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The Presidents Cup during the Captains Visit for 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club. Photo: Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty
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The eyes of the golf world will turn toward Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club this month.
Why it matters: Charlotte is more than banks and beer. This is golf country, and it’s about to become the first place in the Southeast to host the Presidents Cup.
Details: Thousands will flock to Quail Hollow Club in south Charlotte Sept.19-25 for a golf tournament unlike anything the city has seen, with nods to Charlotte neighborhoods like NoDa and South End behind certain holes.
- President Joe Biden will be the honorary chairman, joining several other presidents who have held the role dating back to former president Gerald Ford in 1994.
- Construction rerouting the original course is underway and expected to take 25 weeks to complete, as Axios’ Symphony Webber reported. Around 75% of the project is complete as of Aug. 22.
Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Rendering courtesy of Luquire
Plus you’ll find 10 local food vendors at the tournament, as Axios’ Laura Barrero reported, including:
- Two Scoops – A Plaza Midwood ice cream staple with a secret family recipe.
- What the Fries – A food truck turned brick-and-mortar in south Charlotte restaurant with popular loaded fries.
- Ace No. 3 – A burger favorite in Charlotte that started in the city’s Belmont neighborhood.
What the Fries. Photo: Emma Way/Axios
Tickets: They won’t be cheap for this event, but they are still available, starting at $60 for the early part of the week and $185 on Sunday.
Keep in mind, if you’re traveling from out of town or know people who are, Airbnb prices will increase during the Presidents Cup, as Axios’ Alexis Clinton reported, some by thousands of dollars.
Parking: There will be six lots available for the Presidents Cup, ranging from free to $40 (plus taxes and fees). Each lot requires prior purchase or a reservation to ensure a parking spot. Shuttles will take you to and from the lot to Quail Hollow Club’s main entrance. Parking is on sale now.
- Purple Lot: Park at Bojangles Coliseum for free Tuesday through Sunday. It’s a 30-minute shuttle ride to the Presidents Cup.
- Black Lot: This Carowinds lot will be available Wednesday through Friday for $15 per day. Expect a 30-minute shuttle ride.
- Green Lot: Located at Ballantyne Corporate Place, this lot will be open Saturday and Sunday for $15 per day. It’s a 20-minute ride to Quail Hollow Club.
- Grey Lot: Park at SouthPark mall Tuesday through Sunday for $40 per day. The shuttle takes 10 minutes to get to Quail Hollow Club.
- Red Lot: Hedgemore Plaza will offer parking Tuesday through Sunday for $40 per day. The option also takes 10 minutes to get to Quail Hollow Club.
- White Lot: Charlotte Catholic High School’s lot will be available Friday through Sunday for $40 per day. It’s a 10-minute ride to the event.
Of note:You can also take public transportation or use a rideshare to get to and from Quail Hollow Club.
What hardcore golf fans will notice: Quail Hollow’s famed Green Mile — holes 16, 17 and 18 — are renowned as one of the toughest three-hole finishing stretches in all of golf. But the course management team is rerouting those holes to be 13, 14 and 15.
- Public transportation options include taking the complimentary shuttle for ticket holders from the Charlotte Convention Center to the Presidents Cup. You’ll board the shuttle at the Convention Center facing E. MLK Jr. Boulevard.
- Plus you can take the Light Rail to Sharon Road West Station and take shuttles from there to the event.
- Rideshare: The pick-up and drop-off lot will be on Gleneagles Road across from the main entrance to the Presidents Cup.
Of note: HBCU golf will kicked things off on Aug. 29 at Quail Hollow Club. Johnson C. Smith, served as the host university, along with five other programs will compete in the inaugural Charlie Sifford Centennial Cup.
- Why? But because the Presidents Cup involves match play — one player against another — and most match play duels end before the 18th hole. So this way, the players will still get to play the Green Mile. And what are traditionally holes 10, 11 and 9 will become the final three holes, if necessary.
The Presidents Cup is donating $25,000 to each HBCU program who competed in the inaugural event.
