How Long Can the Presidents Cup Survive?

The Presidents Cup, in its current form, is headed for a slow and painful death.  

The International side has won just one of the first 11 matches, and the level of interest surrounding this event has declined to the point where this week’s Presidents Cup in South Korea will not even be televised on national television.

That being said, the current state of the Presidents Cup is not unique for a golfing team competition.

By 1977, the Ryder Cup was in a sorry state. The United States had won nine out of the last 10 matches against England (and then Great Britain & Ireland after the watches were opened up to Ireland in 1973) and had lost just once since 1935.

This bi-annual competition had become nothing more than an American beat down that no one really paid any attention to.

Heck, Tom Weiskopf qualified for the 1977 US team but decided to take a hunting trip instead of attending the matches, which shows what little respect even the players had for the Ryder Cup by 1977.

Following yet another lopsided victory for the American side in 1977, Jack Nicklaus met with the Earl of Derby, who was serving as president of the PGA of Europe, and suggested the matches be expanded to include all of Europe in order to make the bi-annual competition more competitive and ensure its survival.

The Earl of Derby acted upon Nicklaus’ suggestion and opened the matches up to all of Europe just two years later in 1979.

The United States still defeated Europe in the next three matches, but the competition rapidly became more intense until Europe finally broke through and defeated the United States in 1985, although many would say the matches didn’t really begin to take off until 1987 when the Europeans won for the first time on US soil, which ironically occurred right in Nicklaus’ own backyard at Muirfield Village while Nicklaus was the team captain.

By 1991, the matches were sent into an entirely new stratosphere with the War By The Shore, which elevated the event to must-see TV and captured the hearts and minds of not only golf fans but general sports fans around the globe.

Over the next 20 years, the Ryder Cup evolved into arguably the biggest event in all of golf. 

And where there is an abundance of interest, the money is sure to follow. The PGA of America began raking in huge amounts of money through the bi-annual Ryder Cup competition.

The PGA Tour, which has always had a “friendly” rivalry with the PGA of America, of course witnessed how wildly successful the Ryder Cup had become and wanted to jump in on the international team competition phenomenon and grab a piece of the profits.

So the Presidents Cup was created in 1994, just three years after the War By The Shore.

The PGA Tour couldn’t simply replicate the Ryder Cup, so it did what it thought was the next best thing. It created a bi-annual match between the United States and the rest of the world except Europe. 

The PGA Tour hoped the intensity of the Ryder Cup would carry over into its bi-annual President Cup matches, but thus far that has not been the case.

The United States has lost just once to the international side since the formation of the matches, and the international side has not even come particularly close to winning since it tied the Americans back in 2003.

The Presidents Cup has not only been lopsided towards the America side since its inception, but the matches have never produced the type of drama that has become synonymous with the Ryder Cup over the past two decades.

This could be due to a lack of competition, a lack of any real identity amongst an international side that contains players hailing from all over the globe and speaking multiple languages, or the event’s inability to shake the image of being nothing more than the Ryder Cup’s much less interesting little cousin.

Whatever the reason may be, it would be difficult to argue that the Presidents Cup has not regressed in recent years. And between the American dominance of this competition and the complete lack of interest within the world of golf, one must ask the same question that Nicklaus and many others were asking about the Ryder Cup back in 1977: Just how long can this event survive?  

The Presidents Cup is clearly approaching a crossroads, much like the Ryder Cup back in 1977. But the main difference is that the Ryder Cup had a clear path forward by allowing the PGA of Europe to open up the matches to all of Europe. The Presidents Cup, on the other hand, is already open to the rest of the world outside of Europe.

Perhaps young stars such as Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama can breathe some new life back into the competition.

Perhaps golf will continue to grow in Asia and the Presidents Cup will eventually evolve into a bi-annual competition between the United States and Asia.

Or perhaps the PGA Tour will need to think completely outside of the box and explore ideas such as selecting two legends of the game as captains (i.e. Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer) who can then draft players one by one from anywhere in the world, including the United States and Europe.

It’s not like the Presidents Cup has gained any true identity to begin with, and at least this type of structure may provide for some very interesting matchups.

Imagine Day facing off against Ian Poulter in a singles match. Or Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler facing off against Day and Rory McIlroy in a four-ball match.

What about a foursomes match between South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and the Northern Irish dynamic duo of McIlroy and Graeme McDowell?

While this may not be a true international team match, it could make for a far more entertaining team competition than the current Presidents Cup.

Whatever direction the PGA Tour ultimately decides to take with the Presidents Cup, one thing is for sure—the Presidents Cup cannot keep heading down the same road and expect to survive 10-15 years from now.

If the Ryder Cup did not change following the 1977 matches and remained a team competition between just the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, it’s likely the Ryder Cup would cease to exist today.

And likewise, if the Presidents Cup does not do something to address the lack of competition and excitement surrounding this biannual event, it will likely fade into oblivion over the next decade.

1977 was clearly a turning point for the Ryder Cup.

It’s now time for the PGA Tour to take a lesson from history and alter the Presidents Cup competition in a manner that will ensure its survival for many years to come.