LAKE MANASSAS, Va. — In conjunction with the release of its 2005 schedule, the PGA Tour announced yesterday that tickets are now on sale for the 2005 Presidents Cup, scheduled Sept.19-25 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
The biennial team match-play event between the United States and a squad of internationals has been held three times at RTJ, starting with the event’s debut in 1994, and uses a format closely resembling the wildly popular Ryder Cup.
The last Presidents Cup Matches were halved (17-17) in 2003 in George, South Africa, darkness and sportsmanship intervening after Tiger Woods and Ernie Els matched each other shot for shot for three stress-stuffed, sudden-death holes. The captains who brokered that gentlemanly agreement, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, return to lead the teams next year in an event appropriately themed “Unfinished Business.”
PGA officials announced one major change in the format that should make the event more attractive to area patrons. For the first time, the double-session day will take place Saturday, easing traffic concerns for those wishing to attend the single sessions of matches by allowing later starting times Thursday and Friday.
Several other factors could make this event more attractive to the average golf fan than the Ryder Cup. First, the average world ranking of the 24 players on hand almost certainly will be much higher than that last month at Oakland Hills. The top two players in the world (No.1 Vijay Singh and No.2 Els) will lead the International team, whose lowest-ranked current automatic qualifier would be Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (No.30). Though the U.S. has a 3-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup (3-0 at RTJ), the Yanks are likely to be serious underdogs in 2005, a major departure from the role routinely played by recently maligned U.S. Ryder Cup squads.
Second, the PGA Tour will restrict admissions to 20,000 a day compared with the 35,000-40,000 the PGA of America allows at the Ryder Cup. The smaller galleries, somewhat necessitated by security concerns at an event where the president of the United States serves as honorary chairman, will make viewing and spectator flow far better than at a Ryder Cup or ordinary PGA Tour event.
Tickets range from $34 (practice round) to $250 (weekly badge) and can be purchased by calling 1-877-PREZ-TIX.
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