Tiger paired with Kuchar for four-ball at Presidents Cup

Day 1 pairings for the 10th Presidents Cup between the United States and the International team were announced Wednesday by captains Fred Couples and Nick Price at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The four-day competition begins Thursday with six four-ball (best-ball) matches.

In Match 1, it will be Jason Day and Graham DeLaet (International) vs. Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker (U.S.); in Match 2, Bill Haas and Webb Simpson (U.S.) vs. Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama (International); in Match 3, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel (International) vs. Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley (U.S.); in Match 4, Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth (U.S.) vs. Ernie Els and Brendon de Jonge (International); in Match 5, Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman (International) vs. Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods (U.S.); and in Match 6, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson (U.S.) vs. Branden Grace and Richard Sterne (International).

The first match is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. ET, with Tiger and Kuchar starting play at 12:41 p.m. ET.

Woods and Kuchar are good friends and have enjoyed competing against each other in previous team rooms in ping pong, where Kuchar has owned the upper hand. Bradley said the seemingly always-smiling Kuchar and Tiger are a good fit.

“Kuch can joke around with Tiger,” he said. “They’ll have a good atmosphere out there.”

Woods, Kuchar, Stricker and Spieth played their final practice round together Wednesday. The highlight came at the 173-yard, par-3 12th hole, where the 20-year-old Spieth, recently named PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, sank a 7-iron for a hole-in-one, drawing high-fives from players and caddies alike.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. gathered for its second team photo. Johnson was fighting a flu bug on Monday and missed the first photo. He arrived Tuesday afternoon, and the team reassembled Wednesday so he could be included.

This week, there will be one noticeable change at Muirfield Village, designed by Jack Nicklaus and home of the Memorial Tournament. A new tee has been built on the par-4 18th hole, adding 40 yards. It now measures 484.

“It’s supposed to be the defining hole, and that’s what we really want it to be,” said Nicklaus, who was tired of seeing long hitters crush tee shots and have short irons to the green, or hit long irons off the tee. “I think it will be now.”

The 2013 Presidents Cup is sold out and limited to 35,000 spectators each day.