team Europe are selected from The Ladies European Tour (LET) Solheim Cup Points list
Then, the six highest ranked players on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (having not already qualified) will automatically qualify.
Finally, Captain Suzann Pettersen had four picks to finalise the players for Team Europe.
Of the 17 Solheim Cup comeptitions played so far Team USA has won 10 compared to the 7 won by Team Europe.
The good news for Team Europe fans though is that they have won the last two Cups and according to the UK bookmakers they go into the 2023 Solheim Cup as slight favourites!
Here is the list of 12 players picked for Team Europe in the 2024 Solheim Cup:
- Celine Boutier
- Maja Stark
- Charley Hull
- Leona Maguire
- Georgia Hall
- Linn Grant
- Carlota Ciganda
- Anna Nordqvist
- Madelene Sagstrom
- Esther Henseleit
- Albane Valenzuela
- Emily Kristine Pedersen
You can view full profiles of Team Europe’s 2024 Solheim Cup team here.
Here is the list of 12 players picked for the International Team in the 2024 Presidents Cup:
- Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)
- Sungjae Im (South Korea)
- Adam Scott (Australia)
- Tom Kim (South Korea)
- Jason Day (Australia)
- Byeong Hun An (South Korea)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
- Corey Conners (Canada)
- Mackenzie Hughes (Canada)
- Si Woo Kim (South Korea)
- Min Woo Lee (Australia)
- Taylor Pendrith (Canada)
You can view full profiles of the International 2024 Presidents Cup team here.
No we will not be seeing any LIV golfers at the 2024 Presidents Cup.
According to the new qualifying criteria, players taking part in the Presidents Cup must be eligible to compete in PGA Tour-sanctioned events in the 2024 season.
Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are all indefinitely banned from the PGA Tour, so will not be able to compete in the event this year.
To qualify for the International tema players must either be selected by captain Mike Weir or secure their spots via the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
LIV Golf have had their application to secure OWGR accreditation denied so none of the players affiliated to LIV can be eligible.
The top 10 Presidents Cup facts every golf fan should know
1. The Presidents Cup: Where it all began…
The Presidents Cup was established in 1994 by officials of the PGA Tour.
The idea was to create a team event that would complement the Ryder Cup by bringing together players from all over the world (excluding Europe) to compete against the United States.
The first Presidents Cup was played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia USA – host venue for the 2024 Solheim Cup!
Hale Irwin captained the USA team to a runaway victory 20-12 against David Graham’s International team.
2. Legendary Captains on Both Sides!
The Cup has seen legendary golfers take the lead as captains.
Jack Nicklaus, the greatest major champion of all time, has captained the U.S. team four time. Tiger Woods led the 2019 team to victory.
The International side has been captained by golfing stars of equal fame like South Africa’s Gary Player, Ernie Els and Nick Price plus Peter Thomson of New Zealand and Greg Norman of Australia have also taken on the captaincy on mulitple occassions.
Major golf legends Nicklaus and Player captained opposing teams 3 times in row between 2003 and 2007 including the only tied Cup at a Greencard Golf favourite venues in Fancourt South Africa!
3. US Dominance…
Out of the 14 Presidents Cups played as of 2023, Team USA has dominated, winning 12 times.
The International team, though only victorious once in 1998, came close to leveling the field on multiple occasions.
The 2003 Cup at Fancourt in South Africa famously ended in a tie after a dramatic sudden-death playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els where both played high level of golf under intense pressure.
4. Historic 2024 Venue: Royal Montreal Golf Club
In 2024, the Presidents Cup will return to one of the oldest and most prestigious golf courses in North America—Royal Montreal Golf Club, located in Montreal, Quebec.
Founded in 1873, the course is well-known as a top level golf venue with a challenging but stunning layout.
This will be the second time Royal Montreal has hosted the event, following a memorable tournament in 2007, where the U.S. team claimed victory.
Watch Tiger & Ernie’s Best Shots in the Presidents Cup.
5. Player With the Most Presidents Cup Appearances & Points:
Phil Mickelson holds the record for most Presidents Cup appearances, having played in an amzing 12 consecutive events from 1994 to 2017.
He also holds records for the most total career Presidents Cup points at 32.5. The most total foursomes points at 14 and the most fourball points at 13.
To top it all Mickelson is also has 26 match victories in the Presidents Cup as of 2023.
6. It’s all tied Cup!
The 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa remains one of the most famous events in the series.
With teams deadlocked after all matches, there was a sudden-death playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.
After three extra holes, darkness forced the match to end in a tie, leading to a shared Cup for the first and only time in its history to date.
7. Who is Chair of the Presidents Cup
Given the name of the trophy its no real surprise that the Honorary Chair of each event is the head of state of the host country.
US Presidents Obama, Biden and Trump have all had the honour when the Cup has been held in the USA while the Presidents of Korea and South Africa plus Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada have held the role when the tournament has been hosted by the International team.
In 2024 the Presidents Cup will be chaired by Canadian Prime Minsiter Justin Trudeau.
President Obama is the only Head of State to have Chaired the event on two seperate occasions.
8. Over $56 million raised for charities worldwide and counting
Like the Ryder and Solheim Cups there is no prize money awarded at the Presidents Cup.
The net proceeds are distributed to charities nominated by the players, captains, and captains’ assistants.
Over the past 25 years, the Presidents Cup has raised over US$56 million for 475 charities in over 18 countries around the world.
That’s quite a legacy!
9. Countries & States to have Hosted a Presidents Cup
The 2024 Presidents Cup will be the 15th time the matches have been played.
Over the history of the Cup the matches have been played in 4 different countries outside the USA and 5 US states.
Australia has hosted the most Presidents Cups with three events, followed by Canada, now with two.
Virginia, with four events, is the only state to have hosted more than one Presidents Cup.
See the Greatest Shots in the History of the Presidents Cup
10. Who has won the most points at a single Presidents Cup?
Surprisingly this is one Presidents Cup record not held by Phil Mickelson!
However, no less than six players do share the record of winning 5 points for their teams at a single Presidents Cup – the most by any individual
Here’s the list:
Mark O’Meara (USA) 1996
Shigeki Maruyama (Int) 1998
Tiger Woods (USA) 2009
Jim Furyk (USA) 2011
Branden Grace (Int) 2015
Jordan Spieth (USA) 2022
Our Player’s to Watch at the 2024 Presidents Cup
Now you’ve read through our Presidents Cup facts & stats hopefully you know a little more about this popular team golf even than you did a few minutes ago!
The 2024 event should be a good golfing spectacle. The US Team look very strong so the Internationals will all have to be on top form if they are going to claim only their second win in the tournement.
Our players to watch over the matches are Sahith Theegala who is making his first appearance for Team USA but is in hot form now he’s got better control on his driver over the past few tournaments. For the Internationals Tom Kim could get a little fired up if he starts holing some putts and Canadian Corey Connors will want to perform well in front of his home fans!
Enjoy the golf – let’s hope its a close contect going into Sunday afternoon!
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