Simple Suggestion On How To Make Presidents Cup More Competitive

Why not just make the format for Presidents Cup identical to Ryder Cup? By that I mean three days, the first two days eight points (four foursomes matches and four four-balls), and the last day singles. This way, one team can hide weaknesses and play only their strongest players to gain points leading up to Sunday singles.

Does it need to be more competitive? I'm not sure its a good thing for the Presidents Cup to mimic its big brother, its better that it be a little different.

But "competitiveness" will depend to a large extent where the differences between the two teams lie. Consider a situation where the best players on one team are head and shoulders above the best on the other, but the remainder of the teams are pretty even. Using fewer matches will give the "better" team a larger advantage. If the top players on each team are close to even, but one team has greater depth, playing fewer matches decreases the advantage of the deeper team. Playing fewer team matches could swing the edge differently depending on the make-up of the two teams.

But looking at the current competition, the "better" team still has to play better on the day of the competition. I read and heard a lot of people predict a landslide for the US team, yet the International team has the edge right now. I think the current format is just fine.

Seems to be pretty competitive this time around.

This isn’t competitive? They don’t get the matches in Antarctica?

The format was changed up this time a bit and so far so good, lol.

No need to copycat the Ryder Cup.

Maybe use full handicap instead of the 80% given to out of towners

I agree. Ernie changed it up and his players are rising to the occasion. It's just fine the way it is. It comes down to players performing under pressure. I think a lot of of the US players were one, probably pretty tired from the travel and two, maybe didn't take them so seriously.

Not sure if this is a genuine discussion about how to make it more competitive or an attempt at trolling the US given the current situation.

I think the Presidents cup should be thrown out, and the Ryder Cup expanded to three teams: US, Europe, and Rest of the World.

If you win, you keep playing the next year. IF you lose, you sit out a year, and then play the winner of the year you sat out.

It will never happen because the PGA of America needs the money from the Ryder Cup, while the PGA Tour needs the money from the Presidents Cup. But it would be a better format.

This generation of US Players just seem to lack something. Whether it be grit, desire or some other intangible. It doesn't seem that many in this group hate to lose.

I think hating to lose means more than wanting to win. I have played a lot of sports through the years and the best teams I played for never thought about winning. It was all about we cannot lose. There was very little joy in winning but tremendous amount of anger when we lost.

I suppose that money is a big part of the equation that I never dealt with.

Have to disagree on this. The Ryder Cup is the best spectacle in golf. Don’t mess with it.

o p you are voted off the island

Make it all foursome play.

Then again, nobody would play it.

But it would play a bit faster, with only two balls in play in each group.

Hey OP, are you an International talking junk about the Americans?

When does Europe get to play the Rest of the World?

Why change it. This is the most competitive in years and I think it will only get better as you see talent coming from other parts of the world and not just from the US. I agree that using the same format for the competitions would be nice from a spectator standpoint, but I believe they do 4 days as a way to give the International team more play time.

Not sure I have ever spoken to any European that wants to. They have tried various other things - the Seve Trophy the EurAsia Cup...they died from a lack of interest from sponsors and players.

So different than 2, 4, 6 years ago when we were kicking their butts?

Wrong time of the year in the wrong part of the world for the US players. No one wants to drag their families to the opposite side of the globe less than two weeks before Christmas.

Ways to make the Presidents Cup more competitive:

-Put Patrick Reed on it

-Let Tiger take himself out when he's been on fire

-Let International and US women partake

I was thinking in particular about the 1999 Ryder Cup. Mark James was the captain, and he orchestrated a brilliant first two days going into Sunday. A number of the Euros (e.g., Andrew Coltart, Frenchy) never played until Sunday, there is something to be said about the strategy James used.

I contend that the reason why the Presidents Cup has favored the Americans is because there are more matches and all the players on both sides are used, hence the apparent weaknesses of the Internationals I confess, Presidents Cup is not exciting for me to watch, and it has gotten to the point when I don't even care to watch it. Ah, the Americans will win again! Even though the Internationals are doing well this year, the damage for me has already been done. This might be a fluke year for them, and given the present format, I would not be surprised if the Americans will win eighteen of the next twenty editions.

Ryder Cup, on the other hand, is far more exciting, and you have my idol Jack Nicklaus to thank for it. He was the one who suggested including mainland Europe with Great Britain & Ireland. Most notably, the Spanish Armada of Seve, Jose Maria, Sergio and others, all contributed greatly to the Ryder Cup. The reason why everyone is more passionate about Ryder Cup is because, quite frankly, team USA gets beat. To be competitive and passionate, you must lose significantly enough to invite the perils of possibly losing. The current Presidents Cup format, I believe, is the reason why the Internationals keep losing. I invite the PGA of America and their International counterparts to experiment one year with Ryder Cup format. With weaker players not playing, there will be higher probability for the final outcome to be at least closer, or even the Internationals winning.

Think about it this way. The rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State is nowhere near as intense as Michigan and Ohio State. The same applies to Ohio versus Ohio State--who the heck would want to see such a game when people are only interested in whether or not Ohio will cover the spread. The most fierce rivalry is likely Florida and Florida State, where personal relationships are jeopardized over ball games. I think you get the idea now: head-to-head records must be somewhat close. The same applies to Presidents Cup, which I admit I care less about watching.

You guys must admit that Ryder Cup is far more exciting than Presidents Cup. If the Internationals keep winning with this format, which I contend will not happen, more golfers including myself will be passionate for. I don't really care about watching a competition when the outcome will already be determined, and the present format enables it.

So pretty much all the same things everybody else has said for 20 years or so?

The PGA Tour doesn't need the money from the Presidents Cup. The PGA Tour makes many boatloads of money w/o the PC. The PC is gravy for the PGA Tour.

Ahem! Now what was I saying, guys? Change the format!

How about a play-in tournament every year for the previous two losers to take on the champion? Do it the week before?

The only problem with this is the USA hosted event if the USA isn’t in the final would be poorly attended. If it was in Japan/Australia/South Korea and the ROW team wasn’t competing, people would still come to watch the tournament

I don’t think anything needs to be done to make the President’s Cup more competitive. The 2019 edition came down to the wire, and that was with the best players America has to offer against a team with 7 PC rookies. Players from the world outside the US and Europe are getting better and in bigger numbers. The future is going see more top players in the OWGR from China, Korea, Japan, and other Asian nations. Look at the LPGA Tour to see the future. Whenever the question “who’s going to be the next Tiger” is asked my answer is, I don’t know his name, but he’s 12 years old and Chinese. As these players emerge the Presidents Cup is going to be plenty competitive.

As golf grows around the world, parity will eventually come, see the women's side where only 5 of the top 20 OGWR are from the USA.

" You guys must admit that Ryder Cup is far more exciting than Presidents Cup. If the Internationals keep winning with this format, which I contend will not happen, more golfers including myself will be passionate for. I don't really care about watching a competition when the outcome will already be determined, and the present format enables "...

Nope, I find both to be equally exciting to watch. They can screw with the format all they want but; in the end it is about determination and resolve.

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