Presidents Cup Preview: Anticipation Builds Ahead Of Historic Format Change
First mixed Presidents Cup brings together men, women, co-Captains, analytics philosophies and wild "snake draft" scenarios to Royal Montreal.*
Nearly two years since the PGA Tour announced a long-overdue Presidents Cup format change, teams from the United States and the non-European world are descending upon Royal Montreal for the revitalized matches.
USA Co-captains Jim Furyk and Stacy Lewis will send out lineups taken from their 16-player team and up against the International team fronted by Mike Weir and Karie Webb. Each side is bringing just four Vice Captains after a U.N. decree to limit the role of assistants in world team golf matches. And while some of the Presidents Cup changes will take getting used to, optimism is high for proceedings unlike anything else on the crowded golf calendar.
Before highlighting signs of massive success before the tee shot is struck Thursday afternoon, here is a word about the team make-up in case you’ve been comatose
The two squads are composed of six male and six female points qualifiers.
Two captain’s picks per gender have bolstered each team, bringing the total to 32 players competing.
Sessions over the Presidents Cup’s traditional four-day schedule will include mixed foursomes and fourballs on Thursday and Saturday.
Friday’s sessions will consist of men’s and women’s foursomes matches.
A bold singles format will debut Sunday with only 12 of a team’s 16 players getting to play. The gender dispersion is determined in the chess match-style “snake draft” format long employed at the Presidents Cup but bound to make the role of Captains more vital than ever.
“The singles session draft is something we’ll have prepared for in advance,” said Furyk in one of 19 pre-match press conferences. “That draft will come at the end of a long 36-hole day, and while we might have an idea of who we want to send out, the makeup of our team could be something we weren’t expecting based on what the other Captains do. Mike and Karrie might select only women based on the play in early sessions, so our women will have to be ready. Or it could go the other way and it ends up as eight men and four women in the Singles. It’s kind of exciting and I don’t really get excited about much of anything.”
Other than the mixed-team Palmer Cup pitting collegiate golfers from the USA against an International team, the professional game has never brought men and women together on such a global stage. Signs of massive commercial interest have shown up well before the first tee shots will be struck in Thursday afternoon’s mixed four-ball session:
Tickets for all sessions sold out nearly a year before the matches and secondary market prices currently average around triple the face price.
Sunday’s singles, already planned for a morning start to avoid issues with the so-awful-you-have-to-watch Sunday Night Football pregame show on NBC, now tee off an hour earlier to air in late night hours for Asian and Australian market’s (where interest is off-the-charts).
NBC has reportedly sold out all ad inventory and moved its Saturday broadcast of Notre Dame-Louisville to Peacock.
The huge ad and corporate sales news means fans will not be subjected to a single Volunteers of America, Grupo Salinas or Valspar make-good at any point in the matches.
Genesis is gifting a free customized GV80 to each participant that will be shipped to their homes in recognition of their participation in the historic matches. Even Tom Kim’s request for Louis Vuitton-clad leather seats will be granted by the automaker in a show of gratitude for his inevitable viral match antics.
Friday’s concluding holes of women’s foursomes and the start of afternoon men’s foursomes will move from Golf Channel to NBC in a hastily arranged three-hour block approved by most affiliates. Although Mike Tirico’s busy with NFL game-calling, he will be joined by special guests Steph Curry, Kelly Clarkson, Peyton Manning, the cast of Chicago Med and Simon Biles to handle some of the coverage.
Variety is reporting that Snoop Dog has wrapped up talks to receive his Olympic day-rate of $500,000 to appear, but the deal is contingent on an ability to get his herbal pain remedies through Canadian customs.
With ratings forecast to be high, NBC Executive Producer Sam Flood has approved a “nine-wide” setup led by Dan Hicks, Terry Gannon and Rich Lerner. As a result of the huge effort, the following week’s PGA Tour broadcast from Mississippi will feature no announcers. But for the Presidents Cup, Hicks, Gannon and Lerner will be joined by three male and three female analysts. However, as of Monday night, NBC was still in negotiations with potential talent since Kevin Kisner and Morgan Pressel are working as Vice Captains. Also hindering efforts: the network reportedly opened negotiations demanding that potential analysts pay the company for the privilege of working the matches.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts received preliminary approval from his accounting department to send his personal jet to briefly fly-in golf nut Caitlyn Clark. Her availability depends on the Indiana Fever’s WNBA playoff schedule. An avid golfer, Clark is on record stating her excitement at this week’s breakthrough moment in women’s sports history and how she hopes to “finally meet Michael Jordan, dad jeans and all.”
Travis Kelce and girlfriend Taylor Swift killed all rumors of a Thursday appearance. Kelce will be preparing for the Chiefs-Chargers game on Sunday but said he and Patrick Mahomes “will definitely have it streaming on the NBC Sports app, at least until it crashes.”
