Round 1 Fourball Pairings

An thrilling organization of pairings for the primary suits on the Presidents Cup.

• Match 1: Marc Leishman/Joaquin Niemann VS

Justin Thomas/Tiger Woods

Match 2: Adam Hadwin/Sungjae Im VS

Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay

Match 3: Adam Scott/Byeong-Hun An VS

Bryson DeChambeau/Tony Finau

Match 4: Hideki Matsuyama/C.T. Pan VS

Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed

Match 5: Abraham Ancer/Louis Oosthuizen VS

Dustin Johnson/Gary Woodland The 4 players sitting it out are Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler for the US, and Haotong Li and Cameron Smith for the Internationals.

No big surprises as a long way as I can see, despite the fact that some of the pairings -- not like Tiger and JT -- may additionally seem counter-intuitive. Here are a few of my random mind:

• An and Im are both South Korean but also rookies; Hadwin has played once before and I suspect the Hadwin/Im pairing has a lot to do with them knowing each other from the PGA Tour. As the most veteran member of the team, Scott makes sense as An's partner.
• Finau and DeChambeau are both rookies but Tiger knows both well... and let's face it, the US probably doesn't worry about throwing two rookies together because the team has been historically strong. (Same for Schauffele and Cantlay.) Ernie is going to be much more cautious in his initial pairings because one unproductive pairing could put them behind the eight-ball early.
• Perhaps the most unexpected pairing is Reed and Simpson, but Reed can get a bit wild at times and Simpson should be able to keep them in the hole should that happen.

If I'm surprised by anything, it's the decision to sit Li for the first match. I would really like him as a fourball partner, but I suppose somebody had to sit.

GC's live coverage starts at 5:30pm ET this afternoon. I'll reiterate what I said in yesterday's post -- I think it's a mistake to underestimate the Internationals this time around. Although I expect the US to win, I won't be surprised if we see an upset.