The most underrated part of the Presidents Cup is how each side unveils its pairings.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the leadership teams from the U.S. and International delegations gather side-by-side in the media center and hold a snake-draft to determine the order of play.
The away team selects whether to go first or defer to the home team. So, American captain Jim Furyk opted to have International captain Mike Weir pick first on Wednesday.
Weir then selected Australian Jason Day and South Korean Byeong Hun An to go out first on Thursday. Furyk then picked Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau to face that duo in the first match.
Immediately thereafter, Furyk put forth another tandem for the second match, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala. Weir and his assistant captains then took a few seconds and ultimately selected the all-Aussie duo of Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee to play against Morikawa and Theegala.
The two sides then went back and forth until the competition had all five matches filled out. This process will be repeated after each session throughout the Presidents Cup.
Thursday’s Fourball matches follow below:
Match 1: Jason Day and Byeong Hun An (International) versus Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau (USA)
Match 2: Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee (International) versus Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala (USA)
Match 3: Sungjae Im and Tom Kim (International) versus Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley (USA)
Match 4: Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (International) versus Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley (USA)
Match 5: Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners (International) versus Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns (USA)
Sitting Out: Mackenzie Hughes and Si Woo Kim (International); Brian Harman and Max Homa (USA)
The Internationals have fared much better in the Fourball format than Foursomes. At the 2007 Presidents Cup, the last time Royal Montreal hosted this competition, the Internationals won seven of the 11 Fourball matches but wound up losing 19.5 to 14.5 overall. They also dominated this format in 2019 at Royal Melbourne in Australia, the last time the International side hosted this event. The Internationals took 6.5 out of a possible nine points in Fourballs, as they almost won the Cup for the first time since 1998 in the land down under.
Hence, Weir decided to open the 2024 Presidents Cup with Fourball matches, knowing that his team has had great success with this format while on home soil. The Internationals will begin the competition as significant underdogs against the Americans, so they know that a good start is imperative if they want to pull off the upset.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
