The Mole’s Presidents Cup preview

Posted on: 16 November, 2011

Pictures

The wait is over and the talking is done. The first matches have been drawn and we are ready to go. It's the United States of America versus the Internationals in the Presidents Cup.

Match previews

Match 1

Bubba Watson/ Webb Simpson vs Ernie Els/Ryo Ishikawa

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Watson – none
Simpson – none
Els – six appearances, 16-12-2 record, including 5-6-1 in foursomes
Ishikawa – one appearance, 3-2-0 record, including 1-1-0 in foursomes

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Watson-Simpson – none
Els-Ishikawa – none

Match at a glance

Watson and Simpson are good friends and told Couples how keen they were to partner up.
Els and Ishikawa is a partnership that makes a weird kind of sense. Els holds the course record at Royal Melbourne and has stacks of experience, while Ishikawa is young and supremely talented, and isn’t afraid to attack a course.

Match 2

Bill Haas/Nick Watney vs Geoff Ogilvy/Charl Schwartzel

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Haas – none
Watney – none
Ogilvy – two appearances, 4-5-0 record, including 0-3-0 in foursomes
Schwartzel – none

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Haas-Watney – none
Ogilvy-Schwartzel – none

Match at a glance

Haas will feel extra pressure to perform as a captain’s pick and Watney has been struggling a bit for form of late.
Ogilvy and Schwartzel will be tough to beat. Royal Melbourne is the Australian's home course, and the reigning Masters champion has a handy habit of performing under pressure.

Match 3

Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar vs Aaron Baddeley Jason Day

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Johnson – none
Kuchar – none
Baddeley – none
Day – none

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Johnson-Kuchar – none
Baddeley-Day – none

Match at a glance

There was a brief rumour that Johnson would partner Tiger in the opening round, but teaming him up with Kuchar and his rock-solid putter makes a lot of sense.
Baddeley and Day make up an all-Aussie pairing that is sure to draw a lot of support from the local crowd.

Match 4

Phil Mickelson/Jim Furyk vs Retief Goosen/Robert Allenby

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Mickelson – eight appearances, 15-13-10 record including 7-6-2 in foursomes
Furyk – six appearances, 15-10-3 record, including 5-3-3 in foursomes
Goosen – five appearances, 11-10-3 record, including 2-6-2 in foursomes
Allenby – five appearances, 8-13-3 record, including 3-5-2 in foursomes

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Mickelson-Furyk – none
Goosen-Allenby – none

Match at a glance

Mickelson and Furyk have partnered eachother unsuccessfully once in the Ryder Cupin in 1999, and Fred Couples will be hoping for a different result this time.
Allenby was Norman’s second Australian captain’s pick and will be relying on his home-course knowledge to give this pairing the advantage.

Match 5

Hunter Mahan/David Toms vs KT Kim/YE Yang

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Mahan – two appearances, 4-4-1 record, including 2-1-1 in foursomes
Toms – three appearances, 6-7-1 record, including 3-3-0 in foursomes
Kim – none
Yang – one appearance, 2-2-1 record, including 1-0-1 in foursomes

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Mahan-Toms – none
Kim-Yang – none

Match at a glance

Mahan and Toms have a ton of team golf experience but have surprisingly never played together before.
Kim on the other hand is an almost completely unknown entity as he spends most of his time playing on the Japan Tour, but he is partnering Asia’s only Major winner.

Match 6

Tiger Woods/Steve Stricker vs Adam Scott/KJ Choi

Previous Presidents Cup appearances

Woods – six appearances, 18-11-1 record, including 9-2-1 in foursomes
Stricker – three appearances, 9-6-0 record, including 4-2-0 in foursomes
Choi – two appearances, 3-6-0 record, including 0-3-0 in foursomes
Scott – four appearances, 8-10-2 record, including 3-4-1 in foursomes

Previous Presidents Cup partnerships

Woods-Stricker – Won all four matches together in 2009
Choi-Scott – Lost in fourball match in 2007

Match at a glance

This one is going to be all about who handles the awkwardness between Scott, Woods and the caddie they’ve shared, Steve Williams. It’s the same feeling you get when someone accepts an invite to their ex-wife’s wedding and then actually turns up.

Course review

The oldest golf club in Australia, the Royal Melbourne was founded in 1891, and moved to its current location in 1901, becoming the anchor of what is now known as the Sandbelt.

The gem of Australian golf, the Royal Melbourne has two courses – the East Course and the West Course – both ranked in the World's Top 100, an extremely rare distinction that no other facility outside the United States can equal.

Tournament format

Thursday

Foursomes
(Six matches)

Teammates play alternate shots with the same ball

Friday

Fourball
(Six matches)

Teammates each play their own ball, the best score for each hole counts

Saturday

Foursomes
(Five matches)

Fourball
(Five Matches)

Sunday

Singles
(12 matches)

Each of the 12 players in each team plays an individual match against a member of the opposite team.