The Presidents Cup

Every sport holds in it the classic moments and events that define them as a sport, not a ground for defining the overall champion or best of the best, but instead staking a claim to a tradition of the game that means everything. Professional football has Thanksgiving Day to stake a claim to a distinct part of sports lore, professional baseball makes a true even out of the beginning of the season with the events of opening day, while golf stakes its claim to tradition with events like the Presidents Cup. Not a place to define a champion or decide who the one best player is among all of the rest, no the Ryder Cup is about joining a team in a sport where teams aren’t the focus, the Presidents Cup is about bragging rights.

Many people often confuse the Presidents Cup with the Ryder Cup as they are similar in that it is a team competition that occurs every two years. However, the Presidents Cup differs from the Ryder Cup in that it is between the US and the rest of the world instead of the US versus Europe (Ryder Cup). The Presidents Cup is played on opposing years of the Ryder Cup to give it a chance at more exposure in the golf world since it is a new and growing product in comparison to the Ryder Cup. The Presidents Cup also gives more non-European golfers a chance on a national stage than the Ryder Cup, which is only US and European golfers.

The first Presidents Cup was played in 1994 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and was a one-sided victory for the United States with a 20-12 final score. Hale Irwin was the captain of the United States team while David Graham captained the International Team. While it has usually rotated with the off years of the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup coincided with the Ryder Cup in 2003 after postponing the 2002 event in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York City.