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The 13th edition of the Presidents Cup gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday (Wednesday afternoon in the U.S.) with Tiger Woods looking to inspire the U.S. team to victory.
The Americans have won the trophy in all but two editions, one which came when the biennial tournament was hosted by the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1998.
Woods captains the 12-player strong U.S. team this year, while South Africa's Ernie Els has the honour of leading the International Team.
The U.S. team features the likes of world No. 4 Justin Thomas, world No. 5 Dustin Johnson and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed.
As ever in the Presidents Cup, the International Team features only non-European players, including Australia's Marc Leishman, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, the world No. 21.
Here's what you need to know about the format and scoring system.
How does the Presidents Cup work?
The Presidents Cup consists of 30 matches played over four days, under three different types of match play—fourballs, foursomes and singles.
Fourball and foursome matches are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while the 12 singles matches will take place on Sunday.
A total of nine players from each team take part in the fourballs and the foursomes, while each player from the International Team plays against an opponent from the U.S. Team in the singles.
The choice of nine players competing in the foursomes and fourballs is entirely up to the two captains.
From this year, each player is only be required to play a minimum of one match prior to the final-round singles matches, as opposed to previous years when players were required to compete in two matches prior to singles matches.
How does the scoring system work?
The scoring system for the Presidents Cup is different from everyday golf and follows the same rules in use for the Ryder Cup.
Each victory is worth one point, with the point halved if the match ends in a tie. There are 30 matches, meaning the first team to reach 15.5 points wins the Presidents Cup. Unlike in the Ryder Cup, however, should the two teams score 15 points each, they will share the trophy.
In the fourballs two players from each team play together against the other team, with each player playing their own ball. The better score of the two golfers in a team determines the team's score on a particular hole and each hole is won by the team whose individual golfer has the lowest score.
The foursome matches, meanwhile, see two golfers from the International Team face two players from the U.S. Team, with team members alternating between shots and each team using one ball. Each hole is won by the team that completes the hole in the fewest shots.
The singles, meanwhile, are a standard competition between two golfers and the winner is whoever has the lowest score.
About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more