- Team James Black won the inaugural event, which was conducted in Presidents Cup style, meaning they competed as two teams.
- Team Charles Sifford included Alabama State, Florida A&M University and Livingstone College.
- Howard, Johnson C. Smith and Texas Southern competed for Team James Black.
Flashback: Sifford, a Charlotte native, was the first Black person to play on the PGA Tour, desegregating the sport in 1961. A Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Sifford died in 2015 at age 92.
- Plus, the PGA TOUR is donating $25,000 to the Dr. Charles L. Sifford Scholarship.
Johnson C. Smith University men’s golf team, from left to right: Myles Moore, George Chesna, William Watkins, Isaiah Trollinger. Photo courtesy of JCSU
Charlie Sifford Centennial Cup. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
What to expect on the course: The Presidents Cup is a biennial competition between teams — the U.S. vs. an International squad with players representing countries all over the world with the exception of Europe.
It’s similar to the Ryder Cup, which also runs every other year and pits the U.S. against Europe.
Driving the news: Players must compete for a spot on the U.S. or the International team by accumulating points through the PGA Tour season. Competition continued Father’s Day weekend at the U.S. Open in Massachusetts. Matt Fitzpatrick won.
- Plus, this year’s event is a homecoming for U.S. team captain and Charlotte native Davis Love III.
How it works: Qualifying ran through the BMW Championship, which ended on Aug. 21. Each team will have 12 players, and the U.S. team heads to Charlotte as the defending champs. On the teams so far:
The intrigue: The Saudi-backed LIV golf league caught the attention of the world as players followed their wallets, and on June 9, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan released a statement suspending LIV players from PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup.
- U.S. team: Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau. Love will select six additional players on Sept. 7.
- International team: Seven countries will be represented this month. Five of team captain Trevor Immelman’s six captain’s selections are first-time Presidents Cup participants. Captain’s selections include: South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Australia’s Cam Davis, Kim Si-woo (a 2017 Presidents Cup participant) and K.H. Lee from South Korea, Colombia’s Sebastian Muñoz and Taylor Pendrith from Canada.
- International players who qualified include: Cameron Smith and Adam Scott from Australia, Sungjae Im and Joohyung “Tom” Kim from South Korea, Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira from Chile, Hideki Matsuyama from Japan and Corey Conners from Canada.
- How they qualified: The top six U.S. PGA Tour members with the most FedExCup points from 2019 A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier through the 2022 BMW Championship. Players get more points for winning bigger events closer to the Presidents Cup — the winner of the 2022 U.S. Open, for instance, will receive 600 FedEx Cup points, and the Presidents Cup is multiplying all of this year’s points by three. (Last year’s points were multiplied by 1, and the 2019-2020 points were multiplied by 0.5.) [More info on how Presidents Cup points are earned here.]
- International team selections competed in at least 15 events.
Yes, but: Six of the 17 players suspended ranked in the top 125 in FedExCup points. Louis Oosthuizen was the only player in a qualifying spot, ranking fifth in the International standings as of June 9. And Phil Mickelson, always a popular draw at Quail Hollow, will likely be ineligible for the Presidents Cup, too. As will Dustin Johnson, a Myrtle Beach native.
By the numbers: The Presidents Cup doesn’t include prize money. Instead players allocate an equal portion of the money generated from the event to a charity of their choice, and they’ve raised $54.4 million total, including $5.3 million in 2019.
Zoom out: Charlotte traditionally hosts the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club each spring, with the exception of this year in preparation for the Presidents Cup. But Charlotte’s moment in the sun came in 2017 when it hosted the PGA Championship for the first time.
- The PGA Championship is set to return to Charlotte in 2025.
- All that’s left is for Charlotte to host the Ryder Cup.
Photo: Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Editor’s note: This guide was originally published on June 17. It was updated on Sept. 6, and will continue to be updated as the Presidents Cup approaches.
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The teams have been announced, so we can start picking. The tournament tees off Thursday the 22nd
President Cup Teams
2. Sheffler
3. Thomas
4. Scott
