Tranlate this title Presidents Cup: twelve against the empire in spanish

The Presidents Cup is the tournament where the United States faces the rest of the world—provided «the rest of the world» doesn’t include Europe. Given recent Ryder Cups, this looks less like a geographical distinction and more like a federation-led initiative to restore American golf’s self-esteem. For the past few years, to make matters even more lopsided, a significant number of top players—especially on the International side—have been missing, having defected to LIV Golf. The format remains captivating, emotionally charged, and slightly flawed—like a three-wheeled supercar: it makes noise, turns heads, and, as it happens, almost always ends up in the same hands.

Presidents Cup, results

From September 24 to 27, on Medinah’s new Course No. 3, the American team will attempt to win for the eleventh consecutive time. The overall record stands at 13 US victories, one International victory, and one tie. To put it less diplomatically: the Internationals haven’t lifted this trophy since 1998, and since 2003, they haven’t even managed to avoid losing it. Enough time has passed to turn Adam Scott into a veteran, a legend, and practically a UNESCO-protected historical monument.

And yet, we keep waiting for it. That’s because match play transforms normally polite players into people who fist-pump after a par, turns a one-meter putt into a matter of foreign policy, and consistently delivers spectacular matches. The question of the week, then, isn’t whether the United States is stronger. They are—by a wide margin. The question is whether Geoff Ogilvy (this edition’s International Captain) can compress that superiority into 30 matches that are short, nerve-wracking, and often decided by just two putts holed at the right moment.

The history of the Presidents Cup doesn’t just hint at American dominance; it screams it through a megaphone. The Internationals’ only victory came in 1998 at Royal Melbourne—a 20.5 to 11.5 rout so decisive it looked like a misprint. Shigeki Maruyama, the «Smiling Assassin,» finished with a 5-0-0 record; to this day, he is spoken of much like sightings of Halley’s Comet: with respect, nostalgia, and the realization that it might not happen again in our lifetime.

In 2003, at Fancourt in South Africa, the tournament ended in a 17-17 draw. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els played three playoff holes without a winner emerging; Woods holed a putt of about four and a half meters for par, Els matched him from nearly two meters out, and then darkness prompted Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to agree to share the cup. It was one of modern golf’s most beautiful and bizarre finishes: two captains deciding that neither side deserved to lose—a solution that, today, would trigger the formation of three committees, seven podcasts, and at least one 48-post thread debating the lack of a «killer instinct.»

Since then, however, the poetry has vanished. Ten consecutive American victories. In 2019 at Royal Melbourne, the Internationals entered Sunday with a 10-8 lead, only for player-captain Tiger to spearhead a comeback that turned the tide to 16-14 in the US’s favor. In 2024 in Montreal, the United States swept the opening session 5-0; the Internationals responded with a magnificent 5-0 sweep on Friday—a rare moment when the cup finally seemed up for grabs—but the final score was once again 18.5 to 11.5 for the USA. This competition excels at selling hope on Friday, only to present the bill very early on Sunday.

Consider the world rankings of the 24 players named to the teams. The American average is 16.25. The International team’s figure is 49.4. The median is even more brutal: 9.5 versus 53. Eleven out of twelve Americans are ranked in the world’s top 30; the only exception is Jackson Koivun—ranked 57th—who is 21, turned pro in July, won in his third PGA Tour start, and is already ranked 22nd by Data Golf. A devastating weakness, practically speaking.

On the other side, only Si Woo Kim is in the top 20, at number 14. Ryan Fox is 22nd, Hideki Matsuyama 27th, Min Woo Lee 30th, and Tom Kim 31st. Then the rankings drop down to Christiaan Bezuidenhout at number 104 (a player I personally adore). That doesn’t mean Bezuidenhout is dead weight: his Presidents Cup record is 3-1-1—magnificent and entirely consistent with the fact that match play loves to humiliate spreadsheets. It does mean, however, that Ogilvy needs above-average performances in almost every session, whereas Brandt Snedeker can afford to have two or three players simply have an average week.

Past records tell the same story. Excluding rookies and aggregating Presidents Cup results, the nine experienced Americans have a combined record of 47 wins, 26 losses, and 8 draws—securing nearly 63 percent of available points. The eight International players with prior experience have a combined record of 49 wins, 67 losses, and 16 draws—just over 43 percent. It isn’t a perfect comparison, given the varying opponents, pairings, and number of matches, but it illustrates the psychological weight of the week: some Americans arrive knowing how to win, while too many Internationals arrive remembering how they lost. The American luxury of leaving the winner at home.