PGA

The United States relinquished the Presidents Cup once since the event began in 1994.

The United States enters the 2022 edition of the event with an 11-1-1 record against the International team.

The American dominance combined with the better overall roster going into Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte makes the United States a massive favorite to retain the cup.

Three years ago, the United States pulled out a two-point win over the International team, but the competition may not be that close in 2022.

Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele are back from the 2019 squad. Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa combined with that trio to help the United States obliterate Team Europe at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

Trevor Immelman's International squad is not as strong as it could have been. The losses of Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann and others to LIV Golf dropped the quality more on the International side than it did for the United States.

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Presidents Cup Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

United States (-700; bet $700 to win $100)

International (+700; bet $100 to win $700)

Draw (+1600)

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Uniforms

The two teams showed off the 2022 uniforms at picture day Wednesday:

Picture day 📸#PresidentsCup #USTeam pic.twitter.com/lDHeAR82cA

— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 21, 2022

Whole squad ready.#PresidentsCup #IntlTeam pic.twitter.com/aEzHb7SiDo

— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 21, 2022

Tee Times

Tee times for each day will be unveiled the night before.

The Presidents Cup website will have all of the pairings listed when they are announced.

The event kicks off on Thursday with foursomes matches. Friday features fourball matches. Both team formats will be used on Saturday. Singles play will take place on Sunday.

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Prediction

United States Retains Presidents Cup

The United States team has too much talent and experience to fail on home soil in North Carolina.

The biggest key for the Americans may be the familiarity that some of their top players have with each other in match play formats.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele won two matches at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia and put up two victories in the 2021 Ryder Cup. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas played together against Team Europe last year too.

PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler is in the squad, as well as Max Homa, who won on the PGA Tour at the Fortinet Championship last week.

The majority of the American team has some type of team event. Homa, Cameron Young, Billy Horschel and Sam Burns are the only members of the American squad to not appear in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.

The International team has eight rookies on its roster. Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott and Si-Woo Kim are the only golfers with Presidents Cup experience.

That could be a major detriment to the performance of the International squad on Thursday and Friday as some of the rookies get a feel for the competition.

The International squad should use a heavy dose of its four veterans either as pairs or as partners for the rookies to try to remain close with the Americans on the first two days.

The Americans got out to commanding leads before Sunday in each of their last two home triumphs in the Presidents Cup.

In 2013, the United States took a six-point lead into the singles matches. The 2022 hosts had an 8-2 advantage by the time play ended on Friday in 2017.

The International team did a similar thing in 2019, as it got out to a four-point lead after the Saturday morning matches. The Americans reversed that deficit and won by two points.

The absences of Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and others due to their participation in LIV Golf severely hurt the International team's chances. Smith and Niemann were locks to make the team through points, and others could have been captain's picks.

Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed were not eligible for the United States team because of their LIV Golf participation, but the depth of the American talent pool makes it easier for the home side to recover from their absences.

The United States is expected to keep the Presidents Cup at home, and by a significant margin. An International victory would go down as one of the biggest upsets in team match-play events in golf history.

The United States will attempt to keep up its dominance in the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

The U.S. comes into North Carolina with an eight-cup winning streak over the International team that features players from outside Europe.

The Presidents Cup is typically held on the off year of the Ryder Cup. It gives the international players from outside Europe to compete in a match-play event.

The United States have the best roster on paper to produce the team's ninth straight win in the event, with Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas among the selections.

The International team will come in as a huge underdog because some of its best golfers ended up as ineligible for the competition. Cameron Smith was going to be the top name on the team, but he became inelligible when he joined the LIV Golf Series.

Joaquin Niemann and Anirban Lahiri are the other significant misses because of their LIV Golf participation. Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are among the Americans not eligible for the same reason, but the United States team has more depth to overcome those absences.

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Presidents Cup Format

Thirty match-play contests will determine the Presidents Cup winner.

The United States and International teams will play a mixture of foursomes and four ball matches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Singles matches dominate the Sunday slate.

United States captain Davis Love III chose foursomes, or alternate shot, to open the event on Thursday, which will see the two members of each team taking turns on their shots.

The four balls format has every golfer take their own shot. The lowest score from the United States and International pairings will be used on the scorecard.

Sunday's individual matches are straight match play between the two golfers.

All of the matches carry one point. If a match is tied after 18 holes, a half-point will go to each team.

