Schwartzel: Presidents Cup needs format change

• By Will Gray
• Oct 16, 2012 11:22 AM ET

Less than a month removed from one of the most historic comebacks in the history of the Ryder Cup, Charl Schwartzel thinks that its biennial counterpart needs a shake-up to remain similarly competitive.

"I think there's a few things that might have to be changed in the Presidents Cup to make it that special," Schwartzel said this week. "The Internationals need to start ... winning a little bit more."

Staged every two years opposite the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup pits the United States against an International team, excluding Europe. In the nine competitions since the event was first staged, the International team has managed just one victory (1998) and one tie (2003).

"There needs to be a format where the Internationals can be a bit stronger," explained the 2011 Masters champion, who made his Presidents Cup debut in a losing effort last year at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. "I think the American side, every time they play, their world ranking hardly ever goes past 20th, whereas the International No. 12 player sometimes is 60th in the world."

The 2013 Presidents Cup will be held at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, with Fred Couples and Nick Price serving as American and International team captains, respectively. Schwartzel hopes that moving forward, more balanced outcomes will help instill the event with some of the passion and emotion on display last month at Medinah.

"At this stage, the Americans have just won so many that it's just assumed," he noted. "There needs to be a way to make it more even. I think we need to have that sort of competition and it will make it very exciting."