THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome to the 2024 Presidents Cup here at Royal Montreal. We're going to get started with our pairings for round 1 four-ball. At this time, we'll turn it over to Gary Young, our chief referee from the match committee, who will take us through the pairings process. Gary?
GARY YOUNG: Thank you, Laura. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to round 1 pairings for the 2024 Presidents Cup here at Royal Montreal Golf Club. This competition is going to consist of six rounds of match play to be played over the next four days. The team earning 15 1/2 points -- sorry, five rounds. The team earning 15 1/2 points will win the competition.
Should each team earn 15 points, the competition will result in a tie, and the Cup will be shared until our next playing in 2026 at Medinah Country Club.
Captain Weir, as captain of the home team, has selected four ball as the format for round 1 matches. Round 1 will consist of five matches with 10 of the 12 players being selected to represent each team. As a reminder, all matches are worth one point to the winning side, and should a match end as a tie, each side will receive 1/2 point. Play will not be extended beyond 18 holes.
All team members must play at least one of the first rounds of the competition. The United States is currently the defending cup Cup holder. Therefore, Captain Furyk will have the option of selecting first or deferring the selection to Captain Weir. Captain Furyk, your decision, please.
JIM FURYK: We're going to defer. We want Mike to pick first.
GARY YOUNG: All right. Captain Weir, you'll be selecting first for match 1. Your selections? You have two minutes.
MIKE WEIR: Jason Day and Ben An.
GARY YOUNG: The International Team has selected Jason Day and Ben An.
Captain Furyk, your selections, please?
JIM FURYK: Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau.
GARY YOUNG: The United States team has selected Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau.
Captain Furyk, you'll select first in match 2.
JIM FURYK: Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
GARY YOUNG: The United States has selected Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
Captain Weir? One minute.
MIKE WEIR: Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee.
GARY YOUNG: The International Team has selected Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee.
Captain Weir, you'll select first in match 3.
MIKE WEIR: Sungjae Im and Tom Kim.
GARY YOUNG: The International Team has selected Sungjae Im and Tom Kim.
Captain Furyk?
JIM FURYK: Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.
GARY YOUNG: The United States team selects Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.
Captain Furyk, you'll select first in round 4.
JIM FURYK: Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley.
GARY YOUNG: The United States selects Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley.
Captain Weir?
MIKE WEIR: Taylor Pendrith, Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
GARY YOUNG: The International Team selects Taylor Pendrith, Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Your selection for match 5?
MIKE WEIR: Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners.
GARY YOUNG: The International Team has selected Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners.
Captain Furyk, your picks?
JIM FURYK: Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns.
GARY YOUNG: The United States selects Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns.
The first starting time for round 1 is at 11:35 tomorrow morning. The forecast is calling for heavy rain overnight into the early morning hours with improving conditions as the morning goes on.
Gentlemen, good luck and play well.
Q. Just wondering what went into the decision to split up Patrick and Xander?
JIM FURYK: What went into the decision to split them? I mean, it's little known, they just don't really like each other anymore. They don't get along very well. No.
We're trying to maximize our -- if you've got eight guys or ten guys on the course, we're trying to maximize your potential, get the best five groups you can get out there on the golf course.
I think, talking to my assistants and talking to our statistical team, there's a number of different reasons, probably don't -- obviously we know those guys play all their practice rounds together, they're great friends, get along very well. No reason other than trying to maximize the potential we have for the five groups on the golf course.
Q. Just with the speed of your decisions there, have you just decided your four pairings in the order they would go out no matter what the matchups were on the other side?
JIM FURYK: No, we had some options. We tried to spend a little time thinking about maybe what Mike and his group would do, but more than anything, we had a few options out there. Just we had a plan, something we wanted to do, and it kind of fell into place with the way we went down.
I think we could have mixed a few of those pairs up, but we like the order we're in.
Q. Mike, was there a thought just to get a Canadian out there in the first match to get the crowd on your side early?
MIKE WEIR: It kind of crossed our minds at some point, but the matchups are the matchups. Once we had our discussions internally, we had a plan, and that's how we thought. We didn't really just want to put out a Canadian just to do that.
Q. You seem like you really wanted the first team out there. What was it about Jason Day and Ben An? As soon as they said you were picking, your named them?
MIKE WEIR: Like I said, we just had a plan internally, and we were confident. There's two options there, they were either going to go first or defer, so we had options for both.
Q. Mike, what do you like about the pairing of Adam and Min Woo?
MIKE WEIR: Obviously the Australians. Min's obviously a powerful player, and so is Adam. The guys just get along really well. They've known each other, Adam's mentored him a little bit as well, and they're just a great fit. They just really like each other as well.
Q. Really getting to nuts and bolts here, but I'm always curious about the choice to defer first because essentially it gives you four chances to react proactively instead of five because that last pairing has been your default a little bit. What makes you defer?
JIM FURYK: I would venture to guess that every one of these that was played was always deferred. It's going to be even today and Friday. It's going to be even on Saturday. On Sunday basically the Internationals will pick first. It comes down to you get pick 11 and 12. Mike will throw out his 11th, and that gives us two pairs on 11 and 12.
There's really no difference. I think maybe first match is out, you get the pair up, but honestly it's pretty even the whole way. It's not a massive difference in our eyes other than maybe in singles you get seven matchups versus five.
Q. And then Max Homa, just thoughts on him? Obviously he's had a really successful Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup so far. Thoughts on putting him on the bench to start?
JIM FURYK: Putting him on the bench is an extremely harsh word. You've got to have two folks that don't play tomorrow. Max, I have a lot of confidence in his game. I have a lot of confidence in what he brings to our team, not only from a playing standpoint, but in the team room as well. You're going to see him play a lot of golf this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports