Columnist Peter Benton: Win, lose or draw, looking forward to good sports

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The sixth staging of the Presidents Cup, which pits the 12 top International players (excluding Europe) against the 12 best the States has to offer, gets under way Thursday over the 7,335-yard, par-72, Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Gainesville, Va. This layout, incidentally, is the site of the three previous Presidents Cups which have been contested in this country -- all, by the way, being won by the USA team.

This event was developed to give the world's best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition -- a la the Ryder Cup. Of the five Cups played to date, the Americans have won three times, the International team once (at Royal Melbourne, Australia, in 1998) and the last outing -- 2003 in South Africa -- was declared a tie.

The Presidents Cup competition consists of 34 matches -- 11 foursomes (alternate shot) and 11 four-ball (best-ball), then on the final day of play all 12 players on each team compete in head-to-head singles. All matches are worth one point and if teams tie in paired matchups, a half-point is awarded to each side. If a singles match is tied after 18 holes, play continues until a winner is determined.

Members of the United States team were selected based on official earnings from the beginning of the 2004 season through the 2005 PGA Championship. International players earned their right to compete on the basis of their standing on the Official World Golf Rankings.

The eligibility rankings were used to select 10 members for each team, with the 12-man squads being rounded out by two Captain's Choices. This year Jack Nicklaus chose Fred Couples and Stewart Cink, with Player opting for Peter Lonard and Trevor Immelman.

Who is going to take home the Cup this year? Personally all I want to witness is good golf and sportsmanship of the highest order -- and let the best team win.