The 13th playing of The Presidents Cup begins on Thursday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. Depending on where you’re reading from, however, could greatly impact how and when you’ll be viewing the bienniel matches that pits the United States against the International Team, made up of the rest of the world excluding Europe.
The United States has won 10 of the 12 editions of the Presidents Cups, only losing in 1998 on the very course this year’s matches will be played on, and tying the 2003 edition played in South Africa.
This year’s event is headlined by United States playing captain Tiger Woods and International captain Ernie Els. The format is four days of match play — two fourball segments, two foursomes segments and a Sunday singles segment. There will be 30 points up for grabs with 15.5 points required to win the Cup.
Presidents Cup Schedule, Format
Wednesday: Fourball — 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Thursday: Foursomes — 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Friday: Foursomes and fourball — 3 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Saturday: Singles — 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.
(All times are EST)
All live coverage will be carried on Golf Channel with NBC airing a replay of the matches on Saturday and Sunday.
Fourball: Two-man teams from each side play one another in match play format. Each of the four golfers plays their own ball with the best score of the two-man team counting as the team score for that hole. They will play fourball twice — five matches on Wednesday, four matches on Friday. Each match is worth one point. (Example: Team USA Player 1 makes a 4, Team USA Player 2 makes a 5; Team USA uses Player 1’s score of 4. International Player 1 makes a 3, International Player 2 makes a 4; International Team uses Player 1’s score of 3. International Team wins the hole.) Total points: 9
Foursomes: Two-man teams from each side play one another in match play format. Each two-man team designates one player to tee off on odd-numbered holes (Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17) and one player to tee off on even-numbered holes (Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18). The teams alternate hitting each shot until the ball is holed. Each match is worth one point. They will play foursomes twice — five matches on Thursday, four matches on Friday. Total points: 9
Singles: 12 one-on-one matches on Saturday of one player from Team USA vs. one player from the International Team. They again play match play and each match is worth one point. Total points: 12
Scoring and Pairings
DAY ONE – FOURBALL – Internationals 4, United States 1
After day one at the @PresidentsCup.
The #IntlTeam leads the #USTeam 4-1. pic.twitter.com/va9kwgLrjm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 12, 2019
DAY TWO – FOURSOMES – Internationals 2.5, United States 2.5
Day 2 is in the books. pic.twitter.com/oIfchuGMkr
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 13, 2019
DAY THREE – FOURBALL – Internationals 2.5, United States 1.5
The International Team is looking for their first @PresidentsCup victory since 1998. pic.twitter.com/m6wZy6It6T
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 14, 2019
DAY THREE – FOURSOMES – United States 3, Internationals 1
The #USTeam cuts into the @PresidentsCup deficit in the foursomes portion of day 3.
The #IntlTeam is looking for their first @PresidentsCup victory since 1998. pic.twitter.com/kEAxzizpYS
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 14, 2019
DAY FOUR – SINGLES – United States 8, Internationals 4
U-S-A ?? U-S-A ?? U-S-A ??
The #USTeam mounts a historic comeback to win the Presidents Cup. pic.twitter.com/ZzSIyfXx2s
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 15, 2019
??? pic.twitter.com/3O5tYAz8FU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 15, 2019
Presidents Cup Teams
On paper, the United States team has a distinct advantage over the Internationals with just two players ranked lower in the Official World Golf Rankings than the Internationals’ highest-ranked player. Bookmakers agree with the United States a -275 favorite, according to GolfOdds.com.
Here are the 24 men who will make up the two teams as well as their corresponding world ranking.
| United States | OWGR | INTERNATIONAL | OWGR |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Justin Thomas |
4 |
Adam Scott |
18 |
|
Dustin Johnson |
5 |
Louis Oosthuizen |
20 |
|
Tiger Woods |
6 |
Hideki Matsuyama |
21 |
|
Patrick Cantlay |
7 |
Marc Leishman |
28 |
|
Xander Schauffele |
9 |
Sungjae Im |
36 |
|
Webb Simpson |
11 |
Abraham Ancer |
39 |
|
Patrick Reed |
12 |
Ben An |
42 |
|
Bryson DeChambeau |
13 |
Adam Hadwin |
48 |
|
Tony Finau |
16 |
Cam Smith |
52 |
|
Gary Woodland |
17 |
Joaquin Niemann |
56 |
|
Rickie Fowler |
22 |
C.T. Pan |
64 |
|
Matt Kuchar |
24 |
Haotong Li |
65 |
This story will be updated to reflect scoring and pairings as available.
