Presidents Cup: How do the teams match up?

2019 Presidents Cup: How do the teams match up? 

The 13th edition of the Presidents Cup takes place at Royal Melbourne in Australia this week, where the U.S team will attempt to win for the eighth consecutive time. Here’s what you need to know, and how the teams match up. 

2019 Presidents Cup: Need to know

• Of the 12 matches played in the Presidents Cup, the United States team has won 10, the International Team has won 1, with 1 match tied. The U.S Team won 19–11 when the contest was played at Liberty National in 2017.

• This is the third time the Presidents Cup has been held at Royal Melbourne. It remains the only venue where the International side has won the Presidents Cup, which happened in 1998 when the side was Captained by Peter Thompson.

• There are 12 rookies in this year’s Presidents Cup.
US Team: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau
International: Byeong Hun An, Hoatong Li, C.T Pan, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im, Abraham Ancer

• This week, Tiger Woods will become the second playing captain in Presidents Cup history, following Hale Irwin, who went 2-1-0 when he Captained the 1994 side.

• There have already been changes made ahead of this Presidents Cup, with major champions Brooks Koepka (USA) and Jason Day (International), having to pull out with injuries. They were replaced by Rickie Fowler and Byeong Hun An respectively.

• Dustin Johnson is making his first start since surgery on his left knee (the same type of surgery Tiger Woods also had in the off season) having skipped last week’s Hero World Challenge in order to extend his recovery period.

• Haotong Li (China), CT Pan (Chinese Taipei) and Joaquin Niemann (Chile), are the first three players to represent their respective countries to play in the Presidents Cup.

U.S Presidents Cup Team

Captain: Tiger Woods
Vice Captains: Fred Couples, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker

In the head to head match up, the teams are very clearly balanced in favour of the U.S team, who don’t have a single player ranked outside the World’s top 25 on their side and are on a seven-match winning streak against the International side. 

Justin Thomas

World Ranking: #4
Presidents Cup Teams: 1 (2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 3-1-1

Earned 2.5 points from three matches in his Presidents Cup debut in 2017, and was one of the stand out performers at the Ryder Cup last year. He hasn’t finished worse than T17 anywhere in his last 10 starts, which includes two victories at the BMW Championship and CJ Cup.

Dustin Johnson:

World Ranking: #5
Presidents Cups: 3 (2011, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 8-4-2

Dustin Johnson went undefeated during the 2017 edition of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National (4-0-1), but is coming to Royal Melbourne fresh from surgery on his left knee, and hasn’t played since the Tour Championship, and hadn’t recorded a top 10 since the PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods

World Ranking: #6
Presidents Cup Teams: 8 (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013)
Presidents Cup Record: 24-15-1

Came back from knee surgery after the Tour Championship to claim the 82nd PGA Tour win of his career his first start at the ZOZO Championship, and then picked himself to become just the 2nd playing Presidents Cup Captain in US history. Making his first start in this contest since 2013, and has the most Singles matches wins in Presidents Cup history. 

Patrick Cantlay

World Ranking: #7
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Former Walker Cup player struggled at the Hero World Challenge, but still has two runner-up finishes in his last five starts – to Justin Thomas at the BMW Championship and Kevin Na at the Shriners. Has a 3-2-1 in the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play.

Xander Schauffele

World Ranking: #9
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Making his first start for team USA, and heads to Melbourne in great form: Finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy at both the Tour Championship and WGC HSBC Champions, and has two other top 10s in his last five starts. 3-2-1 record in WGC Dell Technologies Match Play.

Webb Simpson

World Ranking: #11
Presidents Cup Teams: 2 (2011, 2013)
Presidents Cup record: 5-3-2

Making his first start since 2013, qualifying after back-to-back runner-up finishes at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and Wyndham Championship. Has had a further runner-up since then at the RSM Classic, and finished T10 last week. Has a 4-4-1 in Ryder Cup, and was on the team in 2018.

Patrick Reed

World Ranking: #12
Presidents Cup Teams: 2 (2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 4-3-2

Heading to Australia following a lot of controversy, Reed was one of Woods’ four Captain’s picks, and finished third at the Hero World Challenge – his fourth top 10 in his last six starts. Also has a record of 7-3-2 from three Ryder Cup appearances.

Bryson DeChambeau

World Ranking: #13
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

DeChambeau qualified in eighth place and is making his Presidents Cup debut this week. He comes to Royal Melbourne following a difficult week at the Hero, but it was his first start since a T4 at the Shriners – having spent much of that in between time bulking up. Made his first team appearance at the 2018 Ryder Cup, where he went 0-3-0. 

Tony Finau

World Ranking: #16
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

One of Woods’ Captain’s picks following a strong showing at both the end of PGA Tour season and start of the new one – posting three top 10s that also included a further T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. T10 at last week’s Hero World Challenge, and went 2-1-0 on his Ryder Cup debut in 2018. 

Gary Woodland

World Ranking: #17
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

The 2019 US Open champion has three top 10s and a T20 in his last four starts on Tour, and is making his first start for a U.S team in either Presidents or Ryder Cup. That being said, he has a 10-7-1 in the WGC Dell Match Play. 

