The 2019 Presidents Cup will be the 13th edition of the biennial match-up between the USA and an International team which is forbidden to utilise any of the Europeans.
To be honest, the competition is a poor relation of the Ryder Cup but it nearly always attracts the top players from America, who are no doubt grateful not to coming up against the likes of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson for once.
The Presidents Cup consists exclusively of matchplay in singles, foursomes and four-ball. Each match is worth a single point, with half-points given to ties, similar to the Ryder Cup.
Presidents Cup Facts and Figures
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Victoria, Australia, which held the 1998 and 2011 editions, is staging the event for the third time. It’s a 7,055-yard, par-71 course but only two of the 18 holes, the second and the 15th, are par fives.
Tiger Woods captains the United States team, with Ernie Els captaining the International team. Both captains have already played in eight Presidents Cups but Els is a non-playing captain this year. Adam Scott will therefore join Woods as one of only three men to have played in nine or more editions, though that pair still have a way to go to overhaul Phil Mickelson, who has played in the Presidents Cup 12 times (55 matches in total). Scott has lost more Presidents Cup matches than anyone else.
The USA won by 11 points in 2000 – a record margin of victory. They won by eight points in 2017 and have only lost once in the history of the competition, ironically at Royal Melbourne in 1998. There has been one tie, at Fancourt in South Africa in 2003.
This year’s International team features the top eight players in the official World Golf Rankings and four captain’s picks made in early November. The United States team features the eight players who earned the most official FedExCup points from the 2017 BMW Championship through to the 2019 BMW Championship, with points earned in the 2018–19 season counting double, and four captain’s picks.
Presidents Cup Rosters
International Team and Presidents Cup Record (W,L,T)
Ernie Els (captain, not playing), 20-18-2
Hideki Matsuyama, 4-6-3
Adam Scott, 14-20-5
Louis Oosthuizen, 7-5-3
Marc Leishman, 3-7-3
Adam Hadwin, 0-2-1
Abraham Ancer, Rookie
Haotong Li, Rookie
C.T. Pan, Rookie
Cameron Smith, Rookie
Joaquin Niemann, Rookie
Sungjae Im, Rookie
Byeong Hun An, Rookie
USA Team and Presidents Cup Record (W,L,T)
Tiger Woods (playing captain), 24-15-1
Dustin Johnson, 8-4-2
Justin Thomas, 3-1-1
Matt Kuchar, 6-8-2
Webb Simpson, 5-3-2
Patrick Reed, 4-3-2
Rickie Fowler, 4-3-1
Xander Schauffele, Rookie
Patrick Cantlay, Rookie
Bryson DeChambeau, Rookie
Gary Woodland, Rookie
Tony Finau, Rookie
In terms of experience and ability, the USA team again looks streets ahead of the International team so Betfred’s 4/9 about a USA victory looks a banker bet, though American Patrick Reed will be getting plenty of flak from the Aussie fans over his antics in last week’s Hero World Golf Challenge in the Bahamas.
However, though the International team are technically ‘at home’ there is no real advantage considering almost half of their team is based in the Far East. If forced to take a view on the Outright Correct Score, I’d suggest the USA 17.5-12.5 at the general 11/1. Betting for the Top American is interesting with Webb Simpson looking overpriced at a general 12/1 and twice those odds in the Combined Points Scorer Betting.
