Presidents Cup vs Ryder Cup: Which is more popular?
The Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup are two golf tournaments that share a lot in common, from format to style, however, the latter apparently draws more spotlight has been considered more popular because of prestige and long-standing history.
Having been around for more than 71 years now, the Ryder Cup has organised 39 events, giving the spectators opportunity to witness nerve-racking matches between the United States and Europe.
Though relatively new compared with its counterpart tournament—Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup also has managed to grab attention as it features top-class golfers from the United States and the International Team comprising players from across the world excluding
Europe.
There has been a lot of talk about the popularity of the two Cups, with one version saying the Presidents Cup has yet to go a long way if it wants to attract as much fanfare as its counterpart.
There are plausible reasons for the Presidents Cup to be extremely underrated as the idea of introducing the Cup had been to offer the non-European golfers a chance to compete at a bigger and more competitive level. So, it would be naive to think that the
Presidents Cup will outsmart the tournament (Ryder Cup) it is modelled after.
Another factor that undermines the Presidents Cup's position is that the tournament has been extremely one-sided since the first event held in 1994, with the United States team maintaining upper hand over the Internationals in 7 out of total 9 events.
One-sidedness of the Presidents Cup, which has seen the US squad trampling the Internationals, is something even the 2011 Internationals Team’s captain, Greg Norman seemed to agree with.
Before the start of the 2011 presidents Cup, the 56-year-old Aussie had expressed his concerns over the series of losses the International side has been facing at the hands of United States. After losing events after events, Norman said, members of the International
team are completely annoyed.
Speaking of players’ exasperation, Norman had said he knew the Internationals were getting sick and tired of being beaten and it took a toll on the popularity of the entire Cup.
Although the Ryder Cup also had to confront the same trouble when its popularity had started shrinking due to US team winning most of the events. The Cup did not regain attention and fanfare until the losing European side started grabbing victories.
Apart from all the downsides, the Presidents Cup does have a number of aspects that make it attractive — though not comparable to the Ryder Cup. Here are few:
More matches, more days
The Presidents cup offers matches that are spread over 4 days, unlike the Ryder Cup where all the matches are arranged over three days. Hence the presidents Cup offers six more matches when compared with the Ryder Cup, since the latter arranges 8 matches
on Thursday and Friday and then singles on Sunday. Moreover, four-day matches can reel in more money and more fanfare.
All twelve players take part
Both the presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup implement the similar competition format. Since the format of the Presidents Cup is spread over 4 days, all the 12 players are supposed to play the foursome on Thursday. Involvement of all the players on a team makes
the Presidents Cup more competitive.
Players are more competitive
From the perspective of the United States team, the Presidents Cup offers more intense competition as the International side is generally consisted of top non-European golfers —at least on paper.
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