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Yes!
Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated
It's time to merge the low-profile Presidents Cup and the high-profile Ryder Cup into one big event. The idea is simple. The winner of the Presidents Cup advances to the following year's Ryder Cup and plays the defending Ryder Cup champion. The loser of the Ryder Cup plays in the following year's Presidents Cup against the loser of the previous Presidents Cup. Yes, it's a dramatic change but we're the same country that killed Southwest Conference football. We'll get over this, too.Under this format, the Americans would've had to win the 1998 Presidents Cup -- which we know they didn't -- in order to play Europe at the '99 Ryder Cup. If the Americans lost, Europe would've played the International team. If the Internationals won the '99 Ryder Cup, too, then Europe and the U.S. would've played in the 2000 Presidents Cup. The rotation effect means any given team could be shut out of the Ryder Cup for an indefinite number of years, making the Presidents Cup that much bigger.The first time the Internationals play in the Ryder Cup, that event becomes even that much bigger. Ryder Cup fever will grip Australia, Japan, South Africa, Paraguay, Canada and other countries who have been excluded in the past.It's a win-win situation. The Presidents Cup is a nice little event that's fun to watch, but it carries no weight. With a berth in the Ryder Cup on the line, the Presidents Cup becomes a very big deal.
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No!
By John L. Byrwa, CNNSI.com
Merge the Presidents Cup with the Ryder Cup in some silly qualifying cooperative? Is this a joke? The PGA Tour would certainly think so. There are so many reasons why that would be a preposterous proposition, space precludes me from listing them all. But here are a few points to chew on: First and foremost, the Tour would never -- I mean never -- agree to share the plump Ryder Cup cash pie with the Presidents Cup. And forget the notion that bigger is better. Bigger means more fingers in the pie. And how about a Ryder Cup without Colin Montgomerie to kick around? It would happen if Europe were to lose the Ryder Cup one year, then the Presidents Cup the next. And what if the Ryder Cup were scheduled to be held at Medinah and the United States were not invited? Can you imagine if the U.S. were to be shut out of two straight Ryder Cups? The majority of apathetic Americans -- at least those who were swept into the game because of Tigermania -- would turn their backs on the event so fast, it would take decades to rebuild their interest. I won't event mention tradition and pomp and circumstance and all those other intangibles that make the Ryder Cup what it is -- the world's most intense grudge match between two teams that truly hate each other every two years. I can think of only one good reason to propose such a wacky idea -- if Tiger Woods was from Australia.
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