INCHEON, South Korea — International captain Nick Price predicted a wonderful week of entertaining golf for fans at the Presidents Cup on Tuesday, but after a decade of demoralizing defeats he would surely settle for winning ugly against another powerful United States team.
Such has been the United States' dominance in the biennial team event critics have begun to label it an "exhibition" rather than a true competitive encounter. And with eight U.S. wins and one tie in the 10 previous editions, it would be hard to argue the Presidents Cup has been nothing short of one-sided.
While the PGA Tour bristles at the exhibition tag, it has moved to level the playing field by reducing the total number of points on offer to 30 from 34, which blunts the stronger team's advantage as the weakest players do not compete as often.