Presidents Cup week gives the International team its biggest platform in two years. Captain Geoff Ogilvy is using it to raise a structural issue. He wants more separation between his side and the American team, both of which the PGA Tour owns and operates. The push comes as the International team chases only its second win in the event’s 32-year history and as the sport’s landscape keeps shifting around the team.

In an interview with Front Office Sports published Monday, Ogilvy made the case for more independence from the PGA Tour, stating, “I’m not very well-schooled in corporate structure, but it would be advantageous to the event, I think, to get a little bit more separation between the two teams.”

While it may sound like a sudden call for change, the request for independence is about governance, not a breakup. According to Front Office Sports, the PGA Tour has owned and operated the Presidents Cup since it launched in 1994, and it also runs both teams. That includes selecting captains and host sites, funding, marketing, and ticket sales for each side. Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion who assisted the previous four International teams, also says there are clear challenges when both sides operate out of the same building.

The idea of independence does not exist in a vacuum. For comparison’s sake, the Ryder Cup, which the Presidents Cup was modeled on, works differently. The PGA of America operates the U.S. side, while Ryder Cup Europe, with the European Tour Group as the managing partner, runs the European team. The results differ too. The U.S. leads the Presidents Cup 13-1-1 all time, while Europe won on the road at Bethpage Black last September and leads the Ryder Cup 13-9-1 since 1979.

The PGA Tour has not dismissed the idea. Front Office Sports reports that many potential changes are being considered. Selling any part of the event to an international tour or federation, however, remains out of scope. Both teams get identical financial resources for general operations but have separate support groups inside the tour, the report adds. Chief Commercial Officer Dhruv Prasad said partnering with other international tours and events also remains an option, and that the International side should feel as if it has the right players and leadership directing its future.

The discussion is not new. The push traces back to Ernie Els’s captaincy in 2019, when the Internationals introduced the Shield. They did so to separate themselves from the PGA Tour. The team has also sought its own qualification system and received concessions that include six captain’s picks, though other changes, such as reducing the number of matches, have come slowly and grudgingly. According to a 2024 Sports Illustrated report, Els said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan backed the changes, and Trevor Immelman said Els was willing to put in the extra time to take control of the team.

One reason for the request is that, unlike Europe, which has the DP World Tour behind its Ryder Cup side, the Internationals have no tour of their own. Naturally, their players also fall under the PGA Tour’s banner. The impact is clearly visible once LIV is factored in.

LIV’s 2022 launch cost the Internationals qualifiers Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann, plus potential captain’s pick Marc Leishman, and the tour has made LIV players ineligible for the event. The Ryder Cup, however, did not ban them. Ogilvy told Front Office Sports that the fallout was a shame, but everybody knew what they were signing up for. He added that having access to those players would be nice, but that the current group has bonded and new additions could disrupt that. With LIV now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, he hopes the landscape eventually realigns so the Internationals can regain access to every player.

For now, the matches are set to run Thursday through Sunday. Brandt Snedeker’s Americans arrive as the defending champions. How the story progresses after Sunday remains to be seen.