Last month’s Presidents Cup took me back. In 1979, after the U.S. had defeated Great Britain & Ireland in 14 of 15 matches from 1947 to 1977, the Ryder Cup enacted Jack Nicklaus’ suggestion that the GB&I side be expanded to include all of Europe. The re-format was meant to make the match more competitive, bringing in upcoming stars such as Spain’s Seve Ballesteros and Germany’s Bernhard Langer.
In a few years, Europe found its footing, winning in 1985, but the flavor of the competition changed almost immediately, Ole, Ole, Ole becoming part of the soundtrack of the match. Europe won again in 1987 and retained the cup with a tie in 1989. For three straight sessions the Ryder Cup was theirs … unheard of.
The change worked. For sure, it’s been a tougher climb for the Americans, but Nicklaus’ idea, supported by Lord Derby of the British PGA, resurrected the competition. By 1991, the “new” Ryder Cup, which critics, including the great English writer Peter Dobereiner, had declared dead with the expansion, had become arguably the keenest team event in sports.
Which brings us back to the Presidents Cup. Acknowledging that international team events are forever a marriage of exhibition and competition, the Ryder Cup is now an exhibition, small e, and a Competition, capital C. The Presidents Cup, however, is just the opposite.
So, are we ready yet to upgrade this exhibition? I have to think so. The International side has won the competition only once, in 1998, in Australia (where the 2028 Cup will be held). The score 28 years ago? It was a 20½-11½ shellacking. Golf World’s Bob Verdi observed that the U.S., captained by Nicklaus, had gone “down the drain counterclockwise.”
Wishing for such an upset today—and I assume the PGA Tour, which runs the event, secretly does—is wishing against the inevitable. The results have shown it’s just not a fair fight, the Americans 13-1-1 overall record proving it.
Let’s acknowledge that at Medinah in September, it did take an epic finish by the U.S. in singles to secure its latest victory. That’s only because the Americans dawdled the previous three days. The odds always will be stacked against the Internationals when, to use this year as an example, the average World Ranking of the U.S. roster is 15 while the International roster is 50. Placing a bet? No contest.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, there are no countries to add to the International side, so change must come in a different fashion. To that end, and at the risk of offending everybody, here are three modest options to improve the Presidents Cup, from most radical to least.
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Fix A: No U.S. player may participate in both the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup within a designated two-year period (odd year followed by even year, beginning in 2027).
I know what you might be thinking: There is an appetite for leveling the playing field, but that does not extend to threatening American victory in either competition. U.S. players would likely protest—With the prestige of our very country at stake, how can we pull punches? The PGA of America and its Ryder Cup players would suggest, as some did in 1979, that change would dilute their event. The PGA Tour would protest because, at first blush, such a change relegates the U.S. Presidents Cup team to second string, though that needn’t be (and the event itself is already there). Fix A might even make the U.S. team underdogs in the Presidents Cup, though based on World Ranking alone, that would be hard to accomplish. And would it be so bad if it did?
What helps support the change, besides the wishes of a few tour wives and many TV ad salesmen, is a kind of fairness symmetry: No member of any of the three teams, U.S., Europe or International, would compete in more than one elite team competition during a two-event “cycle.” If Scottie Scheffler plays in the 2027 Ryder Cup, he may not play in the 2028 Presidents Cup. He may play in the 2029 Ryder Cup or in the 2030 Presidents Cup. He also could play in the 2031 Ryder Cup, which lies in the next designated two-year period.
So, there are no extra reps for the Americans. In addition, audiences would see far more great American players. Good, no?
Fix A also would force the U.S. to prove something it often espouses: that no tour is deeper, no group of players stronger, no competitive fiber tougher, than ours. How about this: We’re so good, we can field two teams. USA!!!! USA!!!
Prohibiting U.S. players from playing in more than one team event every two-year cycle would be a radical alternative, but one that could make the Presidents Cup more competitive.
Michael Reaves
Guaranteed spots based on World Ranking could be sorted in different ways. It could be as rigid as assigning the “even” eligibility spots to one cup and the odds to the other. But given the ever-changing World Ranking, and the choices players make about the matches they choose to play, plus the strength of different players on different golf courses (home v. away, potential pairings, etc.) it would probably come down to the two American captains working it out. Which, for better or worse, adds a whole new level of drama to the process. (Kind of like the recent proposal that the MLB allow higher seeds to choose their opponents in the playoffs.)
Clearly this idea makes things more challenging for both U.S teams, and far more complicated for U.S. captains. You may say,“Why should the Americans have to be the ones to change?!!” Because we can afford to.
But on to the next option.
Fix B: No U.S. captain’s pick shall play in more than one international team event in the designated two-year period (odd year followed by even year).
Instead of 12, only six Americans are restricted from playing in two international team competitions within a given two-year period. In a world of two-tier stardom, Tier 1 continues to appear in both events.
Fix C: A maximum of eight U.S. players may compete in two team events within a designated two-year period.
The top tier gets deeper, and the limitations on the U.S. teams lessen.
I think all three of these fixes have merit and could help make the Presidents Cup a stronger competition, although Fix A won’t get off the first tee, I’m sure. (The irony is that the biggest complainant will be the PGA Tour, whose event has the most to gain.)
So let’s go with Fix B, beginning with the 2027 Ryder Cup. Only six members of one U.S. team may repeat on the other. Still tougher for the Americans, but so was the addition of Europe to the GB&I side in1979. And the potential for making the Presidents Cup competition a real competition is strong.
J.J. Spaun just called. He likes ’em all.