The Presidents Cup gets underway overnight on Wednesday night/Thursday morning UK time and we now know the five matches which will get the tournament underway.
Day one will contain just foursomes which means each pair play the one golf ball so this is the purest form of team golf. Foursome matches are usually tight affairs and with the half in play in the Presidents Cup this year we might see a few halved matches.
Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama get the action underway for the home side. They face the powerful pairing of Bubba Watson and JB Holmes in the first match of the competition.
It is interesting that Captain Haas has sent out two bombers together in this format and it will be interesting to see how they perform with just the one ball. I’d be looking to take them on in foursomes normally but with Adam Scott not in the best of form I’ll let that one play its natural course.
Match two looks an interesting one. The Internationals send out the South African pairing of Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace and they take on the matchplay specialists Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed.
I quite like the Americans as a pairing in this format. There is a lot of solidity in them but at the same time I would imagine there will be plenty of familiarity and camaraderie in the South African pair so I don’t see value on either side in that one.
In the third match Nick Price has sent out a pair of rookies in the form of Thongchai Jaidee and Anirban Lahiri. Jay Haas has given Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker a go and I like the American pairing here.
In fairness I’m a big fan of Lahiri and remain convinced he’ll go on to big things in the game but he and Jaidee will be nervous and neither are the most powerful from the tee.
Not only are Fowler and Walker both long off the tee they are generally pretty accurate too. Both are exceptionally good putters and being from the same Butch Harmon stable they will know each other and their games so well. This looks a good opportunity for the Americans to get a point on the board and I like them at even money.
Plenty of eyes will be on the fourth match of the day. That is because the Internationals pairing is led by Jason Day. He and his partner Steven Bowditch take on Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson in a battle of three major champions.
The focus won’t just be on the match because Day is playing but a lot of people will be looking to see what Mickelson’s form is like this week. We know he is capable of the magnificent but he has delivered the ordinary far too often this year.
Mickelson has a solid partner in Zach Johnson but he’s not the longest so if the left hander gets too wayward Zach might not have the power to get the US pairing back into play and that has to be a concern.
Day is creaming the ball right now. No part of his game is weak and Steven Bowditch is a solid partner. He drives it nicely and he’s right up there as a putter so I’m firmly behind the International pair in this match.
The final match will also carry a decent gallery with it because the world number one Jordan Spieth plays. He requested to play with Dustin Johnson and he got his wish so it will be interesting to see how that combination gets along.
They take on Danny Lee and Marc Leishman in what looks a solid pair for the Internationals. You sense there could be plenty of birdies in this pairing so Spieth and Johnson will need to be at their best. I’m not one for taking on Spieth too early in the competition though so I’ll sit back and see how these two interesting pairings get on.
Back R.Fowler & J.Walker to beat T.Jaidee & A.Lahiri for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back J.Day & S.Bowditch to beat P.Mickelson & Z.Johnson for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Bet365
