What you need to know ahead of the Presidents Cup

The Presidents Cup returns to Montreal next week. Canadian Mike Weir will be leading the International Team, which once again hopes to end the U.S. squad’s dominance in the team event.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of this championship:

Q: Just what is the Presidents Cup anyway?

A: The Presidents Cup is a biennial competition that pits a team of 12 players from the United States against 12 from the rest of the world, excluding Europe. So that means Asia, Africa, South America, Australia/New Zealand and, of course, Canada. It was created as a response to the Ryder Cup at a time when many of the top golfers came from the rest of the world region. That would be players such as Greg Norman, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and, a little bit later, Mike Weir.

Q: What’s the format?

A: There are three different styles of play used at the Presidents Cup. Fourball (also known as Better Ball), Foursomes (or Alternate Shot) and Singles matches. All use match play to count the score.

The home team, in this case the Internationals, decide the order of play and Thursday’s opening round at Royal Montreal will feature Foursomes, generally that side’s strong suit. There will be five matches played, meaning two players on each side will sit out. Friday will feature five Fourball matches. On Saturday there will be a round of each, but this time only four matches will be played in each. Everything finishes up on Sunday with 12 singles matches.

Q: Who are the captains?

A: Canadian hero Weir leads the International team while Jim Furyk heads up the U.S. side. Weir, who played in five Cups, famously knocked off Tiger Woods in the Sunday singles the last time the Presidents Cup was played at Royal Montreal in 2007.

Furyk played on seven U.S. teams and happened to be on the one that lost. He was also the captain of the American Ryder Cup side in 2018 when it went down to the Europeans.

Remarkably, the two share the same birth date: May 20, 1970.

Q: Who is the favourite to win?

A: The American team is favoured to win. Again. It’s captured 12 of the 14 editions of this event, losing just once with one finishing up in a tie. The last – and only – time the International team won was back in 1998.

Five of the American players are ranked inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. That would be Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Cantlay. The Internationals have one: Hideki Matsuyama

Q: What about those players on LIV? Are they playing? Some played in the Ryder Cup.

A: No. The Ryder Cup is run jointly by the PGA of America and the DP World Tour. The Presidents Cup is owned and operated by the PGA Tour, which is the direct competitor of LIV Golf. So, players such as Cam Smith, Joaquin Niemann and Louis Oosthuizen can’t suit up for the International side and Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka won’t be wearing American colours.

Q: What is Weir’s strategy to try and get a win?

A: Weir has loaded up his team with a focus on great putting. In the last event two years ago, the American side dominated on the greens with a Strokes Gained: Putting mark of plus 26. You don’t have to understand how Strokes Gained works to realize that’s a massive margin.

Using analytics, Weir filled his team with excellent putters: Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith, Jason Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout are all inside the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Putting. As the old saying, first coined by Canadian Al Balding, goes: Drive for show, putt for dough.

Weir is also counting on the fans to help out. In 2007, the spectators were plentiful and respectful but weren’t really one-sided. Weir wants an us-versus-them atmosphere with the Montreal fans backing his side and letting the Americans know they are not in friendly territory.

Q: What about the course? What can we expect?

A: This is the second time Royal Montreal’s Blue Course has hosted the Presidents Cup. It’s a relatively flat but challenging layout with water on many of the closing holes. Weir has worked with the agronomy team at the course to try and skew the conditions in his team’s favour. That means he’s narrowed up the fairways and grown the rough. It’s expected to be about four inches long when things get underway on Thursday. The idea is to try and eliminate the advantage the U.S. has off the tee and force players to try and find the fairways.

Q: What do the players get out of this?

A: First and foremost, it’s a pride thing. They want to represent their team and it’s an exclusive club that makes it onto the roster. That’s especially so for the three Canadians: Hughes, Pendrith and Corey Conners. They all said that playing in the Presidents Cup at home, for the man they all idolized growing up was their No. 1 goal this year.

The players also get lots and lots of clothing with their side’s logos on it, for both them and their significant other.

Oh yes, and each golfer gets $250,000 (U.S.) for their time. It used to be that the PGA Tour would make a donation to charity in each golfer’s name, but now it’s a regular paycheque.

Q: When does it all start?

A: The opening match starts Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET on TSN 1 and 4.