# 1996 Presidents Cup

The 2nd Presidents Cup was held between September 13 and 15, 1996. It was played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, USA. The United States team won the competition by a margin of 161⁄2–151⁄2, the narrowest margin of victory (later tied by the 2015 Presidents Cup's 151⁄2–141⁄2) in Presidents Cup history. The honorary chairman was former President of the United States George H. W. Bush.

## Format

Both teams had 12 players plus a non-playing captain. On the first and second day four-ball was played in the morning and foursomes were played in the afternoon. On the third day only singles were played.

## Teams

United States team :
| Player | Age | Points rank | OWGR | Previous appearances | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Arnold Palmer | 67 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Phil Mickelson | 26 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2–1–2 | 60.00 |
| Mark O'Meara | 39 | 2 | 10 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Tom Lehman | 37 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 50.00 |
| Mark Brooks | 35 | 4 | 23 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Davis Love III | 32 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 4–0–1 | 90.00 |
| Corey Pavin | 36 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 50.00 |
| Scott Hoch | 40 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 2–1–1 | 62.50 |
| Steve Stricker | 29 | 8 | 19 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Fred Couples | 36 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3–0–0 | 100.00 |
| Justin Leonard | 24 | 10 | 28 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| David Duval | 24 | 11 | 17 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Kenny Perry | 36 | 12 | 26 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
International team :
| Player | Country | Age | Points rank | OWGR | Previous appearances | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Peter Thomson | Australia | 67 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Ian Baker-Finch | Australia | 35 | Non-playing assistant captain | Non-playing assistant captain | Non-playing assistant captain | Non-playing assistant captain | Non-playing assistant captain | Non-playing assistant captain |
| Greg Norman | Australia | 41 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Ernie Els | South Africa | 26 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki | Japan | 49 | 3 | 6 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Nick Price | Zimbabwe | 39 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 0–2–2 | 25.00 |
| Steve Elkington | Australia | 33 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 50.00 |
| Vijay Singh | Fiji | 33 | 6 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 3–1–1 | 70.00 |
| Frank Nobilo | New Zealand | 36 | 7 | 29 | 1 | 5 | 1–3–1 | 30.00 |
| Mark McNulty | Zimbabwe | 42 | 8 | 34 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 |
| Craig Parry | Australia | 30 | 9 | 32 | 1 | 5 | 2–3–0 | 40.00 |
| David Frost | South Africa | 37 | 10 | 41 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 |
| Robert Allenby | Australia | 25 | 11 | 37 | 1 | 5 | 1–4–0 | 20.00 |
| Peter Senior | Australia | 37 | 13 | 61 | 1 | 3 | 2–1–0 | 66.67 |
* OWGR as of September 8, 1996, the last ranking before the Cup

## Friday's matches
### Morning four-ball

| International | Results | United States |
| Norman/Allenby | 2 & 1 | Couples/Love |
| Els/McNulty | 2 up | Hoch/Brooks |
| Singh/Ozaki | 2 & 1 | Mickelson/Pavin |
| Elkington/Nobilo | 3 & 2 | O'Meara/Duval |
| Price/Senior | 4 & 2 | Lehman/Stricker |
| 1 | Four-Ball | 4 |
| 1 | Overall | 4 |

### Afternoon foursomes

| International | Results | United States |
| Price/Frost | 3 & 2 | Perry/Leonard |
| Nobilo/Parry | 2 & 1 | O'Meara/Duval |
| Elkington/Singh | 2 up | Lehman/Stricker |
| Els/McNulty | halved | Mickelson/Pavin |
| Norman/Allenby | 1 up | Couples/Love |
| 11⁄2 | Foursomes | 31⁄2 |
| 21⁄2 | Overall | 71⁄2 |

## Saturday's matches
### Morning four-ball

| International | Results | United States |
| Price/Elkington | 2 up | Leonard/Lehman |
| Norman/Allenby | 1 up | Stricker/Pavin |
| Parry/Nobilo | 2 & 1 | Perry/Hoch |
| Ozaki/Singh | 2 & 1 | Love/Couples |
| Els/McNulty | 4 & 3 | O'Meara/Duval |
| 3 | Four-Ball | 2 |
| 51⁄2 | Overall | 91⁄2 |

### Afternoon foursomes

| International | Results | United States |
| Senior/Frost | 3 & 2 | Pavin/Mickelson |
| Nobilo/Allenby | 3 & 2 | Love/Brooks |
| Price/McNulty | 3 & 1 | Perry/Leonard |
| Norman/Els | 1 up | Lehman/Stricker |
| Elkington/Singh | 1 up | O'Meara/Hoch |
| 4 | Foursomes | 1 |
| 91⁄2 | Overall | 101⁄2 |

## Sunday's matches
### Singles

| International | Results | United States |
| Parry | 5 & 4 | Brooks |
| Senior | 3 & 2 | Duval |
| Price | 1 up | O'Meara |
| Frost | 7 & 6 | Perry |
| Allenby | 6 & 5 | Stricker |
| McNulty | 1 up | Hoch |
| Ozaki | 5 & 4 | Love |
| Elkington | 1 up | Leonard |
| Els | 3 & 2 | Mickelson |
| Norman | 3 & 1 | Pavin |
| Nobilo | 3 & 2 | Lehman |
| Singh | 2 & 1 | Couples |
| 6 | Singles | 6 |
| 151⁄2 | Overall | 161⁄2 |

## Individual player records

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

### United States

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Mark Brooks | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Fred Couples | 3 | 3–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| David Duval | 4 | 4–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Scott Hoch | 3 | 3–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Tom Lehman | 1 | 1–4–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Justin Leonard | 1 | 1–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Davis Love III | 3 | 3–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Phil Mickelson | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–1 | 1–0–0 |
| Mark O'Meara | 5 | 5–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Corey Pavin | 1.5 | 1–3–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Kenny Perry | 2 | 2–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Steve Stricker | 2 | 2–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 |

### International

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Robert Allenby | 2 | 2–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Steve Elkington | 3 | 3–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Ernie Els | 3.5 | 3–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| David Frost | 2 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Mark McNulty | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Frank Nobilo | 2 | 2–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Greg Norman | 3 | 3–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Masashi Ozaki | 1 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Craig Parry | 1 | 1–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Nick Price | 2 | 2–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Peter Senior | 1 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Vijay Singh | 2 | 2–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |