Presidents Cup:
The 15th edition of the Presidents Cup tees off this week on the famed Blue Course at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec. Team USA has won nine straight Presidents Cups over the International side.
The American side, captained by Jim Furyk, is around a -250 favorite to win the event. The International team, captained by Canadian Mike Weir, is at +275. The tie or draw is priced at 14-1.
In the event of a tie/draw, Team USA would retain the trophy and is priced at -340 (+260 International) to lift the trophy.
The Event
The Presidents Cup was created in 1994 and is organized by the PGA Tour.
The United States has a 12-1-1 record in the event with the lone loss coming in 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia.
Year Winner Score
2022 United States 17.5-12.5
2019 United States 16-14
2017 United States 19-11
2015 United States 15.5-14.5
2013 United States 18.5-15.5
2011 United States 19-15
2009 United States 19.5-14.5
2007 United States 19.5-14.5
2005 United States 18.5-15.5
2003 Tied 17-17
2000 United States 21.5-12.5
1998 International 20.5-11.5
1996 United States 16.5-15.5
1994 United States 20-12
The Format
The Presidents Cup uses a match-play format instead of the typical stroke-play format. It is a four-day competition. There will be five “Foursome” matches played on Thursday followed by five “Four-ball” matches on Friday. Saturday features four “Foursome” matches on Saturday morning followed by four “Four-ball” matches in the afternoon. The event finishes with 12 singles matches on Sunday. With 30 matches in total, and each being worth one point, it will take 15.5 points to win the Cup.
Four-Balls
Each member of a two-man team plays his own ball, so four balls are in play on every hole. Each team counts the lowest of its two scores on each hole, and the team whose player has the lowest score wins the hole. If the low scores are tied, the hole is halved.
Foursomes
Each two-man team plays one ball per hole with the players taking turns until each hole is complete. Players alternate hitting tee shots, with one leading off on odd-numbered holes and the other hitting first on even-numbered holes. The team with the low score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved.
Singles
Each match features one player from each team. The player with the lower score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved. Players can concede a hole to their opponent if they have no chance of halving the hole.
Each team consists of 12 players. Both teams had six qualifiers determined by a points list based on performance. Both captains (Jim Furyk for the U.S. and Mike Weir for the International) also had six “captain” picks.
The Teams
INTERNATIONAL
The International side is captained by Mike Weir and the captain’s assistants are Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy and Camilo Villegas.
Hideki Matsuyama (Japan); No. 1 Points Ranking, No. 7 OWGR, 6th Appearance, 22 Matches, 7-10-5 (2-1-2 Singles, 2-5-1 Foursomes, 3-4-2 Fourballs)
Sungjae Im (South Korea); No. 2 Points Ranking, No. 21 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 10 Matches, 5-3-2 (2-0-0 Singles, 0-3-1 Foursomes, 3-0-1 Fourballs)
Adam Scott (Australia); No. 3 Points Ranking, No. 18 OWGR, 11th Appearance, 49 Matches, 18-25-6 (5-5-0 Singles, 8-10-2 Foursomes, 5-10-4 Fourballs)
Tom Kim (South Korea); No. 4 Points Ranking, No. 24 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 5 Matches, 2-3-0 (0-1-0 Singles, 1-1-0 Foursomes, 1-1-0 Fourballs)
Jason Day (Australia); No. 5 Points Ranking, No. 33 OWGR, 5th Appearance, 20 Matches, 5-11-4 (2-2-0 Singles, 0-5-3 Foursomes, 3-4-1 Fourballs)
Byeong Hun An (South Korea); No. 6 Points Ranking, No. 34 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 5 Matches, 1-2-2 (0-1-0 Singles, 0-1-1 Foursomes, 1-0-1 Fourballs)
Captain’s picks
Corey Conners (Canada); No. 7 Points Ranking, No. 37 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 0-4-0 (0-1-0 Singles, 0-2-0 Foursomes, 0-1-0 Fourballs)
Min Woo Lee (Australia); No. 9 Points Ranking, No. 40 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa); No. 10 Points Ranking, No. 45 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 2 Matches, 1-0-1 (1-0-0 Singles, 0-0-1 Fourballs)
Taylor Pendrith (Canada); No. 11 Points Ranking, No. 44 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 0-4-0 (0-1-0 Singles, 0-1-0 Foursomes, 0-2-0 Fourballs)
Si Woo Kim (South Korea); No. 14 Points Ranking, No. 49 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 7 Matches, 4-3-0 (1-1-0 Singles, 1-2-0 Foursomes, 2-0-0 Fourballs)
Mackenzie Hughes (Canada); No. 15 Points Ranking, No. 61 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
TEAM USA
The U.S. side is captained by Jim Furyk and the captain’s assistants are Stewart Cink, Justin Leonard, Kevin Kisner and Brandt Snedeker.