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Preview

The United States either lost or tied the Presidents Cup twice since the event debuted in 1994 but has won the last eight Presidents Cups dating back to 2005. The Americans captured the last title by a 16-14 score in Melbourne, Australia, two years ago.

Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele had the most success against the International team in 2019. Thomas earned 3.5 points, while Cantlay and Schauffele had three points each. Tiger Woods, who was the 2019 team captain, also came through with three points for the Americans.

The Cantlay-Schauffele pairing went 2-2 in 2019, and it was close to earning points in the two matches that were lost. The duo also won two matches at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

United States captain Davis Love III could opt to use that as his top pairing and figure out the rest of the lineup from there. Thomas and Scottie Scheffler should feature heavily in his plans. Scheffler was 2-0-1 in the last Ryder Cup.

Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im will be the anchors of the International team. They had the two top point totals in the standings to get on to the squad.

Im tied with Abraham Ancer for the most points earned by an International team member in 2019 with 3.5. Matsuyama went 2-1-1 to earn 2.5 points.

Some of the best golfers on the 2019 International team are ineligible for the Presidents Cup because of their LIV Golf Series membership. Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann and Ancer could not be called upon for the 2022 event.

That left International captain Trevor Immelman to choose from an inexperienced group of golfers, and there are eight Presidents Cup rookies on the International squad. The United States has six rookies, but two of them are major winners in Scheffler and Collin Morikawa.

The United States should win the event based on the quality of golfers within each squad. The Americans scored 18.5 points or more in five of their last eight wins. They could get to that total again against a weaker International squad.

Phil Mickelson said it's time for LIV Golf and the PGA Tour to "come together" for the betterment of the sport after a monthslong rivalry.

Mickelson, one of the first high-profile golfers to make the jump to LIV, said the breakaway tour is "here to stay," so it's time to settle the differences.

"The best solution is for us to come together," Mickelson told reporters Friday. "I think that the world of professional golf has a need for the old historical 'history of the game' product that the PGA Tour provides. I think that LIV provides a really cool, updated feel that is attracting a lot of younger crowds."

His comments come after he confirmed Thursday he'll consider removing himself from an antitrust lawsuit filed by several LIV players against the PGA Tour.

"Both are good for the game of golf and the inclusion of LIV Golf in the ecosystem of the golf world is necessary," Mickelson said. "As soon as that happens, we all start working together. It's going to be a really positive thing for everyone."

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman told Tom Minear of The Australian on Tuesday he's tried to make contact with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan with no success, which left them little choice but to move forward without an agreement between the sides.

"That's why we are where we are today," Norman said. "We tried awfully hard—I know I did personally for the past year. ... When we knew we were never going to hear from them, we just decided to go."

LIV attracted numerous notable players, including Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Sergio Garcia, with a variety of perks and life-changing money. The tour is financially backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Its tournaments are 54 holes (one round shorter than the PGA Tour) with no cut, and the purse is typically around $25 million for a standard event. A season-ending competition next month in Miami will have a $50 million payout.

All of that is on top of lucrative guaranteed contracts. Mickelson signed a deal worth around $200 million in June, per Brentley Romine of Golf Channel.

The PGA Tour responded by barring players who appear in a LIV tournament from its own events, and several longtime Tour players, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, have been forceful in their public comments against the rival league.

"I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position," Woods told reporters at the Open Championship in July.

McIlroy said in June younger players going to LIV were "taking the easy way out," and he's maintained a stance LIV players should be banned from the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Monahan also reiterated last month there are no plans to reinstate LIV golfers.

So, while Mickelson and LIV appear open to a truce, it doesn't seem like the PGA Tour and its members feel the same way at this stage.

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said he's ended efforts to negotiate a truce with PGA commissioner Jay Monahan.

Norman told Tom Minear of The Australian on Tuesday (via ESPN's Mark Schlabach) the cold war that began with LIV luring away several high-profile golfers with lucrative guaranteed contracts hasn't thawed, so they're ready to move on.

"That's why we are where we are today," Norman said. "We tried awfully hard—I know I did personally for the past year. ... When we knew we were never going to hear from them, we just decided to go."

He added: "We have no interest in sitting down with them, to be honest with you, because our product is working."

LIV has built a roster that includes Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Sergio Garcia, among others.

DeChambeau and Mickelson were among 11 LIV players to file an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August, saying they were unfairly suspended and barred from playing Tour events after competing in a LIV tournament.

