Pairing announcements is one of the most intriguing parts of golf's team competitions. It provides insights into how each captain feels about their players and how they think their team is best suited to win coveted points.
Wednesday's announcements provided exactly that. Mike Weir and Jim Furyk revealed their cards after months of planning to create five opening matches for the 2024 Presidents Cup.
Let's dive in.
Jason Day-Byeong-Hun An vs. Xander Schauffele-Tony Finau
Weir threw out Day and An first in what seems like a strange opening tandem. The Canadian crowd will be eager to see the first tee ball hit, but failing to include a Canadian in the first group removes a potentially electrifying moment.
What makes this opening match worse for the Internationals is the fact that Day and An will be up against Schauffele and Finau. Schauffele, arguably the world's best player at the moment, is ranked fourth in birdie-or-better percentage this season on the PGA TOUR, while Finau makes a boatload of birdies.
Making birdies is extremely important in a four-ball session, giving the edge to the Americans in the day's opening match.
Adam Scott-Min Woo Lee vs. Collin Morikawa-Sahith Theegala
Furyk opted for Morikawa and Theegala to go out second for his American side, while Weir answered with the Australian duo of Scott and Lee.
The American pair features two players with widely different styles of play. It's rare to see Morikawa playing from the rough, and it's also rare to see Theegala hitting approach shots from anything other than the rough. The beauty of four balls is that contrasting styles can work very well. Morikawa's steady presence may free up Theegala - a rookie in team competitions - and allow him to play his game without much pressure.
This may be the most fascinating matchup since the International pairing of Scott and Lee also features two contrasting playing styles. Scott will be unfazed by the moment in his 11th Presidents Cup, whereas Lee might be a little sporadic out of the gates as an excitable rookie.
This could go either direction, which would likely please Weir considering Morikawa should be a big favorite in any match he's partaking in.
Tom Kim-Sungjae Im vs. Scottie Scheffler-Russell Henley
This battle has to be the marquee match of the day. It features World No. 1 Scheffler and a pair of Koreans who the Internationals need to perform to have any hope of winning.
Scheffler was held winless in the last Presidents Cup, but he's a far different player than he was two years ago. Pairing him with the steady, accurate Henley makes sense, but they seem like a better foursome (alternate shot) pairing than four-ball. Perhaps Furyk will run this duo out in all four team sessions.
After witnessing Kim and Im interact with each other during two days of practice rounds, this will be an extremely comfortable pairing for both players. Both Koreans also finished the 2023-24 season playing great golf.
Although the betting odds may not reflect it, this match feels closer to a coin flip than Furyk would've liked considering it features his biggest weapon - Scheffler.
Taylor Pendrith-Christiaan Bezuidenhout vs. Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark
Weir buried his first Canadian of the day in the fourth match. There's likely a reason for it, but it's still bizarre given the event's location.
This may be a surprise, but Pendrith and Bezuidenhout pose a problem for the Americans. They possess very different games off the tee - Pendrith is a power player and Bezuidenhout relies more on accuracy - but they can both putt the ball extremely well, which can be very frustrating for the opposing side.
Bradley and Clark are another American pair with differing playing styles. Bradley is much more accuracy-based, whereas Clark takes more of a bomb-and-gouge approach, a mixture that Furyk seemed to rely on for his Day 1 pairings.
Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners vs. Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns
It may be a bit shocking not seeing Cantlay and Schauffele paired together in a team event, but the duo that's historically dominated in multiple team events didn't play together in last year's Ryder Cup four-ball sessions. However, Cantlay and Schauffele did play alternate shot together in Rome, which Furyk may opt for Friday.
Once again, Cantlay and Burns are another pairing consisting of a steady player (Cantlay) and one who can be a bit more erratic (Burns).
For the Internationals, Matsuyama and Conners may be their best pairing. Both are elite ball-strikers and will have plenty of birdie opportunities between them, but whether or not they win or lose will come down to how many putts they can make.
On the bench
Furyk is sitting Max Homa and Brian Harman, a pair that played and performed well together at last year's Ryder Cup. However, Homa's been searching for his game for the last few months. Sitting him in the first session means he'll likely play in Friday's alternate-shot format, which exposes players who are struggling to find their games.
Mackenzie Hughes and Si Woo Kim are taking Thursday off for the Internationals. Hughes could've been the spark plug the Internationals badly need and should've been considered to be the first pairing out, but Weir elected to sit him instead.
