A top international squad which features world No. 2 Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen of South Africa, and U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell of New Zealand tries to win the President's Cup this week outside Washington. In this report filed for VOA radio, correspondent David Byrd says the Internationals will have to beat a U.S. team that features Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love the Third and other top players.
Coming into this week, the International squad and the U.S. team share the President's Cup. That's because in 2003 the Internationals and the U.S. team were tied 17-17 with Tiger Woods and Ernie Els halving a playoff in near darkness in South Africa.
But this year, the competition is at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club outside Washington, where the Internationals have never won the President's Cup.
U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell, the winner of the HSBC World Matchplay championship last week, says that winning at the U.S. venue will be tough, but he is looking forward to the competition.
"The big advantage I believe is home advantage, playing it on home soil. That's the biggest advantage that the American team has. I think on paper we have got 10 guys from the top 30 in the world and we are all pretty good mates [friends]. And this week the most important thing is you have to gel as a team. I'm very excited to be involved in a great team this year and I think it is stronger than it was five years ago in 2000," he said.
To win the Cup, the International team, which is made up of players who cannot compete on the European Ryder Cup team, will have to score 17.5 points.
The format has six foursome matches Thursday with four-ball matches Friday and foursomes again on Saturday. There are 12 singles matches Sunday.
