The President's Cup comes to the Bay Area

October 6, 4:59 PMBay Area Sports ExaminerRyan Leong

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Tiger Woods is always the center of attention (Photo property of Ryan L.Leong)

SAN FRANCISCO-- Its already going to be an exciting time at Harding Park based the first day of practice rounds.

Although its a prestigious tournament, the President's Cup has only been in existence since 1994 and this is only the second time its been played in the United States.  Of course, its only fitting that its played at Harding Park which was built in 1925, named after President Warren G. Harding.

Here are some other facts to know about the Tournament:
The President's Cup is an event pitting the United States against an International Team outside of Europe.   Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup.

It was initially held in even numbered years but since September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks pushed back both the President's and Ryder's Cups, now the President's event is held in odd numbered years.

The event is scored by match play: in which a player or team earns points for each hole in which they have bested their opponents.

Normally, golf is scored by stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted.

The format is drawn from the Ryder Cup, consisting of twelve players per side and a non-playing captain, usually a highly respected golf figure.

The captains are responsible for pairing the teams in the doubles events, which consist of both alternate shot and best ball formats (also known as "foursome" and "four ball" matches respectively)

However, unlike the Ryder Cup, all twelve players must play foursome and four ball matches on Thursday and Friday (six matches per session, unlike the Ryder Cup with four matches), and only two players will sit out each session of Saturday matches (five matches per Saturday session, compared to four), and each player must play a one-on-one, singles match on Sunday.

Each match, whether it be a doubles or singles match, is worth one point. In the doubles matches a half-point is awarded to each team in the event of a tie. With 11 foursome doubles matches, 11 four ball doubles matches and 12 singles matches that represents a total of 34 points. To win the Presidents Cup a team must accrue a total of 17.5 points.

The format of the Presidents Cup differs from the Ryder Cup mainly in that it includes six extra matches, which prevents a team from hiding its weaknesses.

This is confusing, I'll have a pop quiz later.....

Information from Wikipedia and the Associated Press was used for this report.

For more info:  www.pgatour.com/tournaments/presidentscup/