Publications
Partners
Incheon - Danny Lee and Marc Leishman received the golfing equivalent of a 'hospital pass' on Wednesday after the International duo were served up to America's world number one Jordan Spieth and big-hitting Dustin Johnson for the Presidents Cup foursomes.
Thursday's opening foursomes, where players hit alternate shots with the same ball, also sees the Internationals' 2013 pairing of Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama reunited to face Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes.
South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace are up against Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed and Asian pair Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee play Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker. Australian duo Jason Day and Steven Bowditch will take on Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson.
The Presidents Cup, which is played for every two years by the United States and a team of international players minus Europeans, continues on Friday and Saturday with foursome and four ball fixtures before 12 singles matches on Sunday.
The United States have been the dominant force in the Cup, winning eight of the 10 previous editions with one tie. Their only defeat came in 1998 at Royal Melbourne.
After US captain Jay Haas and his International counterpart Nick Price decided the matchups, it was the pairing of Spieth and Johnson that had the media buzzing at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
Spieth, a captain's pick two years ago, has blossomed into the world's best player this year, claiming two majors among his five wins and ending the year with a flourish with victory at the Tour Championship last month.
Dustin Johnson returned to the Tour after taking time off in 2014 for personal reasons and had three top 10 finishes in the majors, including a heart-breaking near miss at the US Open when a missed three-foot putt handed the title to Spieth.
Haas confirmed the pair had asked to be put together and shed some light on Spieth's huge influence on the game.
"Jordan and Dustin, they have been wanting this for a while, wanting this pairing. And what Jordan wants, Jordan gets right now," said Haas, adding that Reed had also been keen to partner up with Spieth.
"Patrick loves the match-play aspect of it and certainly wants Jordan at some time during the course of the matches. But again, we wanted to get Jordan what he wanted here early on and maybe that can happen down the road."
Their opponents on Thursday, Lee and Leishman, have their work cut out for them.
Lee is ranked 36th in the world and has made the cut only once at a major, while Leishman, a spot below in the rankings, came close at the British Open this year, finishing tied for second behind Zach Johnson.
Lee, who was born in Korea but moved to New Zealand as a youngster, did not seem overly worried about playing in his first Presidents Cup with the world's best player on the opposite team.
"It's going to be fun. We played quite a bunch during this year," he said of Spieth. "But it's a team game, not a single game this week. I'm going to do my best to help the team."
The draw and order of play for Thursday's Presidents Cup first round foursome matches between the International and US teams at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, Incheon, South Korea (International team first):
All times SA
04:05 - Adam Scott/Hideki Matsuyama v Bubba Watson/J.B. Holmes
04:18 - Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace v Matt Kuchar/Patrick Reed
04:31 - Anirban Lahiri/Thongchai Jaidee v Rickie Fowler/Jimmy Walker
04:44 - Jason Day/Steven Bowditch v Phil Mickelson/Zach Johnson
04:57 - Danny Lee/Marc Leishman v Jordan Spieth/Dustin Johnson
Not playing round one foursomes:
International: Bae Sang-Moon, Charl Schwartzel
US: Chris Kirk, Bill Haas