Norman told Miner the plan wasn't to compete directly against the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour).

"It was always an additive to all tours," he said. "This notion [that] we're trying to destroy tours is not true. The PGA Tour is trying to destroy us. It's as simple as that."

Some of the LIV Golf events overlapped with the other tours, however, which raised questions about whether the existing tours would struggle to attract players when up against LIV's 54-hole, no-cut tournaments with purses typically around $25 million.

In August, Monahan confirmed LIV players would remain banned from the PGA Tour.

"As I've been clear throughout, every player has a choice, and I respect their choice, but they've made it. We've made ours," Monahan said. "We're going to continue to focus on the things that we control and get stronger and stronger. I think they understand that."

His comments came in coordination with the Tour announcing "enhancements," including a commitment from top golfers to play more tournaments, larger purses and a guaranteed salary for any full-time players.

The PGA Tour kicked off its 2022-23 season Thursday with the Fortinet Championship in California, while LIV Golf is hosting a tournament in Chicago starting Friday.

The rise of LIV Golf has forced golfers to draw battle lines, the impact of which is already being felt.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy explained he had "no idea" whether he can enjoy the same kind of kinship with some of his former Ryder Cup teammates who have signed with LIV.

"I wouldn’t say I’ve got much of a relationship with them at the minute," he said. "... But, like, I haven’t done anything different. They are the ones that have made that decision. So I can sit here and keep my head held high and say I haven’t done anything differently."

In a lighter exchange, the four-time major champion alluded to the three-round format for LIV tournaments:

Rory 😃.
Q. If come Sunday you find yourself in contention and the man to the side of you is a LIV player, would there be more incentive to win?
RM: I mean, I'll be trying to win a golf tournament regardless. They are going to be pretty tired on Sunday; it will be the fourth day.

— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) September 7, 2022

McIlroy has made his allegiance very clear. Not only has he remained with the PGA Tour, but he's also partnering with Tiger Woods for TGL, a new team-based league that will operate in tandem with the tour.

Given the existential threat LIV Golf poses for the PGA Tour, one can understand why McIlroy might still hold some hostility toward his former colleagues. He may not be the only one, though.

Shane Lowry echoed a similar sentiment toward LIV-aligned stars.

"Obviously I haven’t seen them in a long time now," he said. "Don’t hang out with them anymore. Probably won’t be going out for dinner because we haven’t seen each other. But yeah, there are certain lads that I shake hands with and certain hands I wouldn’t."

It will certainly be fascinating to see how this dynamic unfolds at the next Ryder Cup, which tees off in just over one year near Rome.

The United States enters the 2023 Ryder Cup as the defending champion, but Team Europe dominated the event before that with seven wins in the previous nine installments.

The narrative often centered on how the Europeans were far more focused on a collective goal than their American counterparts. The U.S. had no shortage of individual star power but couldn't excel as a team.

This time next year, Team Europe might have to deal with the kind of internal drama that was mostly associated with its Ryder Cup opponent.

Golf legend Tiger Woods gave Serena Williams the ultimate respect and reverence for her sensational career after the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's tennis journey came to an end Friday following a third-round defeat to Ajla Tomljanović on Friday at the U.S. Open.

.@serenawilliams you’re literally the greatest on and off the court. Thank you for inspiring all of us to pursue our dreams. I love you little sis!!!!!!

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) September 3, 2022

Woods, a 15-time major winner himself, was on hand in the second round when Williams upset No. 2 Anett Kontaveit.

🐅 Game recognizes game 🐐

Tiger Woods 🤝 Serena Williams#SerenaWilliams x #USOpen pic.twitter.com/YTjSAFc4Nj

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 1, 2022

Williams had previously credited Woods as the reason why she continued to play tennis professionally.

"He's one of the reasons I'm here, one of the main reasons I'm still playing," she told reporters (h/t George Ramsay of CNN).

"We talked a lot. He was really trying to get me motivated. There are a few people, but we were like: 'OK, we can do this together, you know?'"

The 40-year-old Williams fought hard to the finish before falling to a tough opponent in Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6(4), 1-6 in a match that lasted over three hours.

With that, a 27-year career is now over, and Williams leaves the game after writing one of the most remarkable stories in sports history.

Fred Couples doesn't think much of LIV Golf, nor does he care for the explanations former PGA Tour players offer for why they have joined the controversial league.

