2019 Presidents Cup


The 2019 Presidents Cup was the 13th edition of the Presidents Cup golf competition, held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, from 12 to 15 December 2019. Royal Melbourne previously hosted the tournament in 1998, at which the International team had their only victory, and 2011. It is the only international venue to have held the tournament more than once.
The United States retained the cup, winning the competition 16–14. Trailing before the final day singles matches, they won six and tied four of the 12 matches.

Team qualification and selection

Both teams had 12 players. On 18 August 2019, the eight automatic qualifiers for each team were finalized.

International team

The International team featured the top 8 players with the most Official World Golf Ranking points accumulated between 27 August 2018 and 18 August 2019 and four captain's picks made in early November. This was a change from 2017 when selection was based on the leading players in the Official World Golf Ranking. The number of captain's picks was also increased from two to four.
The final standings were:
PositionPlayerPoints
1Marc Leishman192.94
2Hideki Matsuyama187.11
3Louis Oosthuizen184.68
4Adam Scott180.30
5Abraham Ancer160.39
6Li Haotong128.63
7Pan Cheng-tsung125.77
8Cameron Smith124.17
9Jason Day120.57
10Jazz Janewattananond113.86
11Im Sung-jae112.04
12Justin Harding109.67
13Corey Conners102.34
14Shugo Imahira100.47
15An Byeong-hun97.26

United States team

The United States team featured the 8 players who earned the most official FedExCup points from the 2017 BMW Championship through the 2019 BMW Championship, with points earned in the 2018–19 season counting double, and four captain's picks. Points for events in the FedEx Cup Playoffs were weighted the same as WGC events. The four captain's picks were made in early November. In 2017 only events in the 2017 calendar year counted double. As with the international team the number of captain's picks was increased from two to four.
The final standings were:
PositionPlayerPoints
1Brooks Koepka8,310
2Justin Thomas6,949
3Dustin Johnson6,643
4Patrick Cantlay5,898
5Xander Schauffele5,753
6Webb Simpson5,532
7Matt Kuchar5,520
8Bryson DeChambeau5,341
9Tony Finau5,152
10Gary Woodland4,964
11Rickie Fowler4,678
12Patrick Reed4,510
13Tiger Woods3,905
14Chez Reavie3,810
15Kevin Kisner3,670

Teams

Captains

captained the U.S. team, and Ernie Els captained the International team.
Woods chose Fred Couples, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker as his assistants. Els chose K. J. Choi, Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman and Mike Weir as his assistants.
Woods was the first playing captain in a Presidents Cup since Hale Irwin in 1994.

Players

, Li Haotong, Joaquín Niemann and Pan Cheng-tsung became the first players of their respective countries to play in the Presidents Cup.
This was also the first Presidents Cup without Phil Mickelson.

Broadcast

Golf Channel had the official coverage of the 2019 Presidents Cup in the United States.

Thursday's fourball matches

Despite losing the opening match, the International team won the session 4–1. This was just the fourth time that the International team had led after the opening session of a Presidents Cup match and the 3 point lead was the largest it had ever had after the opening session.

Friday's foursomes matches

The International team looked like they would extend their lead but the United States had good finishes in three of the matches to leave the session tied. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele birdied the final hole to win their match against Joaquín Niemann and Adam Hadwin and later Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas did the same against Hideki Matsuyama and An Byeong-hun. In the final match, Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland tied their match against Cameron Smith and Im Sung-jae after being two down with three holes to play.

Saturday's matches

Morning fourball

The International team extended their lead to four points with two wins and a tie in the four matches. An Byeong-hun and Adam Scott had taken a one hole lead at the 15th hole against Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar but Finau won the final hole with a birdie 3 to tie the match.

Afternoon foursomes

At one stage the United States led in all four matches but the International team recovered to tie two of the matches. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas were 5 up after 7 holes against Abraham Ancer and Marc Leishman and were still 5 up with 8 holes to play. However Ancer and Leishman tied the match, winning the last three holes. Joaquín Niemann and An Byeong-hun also came from behind to tie their match against Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar, giving the International team a two point lead at the start of the final day.

Sunday's singles matches

played the first match for the US and made 7 birdies in 16 holes to defeat Abraham Ancer. Woods, with a 3–0–0 record, was the only player without a loss or tie in the competition. Down by two points at the start of the day, the US took six of the singles matches and rallied to win by a score of 16–14. This was the eighth straight Presidents Cup victory for the US.
InternationalResultsUnited StatesTimetable
Abraham Ancer3 & 2Tiger Woods1st: 10–9
Hideki MatsuyamatiedTony Finau4th: 10.5–11.5
Pan Cheng-tsung4 & 2Patrick Reed3rd: 10–11
Li Haotong4 & 3Dustin Johnson2nd: 10–10
Adam HadwintiedBryson DeChambeau6th: 12–12
Im Sung-jae4 & 3Gary Woodland5th: 11.5–11.5
Joaquín Niemann3 & 2Patrick Cantlay7th: 12–13
Adam Scott2 & 1Xander Schauffele8th: 12–14
An Byeong-hun2 & 1Webb Simpson9th: 12–15
Cameron Smith2 & 1Justin Thomas10th: 13–15
Louis OosthuizentiedMatt Kuchar11th: 13.5–15.5
Marc LeishmantiedRickie Fowler12th: 14–16
4Singles8
14Overall16

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the Win–Loss–Tied record of the player.

International

United States