Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between
a United States team and an International Team representing
the rest of the world less Europe, which competes against
the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder
Cup. The Presidents Cup is held biennially. Initially it
was held in even numbered years, with the Ryder Cup being
held in odd numbered years. However, the cancellation of
the 2001 Ryder Cup due to 9/11 pushed both tournaments back
a year, and the Presidents Cup is now held in odd numbered
years. It is hosted alternately in the U.S. and elsewhere
in the world.
The format
of the event is also drawn from the Ryder Cup, consisting
of twelve players per side and
a non-playing captain,
usually a highly respected golf figure. The captains are
responsible for pairing the teams in the doubles events,
which consist of both alternate shot and best ball formats
(sometimes called "foursome" and "four ball" matches)
However, unlike the Ryder Cup, all twelve players must play
both matches on Friday (six matches per Friday session, unlike
the Ryder Cup, with four matches), and only two players will
sit out each session of Saturday matches (five matches per
Saturday session, compared to four), and each player must
play one match on Saturday.
The format of the Presidents Cup is different from that
of the Ryder Cup mainly in that it includes six extra matches,
which prevents a team from hiding its weaknesses. By having
all 24 players on the course for all three days there cannot
be a situation such as in the 1999 Ryder Cup when Europe
kept three players (Jarmo Sandelin, Jean Van de Velde and
Andrew Coltart) on the bench for the sixteen four-ball and
better-ball matches on the first two days. This use of twelve
players on all three days arguably led to the United States'
victory.
The event was created and is organised by the PGA Tour.
At the inaugural Presidents Cup former U.S. President Gerald
Ford was Honorary Chairman. Subsequent events saw former
President George HW Bush, Australian Prime Minister John
Howard and then-President Bill Clinton in the chair.
There is no prize money in the Presidents Cup. The net proceeds
are distributed to charities nominated by the players, captains,
and captains' assistants. The first six Presidents Cups raised
over US$13 million for charities around the world. [2]
In 2005, Jack Nicklaus captained the United States team
and Gary Player captained the International team.
Note: Until 2003, prior to the start of the final day matches,
the captains selected one player to play in a tie-breaker
in case there was a tie at the end of the final match. Upon
a tie, the captains would reveal the players who would play
a sudden-death match to determine the winner. In 2003, however,
the tiebreaker match ended after three holes because of darkness,
and it was decided that the Cup would be shared by both teams.
To prevent a repeat of this situation a new format was adopted,
beginning in 2005: both teams will share the Presidents Cup
should there be an overall tie in points awarded, but the
singles matches will no longer be halved if tied after 18
holes; extra holes will be played until one player wins a
full point outright.
Presidents Cup. (2007, March 23). In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:38, March 24, 2007,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidents_Cup&oldid=117212056
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