The most underrated part of the Presidents Cup is the way each team announces their matchups.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the leadership teams of the U.S. and international delegations will meet side-by-side in the media center and hold a snake draft to determine the order of matches.
The away team has the choice of batting first or handing it over to the home team, so U.S. captain Jim Furyk decided Wednesday to let International captain Mike Weir bat first.
Weir then picked Jason Day of Australia and Byung Hun Ahn of South Korea as his opponents for Thursday's opener, while Furyk then picked Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau as his first-round opponents.
Soon after, Furyk selected Collin Morikawa and Sahith Teegala for the second match, but Weir and his assistant captain took a few seconds to consider before ultimately selecting Australian duo Adam Scott and Ming Woo Lee to face Morikawa and Teegala.
The two teams then played against each other multiple times until all five matches of the tournament were filled, a process that is repeated after each session of the Presidents Cup.
Thursday's four-ball matches are as follows:
Match 1: 11:35 AM — Jason Day and Byung-Hun Ahn (International) vs. Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau (USA)
Match 2: 11:53am — Adam Scott and Ming Woo Lee (International) vs Collin Morikawa & Sahit Sighala (USA)
Match 3: 12:11pm — Sungjae Lim and Tom Kim (International) vs. Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley (USA)
Match 4: 12:29pm — Taylor Pendris and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (International) vs. Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley (USA)
Match 5: 12:47pm — Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Connors (International) vs. Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns (USA)
Missed: Mackenzie Hughes and Kim Si-woo (International), Brian Harman and Max Homa (USA)
The International Team has performed much better in the Four-Ball format than in the Foursomes format. In the 2007 Presidents Cup, the last time Royal Montreal hosted the competition, the International Team won seven of the eleven Four-Ball matches but ultimately lost 19.5-14.5. The International Team also dominated in the format the last time they hosted the event, in 2019, at Royal Melbourne, Australia. The International Team won 6.5 points out of nine in Four-Ball, nearly winning the Cup for Australia for the first time since 1998.
That's why Weir decided to start the 2024 Presidents Cup with a four-ball match, knowing his team has had great success in this format domestically. The International team will enter the tournament as significant underdogs against the USA and know a good start is essential if they want to pull off an upset.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