Scottie Scheffler; No. 1 Points Ranking, No. 1 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 0-3-1 (0-1-0 Singles, 0-2-0 Foursomes, 0-0-1 Fourballs)
Xander Schauffele; No. 2 Points Ranking, No. 2 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 6-3-0 (2-0-0 Singles, 3-0-0 Foursomes, 1-3-0 Fourballs)
Collin Morikawa; No. 3 Points Ranking, No. 4 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 3 Matches, 2-1-0 (1-0-0 Singles, 1-1-0 Foursomes)
Wyndham Clark; No. 4 Points Ranking, No. 6 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
Patrick Cantlay; No. 5 Points Ranking, No. 9 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 6-3-0 (2-0-0 Singles, 3-0-0 Foursomes, 1-3-0 Fourballs)
Sahith Theegala; No. 6 Points Ranking, No. 11 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
Captain’s picks
Sam Burns; No. 7 Points Ranking, No. 11 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 5 Matches, 0-3-2 (0-0-1 Singles, 0-2-0 Foursomes, 0-1-1 Fourballs)
Tony Finau; No. 8 Points Ranking, No. 23 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 8 Matches, 3-2-3 (1-0-1 Singles, 2-0-1 Foursomes, 0-2-1 Fourballs)
Russell Henley; No. 9 Points Ranking, No. 14 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
Keegan Bradley; No. 10 Points Ranking, No. 13 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 5 Matches, 2-2-1 (0-1-0 Singles, 1-0-1 Foursomes, 1-1-0 Fourballs)
Brian Harman; No. 11 Points Ranking, No. 22 OWGR, 1st Appearance, 0 Matches, 0-0-0
Max Homa; No. 12 Points Ranking, No. 25 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 4-0-0 (1-0-0 Singles, 2-0-0 Foursomes, 1-0-0 Fourballs)
The Course
The Blue Course at Royal Montreal Golf Club has hosted five RBC Canadian Opens and was the home venue for the 2007 Presidents Cup.
The par-70 of 7,279 yards has a typical allotment of four par-3s and only two par-5s. The front nine is heavily tree-lined, while the back nine is more open and presents water on six holes, including the concluding stretch of five holes.
The fairways average between 26-30 yards wide in the landing zones. Mike Weir, as the home captain, is the main decision-maker regarding the course setup, and the rough will be thicker (around four inches) to punish the potential wayward tee shots of the Americans.
Dick Wilson’s original design featured elevated greens and strategic fairway bunkering. Rees Jones kept that philosophy in the 2005 renovation with smaller-than-average putting surfaces at an average size of 5,000 square feet that are well protected by bunkers. Players who miss the Bentgrass/Poa greens will face delicate uphill pitch shots to save par.
The Royal Montreal Golf Club website provides a hole-by-hole video tour of the layout:
Selections
USA to win by 1-3 points (+380; FanDuel)
This American team has four rookies and is by far the more inexperienced team this week.
However, they are more talented and should have enough to hold off the Internationals.
Xander Schauffele — Top American point scorer (5-1, Superbook Sports)
With no Justin Thomas or Jordan Spieth, Homa out of form and Scheffler and Burns (unsuccessful in the Ryder Cup) likely paired together again, Schauffele and his partner Cantlay are the likeliest candidates to carry Team USA to victory.
Both are unbeaten in singles and are 3-0 together in foursomes.
Schauffele has vaulted into a different class and would certainly play all five sessions, whereas Cantlay could sit one out.
Sungjae Im — Top International point scorer (+650, Superbook Sports)
Sungjae Im has played all 10 matches in his two Presidents Cup appearances, finishing as the top-scoring International player in 2019 and was second in that same market for 2022.
Individual match bets will be up throughout the weekend at VSiN.com/picks
