The Presidents Cup Is An Afterthought. 7 Ways I Would Save It.

The Presidents Cup takes place this week at the revamped Medinah which means it’s time for golf fans to faintly pretend this event carries anything resembling competitive suspense.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and have a real match but it seems highly unlikely. The Americans have 10 of the top 15 players in the world, according to Data Golf. The International Team has one (Si Woo Kim).

To be completely honest, the only reason this event exists is so the PGA Tour can have a store-brand Ryder Cup property.

The United States has won 10 consecutive Presidents Cups and owns a 13-1-1 record. The International Team’s only outright victory came when I used to write “BRB” on my AOL messenger. A significant percentage of the players competing this week weren’t even alive at the time.

This is a biennial corporate retreat with an American team trophy presentation. It’s golf, it’s match play and (some of) the best players in the world are involved. Beyond that, I can’t sell you on it.

To be fair, the Presidents Cup has occasionally produced a few memorable moments and compelling individual matches. One of Tiger’s nastiest club twirls came during a Presidents Cup. But none of that changes the event’s enduring fundamental problem: we assume the United States will win and we’re pretty much always right.

No amount of marketing arm-twisting can change the mind of a golf fan. Ultimately, the format needs significant structural changes to make the competition closer while giving the Presidents Cup an identity rather than an identity crisis.

Here are the seven changes I would make to alter the event.

1. Let the best players compete

Not exactly revolutionary here but it’s the lowest-hanging fruit on the branch and an issue that may naturally solve itself before the next edition of the tournament.

Because the Presidents Cup is operated by the PGA Tour, LIV golfers have been ineligible. Notably, that has prevented the International Team from selecting players such as Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and others.

The International side needs all the help it can get. And a lot of its best depth pieces are not available.

Also, love him or loathe him, Bryson DeChambeau on the U.S. side would inject a little life into this thing, too. Based on how bad he was at last year’s Ryder Cup, the Mr. Beast of golf might even make the final score closer.

Can I ask what competitive question the Presidents Cup wants to pose? If it is supposed to determine whether the best American golfers can defeat the best non-European international golfers, intentionally excluding some of those players immediately takes away every ounce of its credibility (you’ll notice the Ryder Cup has no such problem although the PGA of America doesn’t have the same constraints as the Tour when it comes to LIV).

If the best players aren’t playing, the event is inherently unserious.

2. Reduce each roster to 10 players

A lot of these ideas are going to hit on the topic of limiting America’s ridiculous depth advantage.

The thing is that the International Team can come up with a handful of guys who can compete. You have your Hideki Matsuyamas and Adam Scotts and Tom Kims. The separation becomes more obvious near the bottom of each roster where the Americans are choosing between established winners and the Internationals are hoping someone suddenly finds the best golf of his life.

The “worst” U.S. player this week is Justin Thomas at No. 26 in Data Golf. Thomas has a 10-3-2 record in this event.

The worst International player is Nico Echavarria, also at No. 26—no, wait, that is No. 126. A full 100 spots behind Thomas!

Reducing the teams from 12 players to 10 would concentrate the available talent and remove two vulnerable players from each side. And that naturally would help the International Team from digging even deeper into the bargain bin to shop for its final two players.

It wouldn’t guarantee a competitive event but it would make the individual matchups considerably more balanced.

3. Stop requiring everyone to play so much golf

The current event awards 30 points across four days, compared to 28 points across three days at the Ryder Cup. There used to be even more points awarded (34) but the International Team has justifiably fought to get it down to 30.

This format still forces the International Team to expose the weaker portions of its roster repeatedly.

With 10-player teams, the Presidents Cup could offer four team matches in each of the first four sessions followed by 10 Sunday singles matches. That would create 26 total points while allowing captains to protect struggling players and ride successful partnerships.

Fewer matches would also make each one more consequential. The event needs tension way more than additional inventory of golf.

In every sport, the underdog typically needs less time and more variance potential. This accomplishes that.

4. Create a mixed Presidents Cup

Now we’re cooking with peanut oil.

This is an idea we’ve touted in the past. I highly doubt it will ever happen but I’m obligated to mention this at every possible turn when the topic of the Presidents Cup comes up because the mixed team idea is so perfect.

Instead of 12 men per side (and I think this idea could still allow for 12 players), select six men and six women. Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda could simultaneously represent the United States. Matsuyama and Minjee Lee could represent the International Team. It would be epic.

American women’s golf doesn’t have a whole lot going for it on the pro side once you get past Korda. And the International Team would be stacked given the access to extraordinary talent from South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Canada.

Suddenly, the Presidents Cup would offer something neither the Ryder Cup nor Solheim Cup can provide. And, believe it or not, the International Team would probably be favored.

There would be logistical and sponsorship complications but those are solvable. Irrelevance is a much larger problem.

5. Take the event to more exotic international venues

The Presidents Cup has visited Australia, South Africa, South Korea and Canada.

Those are golf-rich places that fully deserved to host.

However, I think the event would benefit by becoming considerably more adventurous.

Take it to Japan, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, etc. Build the event around countries where the galleries will view an International victory as something more meaningful than a pleasant possibility.

The Ryder Cup’s atmosphere comes from tribalism. The International Team represents several continents but has never developed a comparable home identity. Playing in distinctive markets—and accepting the logistical complications involved—could help manufacture one.

Neutral-feeling venues and corporate crowds don’t help enough.

6. Build partnerships around national identity

As referenced in the previous idea, the reason the International Team struggles to create emotional cohesion is baked into its construction. The Americans share a flag, anthem and national sports identity. Their opponents share the fact that they aren’t American nor European (not exactly exhilarating).

I would lean into the countries and regions that comprise the team. Make that a feature, not a bug.

Encourage Canadian, Australian, Korean, Japanese and South African partnerships. Put national flags on uniforms and broadcast graphics. Let players represent their countries within the larger International structure.

Instead of pretending like the fragmented identity doesn’t exist, play into it.

7. Disband the Presidents Cup for something much better

The nuclear option (and I love a good nuclear option) is replacing the current event with a four-team global competition that I compare to something like the Four Nations Face-Off in hockey.

Create American, European, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World teams (how it’s divided up can be workshopped). Hold a round-robin team match play competition (with college-style scoring) that is held every two years.

Yes, that would require cooperation among several organizations. But it would also create a genuinely global event with national and regional identities people understand.

I would do it with men and women together to provide competitive balance. That Asia-Pacific team would be lethal.

Closing thoughts

Barring a big overhaul, there is likely never going to be real identity at the Presidents Cup when you have a contrived format with the International Team. Meanwhile, the U.S. won’t take it as seriously (which, strangely, might lead to their best golf).

The Presidents Cup has existed since 1994. After more than three decades, it still hasn’t provided a compelling answer to the question of why should anyone care whether the United States wins again?

It needs competitive balance, a distinct identity and the courage to become something different.

Otherwise, we’ll gather again in two years, discuss how the International Team might finally have a chance and watch the Americans lift the trophy for the 11th consecutive time.

And then the 12th.

And then the 13th.

At some point, even diehard golf fans have to stop pretending.

The Tour just took a huge swing with restructuring its entire competitive model so don’t tell me the Presidents Cup is off the table.

What are your thoughts? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: The U.S. celebrates at the 2024 Presidents Cup. (GETTY IMAGES/Tracy Wilcox)