MONTREAL — The first day of Presidents Cup pairings and matchups were announced Wednesday, with the U.S. balancing out its top players to spread the wealth across its five matches.
The historically strong pair of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are split up, as are world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and best friend Sam Burns, with captain Jim Furyk saying he wanted to balance the pairings and find the best fits.
Presidents Cup matchups and tee times
- 11:35 a.m. ET: Xander Schauffele (USA), Tony Finau (USA) vs. Jason Day (Australia), Byeong-Hun An (South Korea)
- 11:53 a.m. ET: Collin Morikawa (USA), Sahith Theegala (USA) vs. Adam Scott (Australia), Min Woo Lee (Australia)
- 12:11 p.m. ET: Scottie Scheffler (USA), Russell Henley (USA) vs. Sungjae Im (South Korea), Tom Kim (South Korea)
- 12:29 p.m. ET: Wyndham Clark (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA) vs. Taylor Pendrith (Canada), Cristiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
- 12:47 p.m. ET: Patrick Cantlay (USA), Sam Burns (USA) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Corey Conners (Canada)
Presidents Cup format
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup is spread across four days, with Thursday and Friday only having one slate of matches. Also unlike the Ryder Cup, there are five matches on Thursday and Friday with only two players sitting for each slate. Then Saturday is two sets of four matches in one day.
Thursday will open with the four-ball format, in which all four players in a match play their own ball and each team logs their best score. Friday is foursomes, in which each pair plays alternate shot with one ball.
History of the event
This is the 15th Presidents Cup in an event thoroughly dominated by the Americans. The U.S. has won 12 with the internationals taking just one, and there was one tie in 2003 as the solo playoff went so late into the dark both sides agreed to share the cup.
With that said, the Presidents Cup has actually been more competitive in recent years than the Ryder Cup, where the home team tends to win by six or more points. The last two Presidents Cups on foreign soil were decided by two points, giving hope for the international side desperate to end the streak.
The U.S. team celebrates with the trophy after winning the 2022 Presidents Cup. (Photo: Ben Jared / PGA Tour via Getty Images)
Immediate U.S. reaction
The U.S. is clearly focused on pairing their most accurate drivers with a more aggressive player, allowing balance between each group. For example, Morikawa is one of the most accurate drivers in the world but sacrifices some distance, while his partner Theegala can bomb it 7 percent further than the average but has struggled at times with control. Schauffele and Finau are quite similar.
That contrast between aggressive and conservative doesn’t limit itself to driving. Partners Scheffler and Henley are both among the 10 most accurate drivers in the world, but Henley doesn’t have a fraction of Scheffler’s distance. The value in pairing them might be that Henley — an unexciting but absurdly consistent player — can focus on finding greens in regulation and saving pars while Scheffler’s job will be hunting for pins and scoring points.
The most discussion will likely be on splitting Cantlay and Schauffele, but that duo’s massive success has actually been more about their alternate-shot foursomes play. Furyk said he liked the idea of spreading out their top-tier talents in four-ball, where Cantlay’s balanced, reliable game could go well with Burns’ ability to attack pins.
International thoughts
Interestingly, international captain Mike Weir seemed less focused on balancing certain types of drivers. From a distance, the read is that Weir was less focused on analytics than vibes.
“I think when you’re faced with tough decisions, you can look at analytics and you can look at a number of different things,” Weir said Tuesday, “but that’s part of being a captain, I believe, and a leader is that you have to trust your gut, trust your instincts on things.”
When describing the Scott and Lee pairing, he referenced their good relationship and how they get along more than anything about their actual fit. There are many debates about that balance between using the numbers versus your own opinions, and Weir is certainly using both. If anything, there seem to be several pairings based on combining strengths as opposed to complementing, such as Im and Kim as accurate drivers who have elite iron play or two longer players in Scott and Lee.
It also seems the internationals were always going to use their star Matsuyama as an anchor, saving their top player for last. It will be interesting to see if they keep that mentality throughout the week.
Match to watch
The final match seems the most competitive. Matsuyama is the key to a big international week, and Conners isn’t a huge name but an incredible fit here who could thrive at Royal Montreal.
Putting that duo against two of the U.S.’s six best players (according to DataGolf rankings) is fascinating. Plus, Cantlay is becoming famous for his cup performances and the intensity he brings. Can he and Burns — looking to redeem himself from a frustrating last two cups — win arguably the most important point of the slate?
Required reading
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
