Presidents Cup: Five International Team pairings we’d love to watch

A combination of both art and science, the pairings process is the most debated aspect of any team event.

There are numbers to crunch, personalities to mesh and matchups to consider. The Presidents Cup highlights that more than most. Unique to the event, the pairings for the two Foursomes and Four-ball sessions are announced one by one, allowing each team to counter with the exact matchup they’d like.

Ahead of Wednesday’s opening pairings press conference, here are five possible pairings for the International Team that PGATOUR.COM hopes to see at this week’s Presidents Cup.

Adam Scott/Jason Day

The Australians are stalwarts of the International Team but have hardly played together. In four Presidents Cups with both on the roster, they’ve paired together once – a Four-ball session in 2015. The Aussie duo halved their match against Zach Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

At Quail Hollow in 2022, Scott played all four team sessions, pairing with Hideki Matsuyama in the Foursomes sessions and with Cam Davis in Four-ball. International Team Captain Mike Weir could go back to the Matsuyama-Scott pairing in Foursomes, which went 1-1-0, but those are arguably the Internationals' two hottest players. Trying to spread that good form across two pairings might be more conducive to success. Even if they remain a duo in Foursomes, Davis is not on the team to pair with Scott in Four-ball. That opens the door for Day to slide in and solidify an outstanding Aussie duo.

Perhaps their individual experience will compel Weir to pair them with some of his more inexperienced players. Scott could play the mentor role with Australian Presidents Cup rookie Min Woo Lee, for example. That would be in line with how the Internationals have deployed Scott in the past.

But let’s be honest: regardless of statistics or circumstance, the Day-Scott pairing is one we deserve to see more than once in their careers.

Corey Conners/Taylor Pendrith

Weir has a dilemma with his trio of Canadians: spread them out to maximize crowd support of each group, or pair two together and create a singular super-group for Canadians to rally behind.

Both have merit, but seeing the atmosphere that would foster from an all-Canadian pairing was too good to pass up.

Conners and Pendrith’s struggles at Quail Hollow are well known by now. Both went 0-4-0 in their Presidents Cup debuts, disappointing results that held the Internationals back. That included one match together, a 1-down loss to Max Homa and Billy Horschel in Friday Four-ball. The match is remembered for Homa’s heroics down the stretch, birdieing 17 and 18 to secure the match. But it was also the Canadians' closest match of the week, and Pendrith rose to the occasion with a gutsy birdie on the 18th that forced Homa to make his putt.

The two Canadians have a tight bond – each was best man in the other’s wedding – and they play off each other well. At their best, Conners is an elite ball striker and Pendrith is a top-five putter on TOUR. Put those two skills together, combined with their connection and their heritage and you have the makings of a formidable pairing.

Tom Kim/Si Woo Kim

There’s not much the Internationals would want to repeat from 2022 but the Tom Kim-Si Woo Kim pairing might be something.

There was no hotter duo than Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay at Quail Hollow, who beat Scott-Matsuyama, 6 and 5, and Matsuyama-Tom Kim, 3 and 2, in Friday’s first two sessions. The Americans sent them back out as the first pairing of Saturday’s afternoon Four-ball and the Internationals countered with Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, who rattled off an impressive, emotional 1-up victory to anchor the Internationals’ only winning session.

The duo’s energy was infectious, with Si Woo Kim playing the role of agitator and Tom Kim soaking up his first Presidents Cup. Si Woo Kim does not enter in good form, but pairing him back with Tom Kim might be just the thing Si Woo Kim needs to return to form.

Hideki Matsuyama/Sungae Im

No member of the International team has a better record over the last two Presidents Cups than Sungjae Im. The Korean is 5-3-2 in his two appearances, with a 3-0-1 record in Four-ball and a 2-0–0 record in Singles.

Pair Im with Matsuyama, who is playing as well as anyone across the two teams, and this duo has the potential to be the best of any we see at Royal Montreal.

Im is an ideal Four-ball player again this year. He ranked second on TOUR in total birdies and eighth in birdie average. That could help buoy Matsuyama in his weakest format, allowing Im to go flag hunting with Matsuyama sticks to his consistent game plan.

The Internationals have often tried to pair Matsuyama with a fellow Asian player for at least one session every Presidents Cup. He played with Tom Kim in 2022 and both Byeong Hun An and C.T. Pan in 2019.

They’re also just two of the most fun players to watch swing a golf club. Putting them together is a ball-striker's dream.

Min Woo Lee/Tom Kim

This would be one of the more exciting, high-upside pairings the Internationals could trot out. Kim was the breakout star for the Internationals two years ago, and Lee, is the favorite for a similar breakout this go around.

Kim is looking for a Foursomes partner after he played both with K.H. Lee in 2022. Pairing Kim with Lee offers a similar upside to his pairing with Si Woo Kim, putting two high-energy, talented and youthful players together.

Kim is known best for his wedge game, which could shine in Foursomes with Lee, who ranked in the top 10 in driving distance and Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. Letting Lee cook off the tee and Kim stuff it close seems like a pretty solid combo.