What Is the Presidents Cup? Format, History, and How It Compares to the Ryder Cup
The Presidents Cup is a biennial, match-play team competition pitting a 12-player United States team against a 12-player International Team drawn from every golf-playing country outside Europe — Australia, South Africa, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and others. Created and organized by the PGA Tour, it was built as a direct answer to the Ryder Cup: same match-play format, same no-prize-money structure, but a completely different opponent, since Europe already has its own biennial event against the U.S. Since it started in 1994, the American side has dominated lopsidedly — but the format, the charity angle, and the rotating cast of countries on the International side give it a genuinely different character from its more famous cousin.
Key Takeaways
- The Presidents Cup started in 1994, organized by the PGA Tour specifically to give non-European international players a Ryder Cup-style team event of their own.
- It's the United States against an International Team representing every golf-playing nation except the European countries already competing in the Ryder Cup.
- The current format runs three days and 30 total points (foursomes, four-ball, and 12 Sunday singles matches); a team needs 15.5 points to win outright.
- The U.S. has won 13 of the 16 contests played through 2024; the International Team has won only once, in 1998, with one tied result in 2003.
- Like the Ryder Cup, there's no prize money — net proceeds go to charities chosen by the players and captains, with more than $32 million raised across the event's first ten editions.
Why Does the Presidents Cup Exist If the Ryder Cup Already Does?
Because the Ryder Cup only covers half of international golf. That event has been the U.S. against Europe since 1927 (and Team Europe specifically since 1979 — see what the Ryder Cup actually is for that full history), which left a huge population of non-European tour players — Australians, South Africans, Canadians, players from across Asia — with no equivalent stage. The PGA Tour created the Presidents Cup in 1994 to fill exactly that gap, pairing the U.S. against a newly formed "International Team" built from every golf-playing country outside Europe. The first edition was played that same year at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, and the U.S. won it 20–12.
What Format Does the Presidents Cup Use?
Match play throughout, borrowed directly from the Ryder Cup playbook: foursomes (alternate shot, one ball per team) and four-ball (better ball, each player plays their own ball) doubles matches on the first two days, followed by 12 singles matches on the final day. The exact number of doubles matches has shifted around over the event's history — early editions ran four full days with 32 total points on offer, and a 2015 format change contracted it to three days and 30 total points, which is what's been used since. In the current structure, that's five four-ball and five foursomes matches on day one, four four-ball and four foursomes on day two, then all 24 players go out for 12 singles matches on day three. Each match is worth one point, split 0.5–0.5 if it's tied ("halved") after 18 holes, and with 30 points on offer, a team needs 15.5 to win the Cup outright.
How Dominant Has the U.S. Actually Been?
Very. Through the 2024 edition at Royal Montreal, the United States has won 13 of the 16 Presidents Cups played, the International Team has won exactly once — in 1998, at Royal Melbourne, by a lopsided 20.5–11.5 scoreline — and one edition, in 2003 at Fancourt in South Africa, finished tied 17–17 after a scheduled playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els was called off for darkness, with captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player agreeing to share the Cup rather than resume it. That's a far more one-sided record than the Ryder Cup, where Europe has actually won nine of the last twelve editions since 2000. Part of the imbalance comes down to depth: the International Team draws from a wide range of countries with far fewer combined players inside the world's top rankings than either the U.S. or a unified Team Europe, which makes assembling a consistently deep 12-man roster edition after edition a genuinely harder problem. It's also a showcase for the modern game's raw ball-striking numbers — the same driver launch angle and ball-speed data broadcasters lean on during any tour event shows up constantly during Presidents Cup coverage, since foursomes and four-ball formats put those numbers under a magnifying glass on every hole.
Where Is the Presidents Cup Played, and Who's Won Recently?
Hosting alternates between the United States and a country represented by the International Team, which is part of what gives the event its identity — past editions have been played in South Africa, Australia, South Korea, and Canada, in addition to multiple U.S. venues. The 2024 Presidents Cup, held at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Quebec, went to the U.S. by a final score of 18.5–11.5 under captain Jim Furyk, with Mike Weir leading the International side. The next edition is scheduled for 2026 at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, with Brandt Snedeker captaining the U.S. team and Geoff Ogilvy leading the International Team — followed by a rare International-soil edition in 2028 at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, Australia.
Does Anyone Get Paid to Play in It?
No — same as the Ryder Cup, there's no prize money at the Presidents Cup at all. Instead, the net proceeds from each edition are distributed to charities nominated by the players, captains, and captains' assistants; the first ten editions of the event raised more than $32 million for causes around the world. Each Presidents Cup also has an Honorary Chairman or Chairwoman — traditionally the head of state or head of government of the host nation, a list that's included U.S. presidents from Gerald Ford through Joe Biden and heads of government from Australia, South Africa, South Korea, and Canada, underscoring the event's built-in diplomatic, cross-continent framing in a way the more regionally focused Ryder Cup doesn't really carry.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- The opponent. The Ryder Cup is the U.S. against Team Europe; the Presidents Cup is the U.S. against an International Team made up of every golf-playing country except the European nations already covered by the Ryder Cup. Both use match play and pay no prize money, but they're run by different organizations — the PGA Tour organizes the Presidents Cup, while the Ryder Cup is jointly run by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe.
- Every two years, biennially, generally alternating with the Ryder Cup so international team golf happens roughly every year — one event or the other, not both in the same year, aside from occasional scheduling shifts caused by events like the COVID-19 postponements.
- 15.5 out of 30 total points under the current three-day format. Earlier editions, before the 2015 format change, used a 32- or 34-point structure with a correspondingly higher target to clinch the Cup outright.
- Yes, once — the 2003 edition in South Africa finished 17–17 after a planned sudden-death playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els was abandoned because of darkness, and captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player agreed to have both teams share the Cup rather than continue the next day.
- Phil Mickelson holds both records for the U.S. side — 12 appearances between 1994 and 2017, and 32.5 total points, the most by any player in the event's history.