Obama accepts invitation to be honorary chairman

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President Barack Obama invited Tiger Woods to the White House in April and will get to know him better as Honorary Chairman of The Presidents Cup.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, has accepted an invitation to be Honorary Chairman of The Presidents Cup when the competition is played for the first time on the West Coast, at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 6-11, 2009.

"We are honored that President Obama has accepted our invitation to be Honorary Chairman of The Presidents Cup in October," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. "As the eighth head of state to serve in this role, President Obama continues a long-tradition of support and leadership dating back to the first Presidents Cup in 1994. His involvement will not only further enhance the stature of The Presidents Cup, but also that of golf on a global basis."

President Obama joins a distinguished group of seven other world leaders who have held the position of Honorary Chairman at The Presidents Cup. He is preceded by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was Honorary Chairman of the 2007 event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

President Gerald Ford was the Honorary Chairman at the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994 and was followed by President George H.W. Bush in 1996. Australian Prime Minister John Howard was Honorary Chairman in 1998 when the event was held in Melbourne, Australia, and was followed by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa, was Honorary Chairman in 2003 when The Presidents Cup was staged in Western Cape Province, South Africa. President George W. Bush was the most recent U.S. President to serve as Honorary Chairman, holding that position the last time the event was staged on U.S. soil, in 2005.

The Presidents Cup, a team match play competition featuring 24 of the world's top golfers -- 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe -- is held every two years, and since 1996 has alternated between United States and international venues. The Presidents Cup was developed to give the world's best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition. The U.S. Team has won five of the seven previous Presidents Cups, and the only outright win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.

More than $4.2 million was distributed to charitable causes from the 2007 Presidents Cup, a record for this prestigious competition and part of the nearly $18 million raised since the inception of the event. Players are not personally paid for their participation in the event; there is no purse or prize money. Each competitor, instead, designates charities or golf-related projects of his choice to receive a portion of the funds raised through the staging of each Presidents Cup.