Plenty of reasons behind first-day pairings

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Personalities, past performances and preferences seemed to be among the prime considerations as the pairings were made for opening Foursome matches at The Presidents Cup.

U.S. Captain Fred Couples and his International counterpart, Greg Norman, each said they solicited -- and took to heart -- their players' input on who they'd like to partner in the alternate-shot competition.

"You've got 24 great players here," Norman said simply. "You can put them all in a hat together and pull them out so you'll still have great matches irrespective of how it makes out.

"The ball is in their court and they are going to the first tee and just do what they love -- play great golf."

Couples agreed with his long-time friend.

"With 24 of the top players in the world, you're not going to get a bad pairing in the Presidents Cup," he said.

Still, both captains know that getting off to a good start in the competition is essential. The United States owns a 5-1-1 record in these matches overall and has won the opening session four times, trailing by no more than two points in the others.

Consider Foursomes overall, and the Americans have been even more dominant -- outscoring the Internationals 43-27 in alternate shot. Hence, there's a sense of urgency for the International Team starting out.

Norman opted to put his three rookies with some of his most experienced players in the final three matches of the day. Couples, on the other hand, reverted to some old reliables for three of his six teams.

Unlike in the Ryder Cup, the pairings are done as a draft. The U.S., as the defending champs, had the first pick for the Foursomes and elected to defer to the International Team.

Norman went with Mike Weir and Tim Clark as his leadoff hitters while Couples countered with Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim, who posted a 1-1-1 record as partners at last year's Ryder Cup. In each case, the captains chose players who wanted to go out early and set the tone.

"Mike and Tim really wanted to get out in the first group, and then Mike definitely wanted to be the leader of the pack," Norman said. "He feels good about that. He wants to be out there and keep going forward. So our mindsets are exactly the same -- the one pairing on each of the respective teams both wanted to go so that's where they got."

Couples put up Hunter Mahan and Sean O'Hair, the lone rookie on the U.S. Team, in the No. 2 spot to play Adam Scott and Ernie Els. Mahan is undefeated in Foursomes on the last two Cups and will be playing with a friend from his junior golf days.

Els and Scott have played together three times in Foursomes and have a 2-1-0 record. That comfort zone should be even more important this year with Scott's struggles -- Norman's Captain's Pick hasn't had a top-10 since the second week of the year.

(Ernie) said, 'Look, I want Scotty,'" Norman said. "So if he wants Scotty, he's going to get Scotty."

"He's driving the ball unbelievably," Els said of his partner. "He just needs a little bit of a confidence boost."

Norman went with Robert Allenby and Vijay Singh in the third match, with the veterans set to play Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink. Singh has played in every Presidents Cup but has never played with Allenby, who is making his fifth appearance.

"We both have kind of similar games, both good ball-strikers, good iron players," Allenby said. "Foursomes is one of those things where you have to have an understanding partner because you're not going to hit every shot great. You're going to hit it off somewhere, so if you have a partner that accepts it and moves on, you gel well and that's what we do."

Glover and Cink are 0-1 as partners, but are anxious for the opportunity to improve on that record.

"I don't think there's two players on TOUR that are more alike than he and I," Glover said. "Same ball flight, same distance, same golf ball. I bet if you looked at out stats they would be eerily close."

Couples opted to put Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson together in the fourth match in which they will face Angel Cabrera and the first of three International rookies, Camilo Villegas. Among the interesting sidelights to this match -- Cabrera beat Perry in a playoff at the Masters.

In the fifth match, Norman went with Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa, the 18-year-old who has won four times on the Japan Tour this year. Couples countered with Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker -- the man with whom the world No. 1 had long said he wanted to play.

"They deserved that," Couples said.

Norman said Ogilvy, who won two times in his first five starts this season, wanted to play with Ishikawa and will be a steadying influence.

"I went to him earlier in the week and I asked him because he's one of the elder statesmen of the game," Norman said. "He is as consistent as you can get as a player. ... He said, 'I was going to tell you somewhere during the week that I wanted to play with him," so that was an easy one."

The final match pits Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard against Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang, who won the PGA Championship earlier this year. Furyk and Leonard went 1-1 in Foursomes at the 2003 Presidents Cup.

"I think the way I'm struggling, he's going to be carrying me aorund the golf course," Goosen, who won the Transitions Championship earlier this year, said, joking. "He's a pretty strong lad."