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Editor's note: This article is reprinted courtesy of Boston Hannah.

Golf is a game deeply rooted in both history and traditions, and The Presidents Cup has been nothing if not true to the lessons of both.

Ernie Els got some relief in 2003. (WireImage)

To get a sense for the true measure of this, one need to look back no further than the 2003 Presidents Cup, played at the Links Course at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate in South Africa. While the story of the resulting dramatic tie is well known, the spirit of sportsmanship that pervades the competition is not only worth noting, but symbolizes the essence of The Presidents Cup. Indeed, any look back on the highlights of The Presidents Cup must begin here.

With the matches tied at the end of regulation play, Tiger Woods and South Africa's Ernie Els set out in a head-to-head, sudden-death playoff. With darkness enveloping the course and every member of their respective teams looking on, the two halved the first two holes. On the third hole, Woods ran in his 15-foot par putt, leaving Els to deal with the crushing pressure of making a difficult 8-footer to keep the playoff alive.

Bobby Jones famously said that there is no courage in golf, because there is no physical danger involved in the game. That may well be true -- and no one would know better than Jones -- but if, in making his putt, Els didn't show courage, he certainly showed the next best thing.

What happened next is almost unthinkable in the context of the world of sports as we know it today. Long-time friends and rivals Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player -- the respective team captains -- agreed to a tie, with the stipulation that instead of the United States, the defending cup holder, retaining the cup, it would be shared by both teams.

"From day one, Gary and I said it's not about who wins and loses," said Nicklaus. "Goodness gracious, both Gary and I wanted to win and so did all our players. But the game is bigger than that."

Months later, at his Memorial Tournament, Nicklaus put an exclamation point on his feelings about the supremacy of sportsmanship during a press conference with Els.

"There wasn't anybody in the world who wanted to see you miss that putt in the playoff," Nicklaus said. "No one on our team and no one in the world of sports."

"Are you serious in saying that?" said Els.

"I'm dead serious," said Nicklaus. "There was not a soul in our game or anybody that wanted you to miss it."

"That's much appreciated," said Els.

PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem later commented on the decision to institutionalize the Nicklaus-Player agreement as part of the Conditions of Play in The Presidents Cup. From that point on, in the event of a tie, the teams will share possession of the cup.

"Fifty years from now, I think it will be good for people to look back and wonder how this came about," Finchem said. "People will look back on Fancourt as a beginning of this part of The Presidents Cup tradition. It's a great piece of its history."

That history dates back to 1994, making The Presidents Cup a competition that is mature beyond its years.

The first Presidents Cup was played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin captained the United States team and David Graham of

Australia, a former winner of the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, headed the Internationals. Former President Gerald R. Ford was the honorary chairman and as a passionate golfer, he loved every second of his role, setting an example for the heads of state or former heads of state that followed -- another Presidents Cup tradition.

The Americans ran away with the inaugural Presidents Cup taking a 12-8 lead into the final day's Singles and cruising to a 20-12 victory. The King of Cruise Control, Fred Couples, clinched the cup for the home team with a 9-iron approach to the 18th green that came to rest two feet from the hole, giving Couples a 1-up victory over an equally popular player, Zimbabwe's Nick Price.

But in 1996, when the event returned to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with Arnold Palmer captaining the Yanks and Australia's five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson heading the International Team, it would be a far different affair.

The Americans took a one-point lead into Sunday's play, but the Internationals had rallied in the single matches to tie the score. It was the stuff of high drama as Couples came to the 17th hole 1-up in his match with Vijay Singh of Fiji. Theirs was the last match on the course and both players faced birdie putts.

A large part of Couples' considerable appeal is his ability to face a pressure-packed situation and handle it as though he was just rolling out of bed and strolling down the driveway to pick up the morning paper. He calmly sank his 30-footer and Palmer, his teammates and the large gallery pressing near the green went wild. It would take a cold-hearted person, indeed, not to feel empathy for Singh, who faced a 15-footer to tie and extend the match.

