Critics of the Presidents Cup will probably feel vindicated based on what they saw at Royal Montreal last week, with USA recording their 13th victory in 15 events.
Perhaps there is an argument that the final score of 18.5-11.5 slightly flattered USA. The Internationals fought from going 5-0 down on Thursday to record a clean sweep of their own the following day. And Jim Furyk‘s men won six matches throughout the week by a score of 1 up.
However, it is getting harder to argue that the Presidents Cup is moving in the right direction in its current format. The Internationals have only won one edition of the event – and that came back in 1998. There appeared to be so many positives heading into this year’s event.
Mike Weir was leading a team on Canadian soil – with Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes all set to attract plenty of support. The Internationals had also given such a brilliant account of themselves at Quail Hollow two years ago when they seemed to have several more hurdles put in front of them.
Stewart Cink suggests whether Presidents Cup needs to be changed
So it would appear to be a step backwards this time around. Some think the PGA Tour need to make changes to the Presidents Cup if they want to keep fans interested. But perhaps those inside the ropes feel differently.
Stewart Cink was one of Furyk’s vice-captains in Canada, and he has told Fairways of Life with Matt Adams that he is not in favour of sweeping changes.
“I’m on the let it grow side, because I just experienced one from the side of it felt like it was literally us against the whole world. I’ve got a strong feeling that there’s a lot of people that felt the way you just described, and that they were rooting for an International victory. I don’t know, I don’t know what that would accomplish to be honest,” he said.
“That team over there has strong players, and there’s a comfort level that our team, Team USA achieves that I would hope that we could find in another cup too, in the Ryder Cup, because I don’t know, it just leads to good golf. I wish I had the answer, but I don’t think the answer’s to change a lot with the International team or with the Presidents Cup format. I don’t know what it would be, all I know is that none of us on that team wanted to lose to the International team, we wanted to keep winning and keep Team USA on top.”
A potential turning point for the event
It is a tough task for the PGA Tour because the last thing the Internationals probably want is for the odds to be stacked in their favour. That will take away a lot of the pride when they finally achieve that second win.
But the worry will be that fans and players lose interest in the event if it continues to prove to be one-sided in the results. So it would not be wise to adopt exactly the same format for 2026 at Medinah.
Perhaps playing for 28 points like the Ryder Cup represents the smartest way forward. That would allow the Internationals to rest two more players in the first two sessions of the week – and potentially give the captain more reason to pick players who specialise in one format.
As Cink alluded to, there is not as much need to make drastic changes as the scorelines would perhaps suggest, but 2024 definitely felt like a sobering moment for an International team which had all kinds of optimism.
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