Medinah (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns will lead off for the United States against the Internationals in Thursday’s five opening four-ball matches of the 16th Presidents Cup after Wednesday’s pairings draw. Four-time major winner Scheffler, the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff winner, and Burns, the US Open runner-up, will tee off against South Korean Im Sung-jae and Australian Min Woo Lee in the opener at Medinah.
United States captain Brandt Snedeker and Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy of Australia alternated picks in setting the matchups for the first day at the suburban Chicago layout. “We’re excited about all these matchups,” Snedeker said. The Americans own a 13-1-1 edge in the all-time rivalry, having won 10 in a row since a 2003 draw. Their only loss came in 1998 in Australia. “Everyone comes into these tournaments with optimism,” said Ogilvy. “We’ve been thinking about this for a long time so we’re excited to get going.”
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Thursday’s first four-ball match tees off at 11:35 am (1635 GMT) with the second match pitting Americans Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele against Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and rookie Ryo Hisatsune. Match three has Americans Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun, a 21-year-old rookie, facing Canada’s Corey Conners and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria. “Jackson being a young kid, I feel like he has found his way on our team really quickly. He has handled the adjustment really well,” Snedeker said. “Justin is just a natural pairing with him. He’s somebody he is comfortable with. I think he’ll do a good job putting his arm around him and show him how USA golf is meant to be played.”
The penultimate match pits Americans Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa against New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Australian Adam Scott. The fifth and final four-ball match sends South Koreans Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo against Americans Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay. Teams need 15.5 of the 30 points on offer to capture the trophy, with the Cup shared in the event of a 15-15 deadlock. Thursday features five four-ball (best-ball) matches while Friday offers five foursomes (alternate shot) matches. Saturday has four four-ball and four foursomes matches ahead of Sunday’s 12 concluding singles matches.
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