Rickie Fowler

World Ranking: #22
Presidents Cup Teams: 2 (2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 4-3-1

Fowler was the late replacement for World No.1 Brooks Koepka, and Woods said he was the guy everyone wanted. He paired up with JT in 2017 to win 2.5 points, but the duo weren’t paired together in the 2018 Ryder Cup – but it could be a pairing revisited now that Spieth has gone. Has also played on four of the last five Ryder Cup teams, with a 3-7-5 record. 

Matt Kuchar

World Ranking: #24
Presidents Cup Teams: 4 (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 6-8-2

The 2013 WGC Dell Match Play champ hasn’t cracked the top 10 on Tour since the RBC Canadian Open in June, but he brings a lot of experience to the side – and qualified in seventh. Also has a 6-7-2 from four Ryder Cup outings. 

International Team

Captain: Ernie Els
Vice Captains: K.J. Choi, Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman, Mike Weir

The International team are missing Presidents Cup veteran Jason Day this week, and have a staggering seven rookies on their side as they try to win back the trophy for the first time since 1998. 

Adam Scott

World Ranking: #18
Presidents Cup Teams: 8 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 14-20-5

Scott is the highest ranked player, and most experienced on the International side – with an impressive individual record considering he hasn’t been on a winning team. MC at last week’s Australian Open but T11 at the WGC HSBC Champions before that. 

Louis Oosthuizen

World Ranking: #20
Presidents Cup Teams: 3 (2013, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 7-5-3

Oosthuizen is on brilliant form, having finished as the runner-up in last week’s Australian Open, just one of three top 10s in his last four starts. The only difficulty for Oosthuizen will be finding a new partner, as Branden Grace (who he holds a 5-1-1 record with) isn’t in the team this week. 

Hideki Matsuyama

World Ranking: #21
Presidents Cup Teams: 3 (2013, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 4-6-3

Making his fourth appearance this week, and comes in following a strong start to the new season: He finished T3 at the CJ Cup, 2nd to Woods at the ZOZO, T11 at the HSBC Champions and T8 in his last start at the Japan Tour’s Dunlop Phoenix Open. Also has a 8-8-2 record at the WGC Dell Match Play.

Marc Leishman

World Ranking: #28
Presidents Cup Teams: 3 (2013, 2015, 2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 3-7-3

Heads to Royal Melbourne after a T10 at the Australian Open, making his fourth appearance for the International side. A notable fact is that Leishman has never lost a singles match at the Presidents Cup, holding a 2-0-1 record. 

Sungjae Im 

World Ranking: #36
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Making his Presidents Cup debut this week, becoming just one of five players to compete before turning 22 years old. The impressive youngster claimed the Genesis Open at the start of the new season, in addition to a runner-up finish at the Sanderson Farms and T3 at the ZOZO Championship. 

Abraham Ancer

World Ranking: #39
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Followed up back-to-back top 10s at the WGC HSBC Champions and Mayakoba Golf Classic with a T33 in Australia last week. Has a 2-1-0 in the WGC Dell Match Play.

Byeong Hun An 

World Ranking: #42
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Byeong Hun An was the late replacement for the injured Jason Day, and heads to Australia after a T6 at the CJ Cup, T8 at the ZOZO Championship and T14 at the WGC HSBC Champions. He claimed the US Amateur in 2017, and finished T6 at the World Cup of Golf with Si Woo Kim in 2018. 0-3-0 record at the EurAsia Cup.

Adam Hadwin

World Ranking: #48
Presidents Cup Teams: 1 (2017)
Presidents Cup Record: 0-2-1

Making his second start for the International side. Started the season strongly with a runner-up finish at the Safeway and T4 at the Shriners, but hasn’t bettered a T41 in his three starts since then. 

Cameron Smith

World Ranking: #52
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

The Australian native made same choice comments about Patrick Reed after finishing T27 at the Australian Open last week, and comes here with his best result of the season a T3 at the CJ Cup. Making his debut, but did win the Zurich Classic with Jonas Blixt in 2017, finished T5 at the 2018 WGC Dell Match Play, and was also the runner-up at the 2018 World Cup of golf with Marc Leishman. 

Joaquin Niemann

World Ranking: #56
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Earned his first PGA Tour win at the first event of the new season – A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier – but his best finish since then was a T12 at the CJ Cup. He’s the first player from Chile ever to play in the Presidents Cup, and joins Im as one of the five players in Presidents Cup history to compete before turning 22 years old. 

CT Pan

World Ranking: #64
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Pan qualified in 7th to earn become the first player from Chinese Taipei to play at Presidents Cup, but isn’t coming in with the best of form: He won the RBC Heritage earlier in the year but hasn’t cracked the top 10 since the Charles Schwab Challenge in June, his best result since then a T11 at Mayakoba. 

Haotong Li

World Ranking: #65
Presidents Cup Teams: ROOKIE

Hoatong Li is another player making history this week as he becomes the first player from China to appear in the Presidents Cup, and comes straight from a runner-up finish at the China Tour Championship. Has a 2-4-0 record in the WGC Dell Match Play (which includes a win over Brooks Koepka) and two outings at the World Cup of Golf, finishing 2nd (2016) and 13th (2018) with Ashun Wu.