Presidents Cup: From the beer industry to the organization of a global sporting event

When the Presidents Cup came to Montreal in 2007, Ryan Hart was working in the beer industry on the Canadian plains. Little did he know that 17 years later he would be at the helm of the world’s biggest PGA Tour event, on his home turf, and then bowing out.

“It’s an equation of experiences and opportunities that led me to take on the position of general director of the tournament for the Montreal edition,” said the 48-year-old in an interview with The Journal, at the Royal Montreal, in the weeks leading up to the prestigious tournament.

“My first contact with golf was when I sponsored an event on the PGA Tour of Canada,” he continues. “I had always been a big amateur, but I definitely wasn’t good enough to walk around with a club inside the ropes.”

Active with Toews

In the mid-2000s, Hart was a regional sales manager for Sleeman Brewery, where he worked for nearly 10 years. He then got involved in a golf tournament for Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews’ charity in the Winnipeg area.

And he got the bug for the world of the little white ball. As president of a marketing company, he landed the contract to host the Canadian PGA Tour tournament in his native Winnipeg. He transformed it into a real success and a must-see on the summer calendar until 2017.

That’s when the bigwigs of the American circuit brought him to their side in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and trained him for 18 months to take the reins of the PGA Tour’s Players Championship, the Players at TPC Sawgrass.

Huge pride

He was the director of what is nicknamed “the fifth major” during the 2018 to 2020 editions, until he was offered the organization of the Presidents Cup in Montreal.

“The Canadian pride in me and the joy made it so that I didn’t take long to accept this colossal challenge. The 2007 edition in Montreal is seen as one of the best, if not the best, in the history of this event,” recalls the man who also worked in support of the 2017 editions of the tournament in New Jersey and in 2022, in Charlotte.

“I’ve been offered other positions throughout my career, but I couldn’t believe at the time that I had landed this one so quickly,” he added proudly. “This is the biggest PGA Tour event on the world stage. It’s a celebration of our sport where honour and good sportsmanship reign supreme.”

“It’s definitely the pinnacle of my career.”

Ultimate experience

For the past two years, Montreal has become his second home when he is not with his family or at major sporting events in North America. He has overcome countless challenges, particularly logistical ones, which he prefers to see as opportunities.

He wants fans and spectators to have a unique experience when they pass through the turnstiles of the Royal Montreal, a course that has stood the test of time and has been able to transform itself to adapt to the event realities of 2024. For the city and the province, he believes that this is a golden opportunity to shine on the planet.

As Hart has been saying for nearly four years, the Presidents Cup is a very different beast than it was eight and 14 years ago. Fans will get a real treat this week.

And once the curtain falls on this edition, Hart will hang up his hat as a master builder of major professional tournaments in style on his home turf in Canada. Another job would await him at the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.