A popular team competition whose origins can be traced to the rising popularity of the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup is its younger, slightly glitzier and less gritty sibling.

The Presidents Cup comprises a series of matches between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world, but crucially not including Europe.

The Presidents Cup is held biennially, in the years in which the Ryder Cup does not take place, and hosted alternately in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

The scoring system of the event is matchplay. The format consists of 12 players per side and a non-playing captain, who is responsible for pairing the teams in the doubles events.

However, unlike the Ryder Cup, all 12 players must play foursomes and fourball matches on the Thursday and Friday. Only two players will sit out each session of the Saturday matches and each player must play a singles match on the Sunday.

As in the Ryder Cup, each match is worth one point and in the doubles matches a half-point is awarded to each team in the event of a tie.

With 11 foursome doubles matches, 11 fourball doubles matches and 12 singles matches a total of 34 points is on offer. Therefore, to win the Presidents Cup a team must accrue a total of 17.5 points.

The event was created and is organised by the PGA Tour. At the inaugural Presidents Cup former US President Gerald Ford was the honourary chairman, and the likes of Presidents George Bush Snr and Jnr, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, President Bill Clinton and President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, have all since taken this role.

There is no prize money on offer in the Presidents Cup. The proceeds are distributed to charities nominated by the team members.