"I had birdied No.16 and felt the momentum was going my way," said Singh. "When I studied my putt on 7, I saw a huge spike mark in my line. I asked an official if it qualified as 'unusual damage.' He decided it was only an 'unusual spike mark.' When Fred made his putt, it just took the wind right out of me. I really tried to make the putt but it was nerve-wracking because so much was riding on it."

In typical Couples fashion, if he was even the least bit impressed by what he had done, it was hard to tell. "To have a putt to win everything and make it, that was pretty special," said Couples.

The Internationals would finally get their due in 1998, when the competition was played at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, the Dr. Alister Mackenzie masterpiece that is universally regarded as one of the world's great courses. Thomson, Australia's supreme champion, again captained the International Team, while Jack Nicklaus headed the United States Team.

It was over almost as soon as it started. The International Team stunned the Americans by taking a 7-3 lead after the first day and routed the Americans 20½ -11½. It may have been a shock to the collective consciousness of American golf fans, but it marked a crucial turning point in the balance of power in golf and in The Presidents Cup. The International's hero was Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who was previously largely unknown outside Asian golf circles but went 5-0 against the Americans. Just as important, he impressed thousands of fans with his grace, charm, and easy smile and has gone on to become one of the TOUR's most popular players.

"Our victory was enormous for Australian golf," said Thomson. "We came to believe it was possible for us to beat an American team on American soil. With our victory at Royal Melbourne, we were confident going into the 2000 match."

If you want to look for heroes in the 2000 matches at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, you could do worse than point to the captains -- 1964 U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi, and Thomson, who was again the International captain. Both staunch traditionalists, they deeply believed that the 1991 Ryder Cup Matches at Kiawah Island, SC -- the so-called "War by the Shore" -- and the controversial conclusion of the 1999 Ryder Cup Matches at The Country Club had purpled the spirit of the game. While both were deeply competitive, their shared respect for golf's traditional values guided their approach to The Presidents Cup.

"I believed things like pumping your fists and showing up your opponent -- were wrong," said Venturi. "I learned from people like Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, and that wasn't the way they played. They played with dignity and I thought we were losing that. I thought we might help restore that at The Presidents Cup."

The terrorist bombing attack against the U.S.S. Cole shortly before the start of the competition -- a deadly precursor to the events of September 11th -- heightened the sense of international good will. Both teams gracefully honored the victims of the attack, as well as those serving America around the globe.

As for the competition itself, the United States team took a comfortable 14-6 lead going into the final day's Singles play. In the end, the match that got most of the attention was the duel between Woods and Singh, who had won the Masters earlier in the year, while Woods swept the other three major championships en route to one of the greatest years in golf history.

In what must go down as one of the most dubious decisions in recent memory, Singh's caddie, Paul Tesori, wore a cap with "Tiger Who?" stitched into the back.

To absolutely no one's surprise, Tiger Woods answered the "Tiger Who?" question in resounding fashion.

The players were cordial -- which is a diplomatic way of saying they let their clubs, and not their words, do the talking. No quarter was either asked or given and Woods nicked Singh 2 and 1 while the United States regained the Cup, 21½-10½.

All of this set the stage for the 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa. By the time it was played, everyone expected it would be a close-fought match and that sportsmanship would again be paramount.

And it was just that.

The 2005 competition was similarly contested in good will and good golf. Nicklaus and Player returned as captains as The Presidents Cup was staged at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for the fourth time.

A single point, each time in the Internationals favor, separated the teams at the end of the first two days of competition. The Americans rallied to tie the match at 11 heading into Sunday's Singles competition.

Chris DiMarco, the consummate match play performer, clinched the Cup for the United States when he made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that day. The win, which gave him a 4-0-1 record, anchored the Americans 18 ½ to 15 ½ victory. DiMarco's teammates, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson also were undefeated with 3-0-2 records while Retief Goosen went 4-0-1 for the Internationals.

The seventh Presidents Cup will be contested at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada in September. Who will be this year's hero?