The power couple (“Tayvis”) has recorded a well-wishes video for the USA squad. Swift blessed royalty-free usage of her music catalog for the broadcast and for player walk-up music (a new addition to the Presidents Cup after a successful tryout at the recent Solheim Cup).
The online Presidents Cup Shop has already sold out all items featuring USA’s clever logo, a retro update of the former JC Penney Classic’s insignia that was put on rope caps, golf shirts, t-shirts and more. A robust bootleg market on Pinterest and eBay has forced the PGA Tour to issue an array of DMCA claims to little avail.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama will be attending as they did in 2017 at Liberty National. Bush has requested the opportunity to paint individual USA team portraits, Obama will reprise his Solheim Cup role of speaking to the team Wednesday night, and Clinton has asked for an Honorary Vice Captaincy focused on supporting the USA women.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to leave the U.N. General Assembly early to attend Thursday’s opening ceremony.
One man is unhappy with the new mixed format: Donald Trump. The former President took to Truth Social early Monday to express his displeasure with the new-look event:
A PGA Tour spokesperson declined to comment.
A Presidents Cup operations official, speaking on background with knowledge of internal deliberations, says Trump was invited and declined citing his campaign schedule and Secret Service security concerns.
Either way, the matches will go on and are expected to break all sales and ratings records.
USA
The United States’ automatic selections came from two running points lists for men and women, with the Captains making their at-large selections the Monday after the Solheim Cup. Jim Furyk has since been on the defensive over his choice of Max Homa over Sam Burns, while Lewis stuck with her Solheim stalwarts.
International
The International squad was selected off of the Official World Golf Ranking and Rolex Ranking. Weir wanted to choose more Canadians with his picks but recognized the potential excitement of a brother-sister duo in Min Woo and Minjee Lee, particularly after Karrie Webb convinced him that they will deliver “at least three points.” Still, Canada will be represented by Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
Format
The PGA Tour rules staff crafted the format in consultation with the Captains and network television. An attempt has been made to showcase multiple disciplines while remaining true to traditions developed when the biennial matches started in 1994.
35 total points will be available from 35 matches.
As the current Presidents Cup holders following 2022’s 17.5 to 12.5 win, the United States needs 17.5 points to retain the cup.
The Presidents Cup “snake draft” format requires the host Captains to select the first match out, followed by the rival Captains countering with a pick before then making the initial selection for match number two.
The draft format continues for all sessions with a new twist in Sunday’s Singles.
Host Captains Weir and Webb will make the first selection for Thursday’s mixed four-ball, Friday afternoon’s men’s foursomes, and Saturday afternoon’s four-ball.
Captains Furyk and Lewis will make the first selection for Friday morning’s women’s foursomes and Saturday morning’s mixed foursomes.
The lineups for all sessions will be decided the day prior and substitutions can only be made due to injury.
Per the Captain’s agreement, the team trailing going into Sunday will draft first for the Singles session. If the matches are tied, a coin flip determines the order.
Despite having larger rosters, the Singles session remains at 12 matches.
The sessions:
Round One (Thursday): Mixed Four-ball (five matches, meaning 10 of 16 players from each side get to play).
Round Two (Friday morning): Foursomes (women, four matches, meaning all eight female players compete).
Round Three (Friday afternoon): Foursomes (men, four matches, all eight male players compete).
Round Four (Saturday morning) – Foursomes (Mixed, five matches, 10 of 16 players from each team will compete. By Captain’s agreement, men will tee off on even holes and women on odd holes.)
Round Five (Saturday afternoon): Four-ball (Mixed, five matches, meaning 10 of 16 players will compete.)
Round Five (Sunday): Singles (12 matches, with the final gender make-up dependent on the outcome of the “snake draft” and no maximum or minimum required of the Captains. When a player is announced in the Singles draft, the corresponding opponent must be of the same gender).
The opening session session draft takes place Wednesday prior to the opening ceremony.
Tuesday will see press conferences featuring eight players from each team.
The Quad will be back tomorrow with the early-week chatter from this epic moment in golf history.
*Yes, this is fictional but will be inspired by this week’s Presidents Cup and tainted by visions of making the event stand out from the Ryder and Solheim Cups. Coverage of the actual matches is available across the multiple global golf outlets.
Gold. In another universe this would be common sense. End of September marks the end of the Australian football season and golf majors are long past. I cancelled my Fox Sports streaming subscription (called Kayo here) this week so will (yawn) miss the PC. No matter - more time for reading, gardening and playing golf. By New Year they will be deluging me with half price offers to come back which I will take up for The Masters and AFL resuming late March. If only there was something like this worth watching for the next 5 months.
Bravo! This event has always screamed jealousy on the Tours part of the Ryder Cup and nothing but a money grab.