Golf often calls the Presidents Cup a “friendly” event. However, the International team may see it very differently.

Since the event began, three moments have left International players and fans especially frustrated. One involved a trophy being claimed before the event was over, another involved a rival accused of breaking the rules, and the third involved a disqualification that surprised one of the International team’s own players.

Here is a look at all three moments and why they are still remembered.

1. When Jack Nicklaus Tried to Keep the Cup Without Winning It at Presidents Cup

The 2003 edition at Fancourt in South Africa delivered one of the wildest finishes in Presidents Cup history. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els were sent out in a sudden-death playoff after the teams finished tied 17-17, and the two staggered through three extra holes as the light faded. As the players’ schedules and television demands made resuming the next day impossible, International captain Gary Player phoned PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and proposed calling the contest a draw.

That’s where it got ugly. Jack Nicklaus took the phone from Player and told Finchem that in the event of a draw, the US would keep the trophy they had won in 2000. At 67, Player wasn’t about to let that slide. He came out fighting, and both teams huddled up, with Els now pushing to keep playing in the dying light.

Eventually, cooler heads won out, and the cup was shared, the first and only time that’s happened. But the moment revealed just how personal this “friendly” competition had become. Nick Price, of all people, snapped his putter over his knee after missing a putt to halve his match against Kenny Perry, an act so out of character it said everything about what was simmering beneath the surface.

2. Patrick Reed’s Bunker Incident Follows Him to Royal Melbourne

Fast forward to 2019, and the International team had a new grievance walking through the door: Patrick Reed. Weeks before the matches at Royal Melbourne, Reed had been hit with a two-shot penalty at the Hero World Challenge for improving his lie in a bunker, and his explanation, that the camera angle made it look worse than it was, didn’t sit well with his upcoming opponents.

Cameron Smith didn’t hold back when asked if Australian fans should let Reed hear it. “I hope so,” Smith said, according to a Golf Digest report in 2019. “I don’t have any sympathy for anyone that cheats. I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him, but everyone [on the American team] next week.” He went further on Reed’s defense of the incident, calling it “pretty up there” on the list of bad excuses.

Marc Leishman added fuel, suggesting Reed had handed the home crowd “ammo” without anyone needing to manufacture it. Team USA captain Tiger Woods brushed off the noise, saying Reed would simply “get ready to play” like he always did. Reed went on to tie for third at the Hero, but the bunker controversy followed him across the Pacific anyway.

3. Anirban Lahiri’s Nightmare Third Hole

Not every International team controversy was USA-driven. In 2017, Anirban Lahiri walked into one of the sport’s stranger rules mishaps. After conceding the second hole, he took a casual practice bunker shot, unaware the hole was already finished and such shots weren’t allowed outside of putting.

The infraction wasn’t flagged until after his tee shot on the third, at which point Lahiri was disqualified from that hole entirely. Partner Charl Schwartzel salvaged a halve, but the Americans still built an early lead. Lahiri wasn’t even the first to fall into that trap; Phil Mickelson had suffered a similar fate in South Korea two years earlier under the one-ball rule.

None of these incidents changed the final result of that year’s Presidents Cup. But each one showed the same thing: even though the event is meant to be a friendly competition, it can get very serious. For the International team, these moments are more than just small incidents. They show how much the Presidents Cup means to the players.