Cameron Smith told Evin Priest of Golf Digest that one of the main reasons he made the jump to LIV is because of the schedule.

"I'll be able to spend more time at home in Australia and maybe have an event down there, as well. I haven't been able to do that, and to get that part of my life back was really appealing," Smith said.

The Australian star added he missed events like "friends' weddings, birthday parties and seeing your mates having a great time at rugby league games" while living in the United States to play on the PGA Tour.

Couples must have read the interview, based on the cheeky tweet he sent out:

To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings …… so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the @pgatour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends. And by weekends i mean 72 holes. Sorry not sorry .

— fredcouplesgolf (@fredcouplesgolf) September 1, 2022

The crowning achievement of Smith's career came in July when he won the Open Championship. He followed that up with two more appearances on the PGA Tour before officially signing with LIV Golf.

The upstart league is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The Saudi government has garnered widespread criticism for human rights violations.

Couples, who has consistently spoken out about players' signing up to play for LIV, joined the PGA Tour in 1980. The 62-year-old has 33 career wins from the PGA Tour, European Tour and Champions Tour. He won the 1992 Masters and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013.

Phil Mickelson said he's heard from both PGA Tour and LIV Golf players who are happy about the direction of the sport.

Mickelson, one of the first marquee LIV signings, told Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated on Thursday he's pleased the increased competition is helping everybody.

"Yes, numerous [players have reached out]. And I'm very appreciative," the six-time major champion said. "They are from both sides. I think players on both sides of LIV and the PGA Tour are appreciative of what is happening. Every player is benefiting."

LIV, which is financially backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, was able to lure several high-profile players away from the PGA Tour with a variety of perks, including lucrative guaranteed contracts, sizable purses and 54-hole, no-cut tournaments.

Mickelson committed to the new tour after receiving a contract worth around $200 million, per Brentley Romine of Golf Channel.

Greg Norman, a two-time major winner who's now the CEO of LIV Golf, told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in August they offered Tiger Woods "somewhere in that neighborhood" of $700 million to $800 million.

Woods turned down the offer and has instead joined Rory McIlroy as the most outspoken critics of players moving to the rival tour.

"I disagree with it," Woods told reporters before The Open Championship in July. "I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position."

He added: "What is the incentive to practice and earn it in the dirt?"

The PGA Tour responded to the exodus by announcing "enhancements" to the tour beginning next season, including larger tournament purses and a guaranteed $500,000 salary for all exempt members.

Nevertheless, another group of players are making the move to LIV following the conclusion of the PGA Tour playoffs after last weekend's Tour Championship.

Mickelson told Harig he doesn't believe the PGA Tour would have made the changes without the arrival of LIV.

"I don't think anything like that would have happened without the leverage that LIV Golf has provided," he said. "There was no leverage. There were no other options."

Now Lefty, who noted previous efforts to spark change on the PGA Tour fell short, is hopeful golfers of each side understand the importance of competition.

"Unless there was leverage, nothing was going to change," Mickelson said. "And all players should be appreciative of what LIV is doing. The players on LIV for the opportunity they are getting. And the PGA Tour for the leverage that was provided to get these changes done."

LIV Golf continues its debut season this weekend in Boston. The PGA Tour tees off its 2022-23 campaign Sept. 15 with the Fortinet Championship in California.

Numerous players who now play on the LIV Golf Invitational Series have had their 2022-23 PGA Tour memberships revoked.

According to Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated, the PGA Tour sent a letter to players who didn't resign their membership when they left for LIV, including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Pat Perez. That group does not include players who already resigned, including Dustin Johnson, Kevin Na and Patrick Reed.

The letter was sent by Kirsten Burgess, the Tour's vice president, competition administration. It read in part:

"The Tour cannot enter into a membership agreement with a player when, as here, it reasonably anticipates the player will not perform the material obligations under that agreement. Accordingly, your PGA Tour membership cannot and will not be renewed for the 2022-2023 PGA TOUR season."

Those players had already been suspended indefinitely by the Tour. Mickelson, DeChambeau and LIV Golf are among those who have filed an antitrust suit against PGA Tour challenging the suspensions.

The 2021-22 PGA Tour season is now over after Rory McIlroy capped the year by winning the Tour Championship. The first year of the LIV Golf Invitational Series will continue Friday with a three-day tournament at The International in Bolton, Massachusetts.