A guide to the 2022 Presidents Cup in Charlotte

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. 20-25 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.

Plus you’ll find a dozen local food and beverage 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.

Tickets: They won’t be cheap for this event, but they are still available, starting at $60 for the early part of the week.

• Speaking of tickets, the Mint Museum is offering free admission to all Presidents Cup ticket holders through Sept. 25. 

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.

• Go deeper: Stay at one of these Airbnbs near Quail Hollow Club during the Presidents Cup

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.

• 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.

What to wear: Laura has you covered with plenty of local options for the course.

• Byrdie, a local brand founded by Charlotteans Rachelle Williams and Hayden Shoffner, is setting new fashion standards in the golf world. 

• 704 Shop has T-shirts for sale that’ll also be available at the tournament.
• Glory Days Apparel has polos and button-down golf shirts available on their website.

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 course management team rerouted those holes to be 13, 14 and 15.

• 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.

• Construction rerouting the original course left the first eight holes the same. Hole 12 becomes hole 9, with holes 12-18 playing as holes 9-15. Holes 10, 11 and 9 become 16-18, Adam Sperling, Presidents Cup executive director said on Charlotte Talks. 

Of note: HBCU golf 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.

• 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 and Livingstone College.
• Howard, Johnson C. Smith and Texas Southern competed for Team James Black.

The Presidents Cup donated $25,000 to each HBCU program who competed in the inaugural event.

Plus, the PGA TOUR donated $25,000 to the Dr. Charles L. Sifford Scholarship.

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.

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.

• Plus, this year’s event is a homecoming for U.S. team captain and Charlotte native Davis Love III.
• Players competed for a spot on the U.S. or the International team by accumulating points through the PGA Tour season.

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:

• U.S. team: Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau. Love selected six additional players: Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young.
• 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.

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.

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.

Editor’s note: This guide was originally published on June 17. It was updated on Sept. 20, and will continue to be updated.