SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facts and figures for the eighth Presidents Cup matches:
Teams: United States against an International team of players from everywhere but Europe. [Gary Van Sickle breaks down the matches here.]
Dates: Oct. 8-11
Venue:Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco
Length: 7,137 yards
Par: 36-35--71
Points needed to win: 17 1/2
Captains:Fred Couples (U.S.) and Greg Norman (International)
Defending champion: United States
Series: United States leads, 5-1-1
Last time: The Americans won 10 1/2 points from 11 foursomes matches and built a seven-point lead going into the final day, which proved to be anticlimactic. The only drama Sunday was Mike Weir of Canada, on home soil at Royal Montreal, matched against Tiger Woods. Woods hit into the water on the 18th hole and wound up losing the match, a consolation prize for Weir and the International team. The outcome was 19 1/2-14 1/2, the first U.S. victory on international soil — even though it was in North America.
Format: Six alternate-shot matches Thursday. Six better-ball matches and five alternate-shot matches Friday. Five alternate-shot matches Saturday morning and five better-ball matches Saturday afternoon. Twelve singles matches on Sunday. One point is awarded for each win, a half-point when the match ends in a draw. Singles matches that end in a tie go extra holes until one team has 17 1/2 points.
Go to complete schedule
International team: Robert Allenby, Angel Cabrera, Tim Clark, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Ryo Ishikawa, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Mike Weir, Y.E. Yang.
U.S. team: Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods.
Tale of the tape: The Americans have five players among the top 10 in the world ranking. The International team has one.
Notable: Six players on the International team have not won a tournament anywhere in the world this year.
Key Statistic: The Americans have never lost at home.
Quotable: "It's going to take the International team winning a few times to annoy the U.S., to get them geared up like they are in the Ryder Cup." — Geoff Ogilvy.
Television (all times EDT): Thursday, 3-8 p.m., The Golf Channel; Friday, 2-8 p.m., The Golf Channel; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., NBC Sports; Sunday, 12-6 p.m., NBC Sports.
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