Presidents Cup draws thousands of fans on Day 2

Hours before the first tee-off, fans were in their seats and ready for another day at the Presidents Cup.

"There were people in the stands 10 minutes after we open the gates," Ryan Hart, Presidents Cup Executive Director, said. "We were at that point, three hours away from tee shots."

For golf fans, warm weather and top-level competition is exactly what they were looking for.

"It's spectacular just to see how much Canadians love golf and there are so many Canadians on the international team now," Paul Robson, who attended Friday's matches, said.

The Presidents Cup brings a team atmosphere to an individual sport. The United States and international players go head-to-head.

"It's not often for golf you get these teams events so you come out to the course and instead of just cheering a good shot here and there, we're all rooting for a side," Mark Deighan, a fan on site, said. "It's a bit more like being at a hockey game or a baseball game."

The tournament has taken PGA officials years to prepare for the event.

"[We] really started coming here every other week, starting in the spring of 2021," Hart said. "Then we started our build Oct. 3 of last year."

The Presidents Cup was last held at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in 2007. It is not often a site hosts the tournament twice, but there are not many golf courses like Royal Montreal.

"It's straight up. The front nine, it's tough, it's in your face and then you get to the back nine and there's a lot of opportunity for those fun risk reward shots," Hart said. "The closing holes of 15, 16, 17, I mean they are drama waiting to happen."

The tournament is not only geared to golf fanatics. Hart says people should think of it as a "festival" for golf with plenty of entertainment off the fairways and greens.

"When people say, what is success? I think it's if you walk around on Sunday and ask 50 people who's winning and they don't know," Hart said. "Then we've done our job."