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JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Thanks to the alternate-reveal format used to announce Presidents Cup matches, International Captain Nick Price had the honors for Thursday’s third Foursomes match at Liberty National. He tabbed Si Woo Kim and Emiliano Grillo, an eyebrow-raising pair of first-timers. That left American captain Steve Stricker to counter. He opted for Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, his most dependable and dynamic duo who have a combined record of 5-1-2 in the last three U.S. team events. A year ago at the Ryder Cup, they twice knocked off Olympic medalists Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. Two years ago at the Presidents Cup in Korea, they beat Jason Day and Charl Schwartzel. Stricker could have opted to save Spieth and Reed for one of the last two matches, which would have pitted them against Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen – who went undefeated two years ago – or the Aussie powerhouse of Day and Marc Leishman. Instead, Spieth and Reed get the least-experienced pair among Price’s starters on Thursday. “There’s different theories on who do you want to put them up against,â€� Stricker explained, the ink having yet to dry on the match sheet he just filled out. “Do you want to put up two powerhouses against one another? Every match is tough. Anybody can beat anybody on this sheet of paper.â€� Clearly, though, he expects a point from Spieth and Reed against two International players who’ve struggled recently for results. Since winning THE PLAYERS Championship in May, Kim has made 11 starts. His best result was a T13 at the U.S. Open but the rest of the run failed to garner a result inside the top 40, including four missed cuts and two WDs. Grillo failed to win this season after doing so in his rookie year on the PGA TOUR. He finished 11th at TPC Sawgrass but has not had a top-20 finish in his ensuing 11 starts that includes four missed cuts. On paper, this match appears a mammoth mismatch. But is it? Having been thrown together as partners on Tuesday in practice, Grillo and Kim promptly shot 8-under in an alternate-shot battle against all their International teammates. In a tradition started by Price in 2013, the winning duo on each Presidents Cup Tuesday wins his broken putter from the 2003 Presidents Cup, which Price snapped over his knee after losing a singles match to Kenny Perry. The half-club is mounted as a trophy and is engraved with the winners. Day and Graham DeLaet won it in 2013, and justified it with a terrific effort. Danny Lee and Leishman shared it with Schwartzel and Sangmoon Bae in Korea. Can Grillo and Kim shock the world this week? “We played yesterday and we won. We beat everybody, so why not? It worked yesterday, it’s going to work tomorrow,â€� Grillo said. “If we give ourselves the chance to win the match, we’re going to take it.â€� Added Kim: “This is the first time for me to play in the Presidents Cup, so I feel a little nervous, but also I’m just looking forward to doing that. I played with Spieth at the British Open, so I think I have experience. I think I can handle that.â€� Spieth knows most everyone is expecting victory. But neither he nor his partner Reed will be taking the rookies lightly. “We just try to control what we can control. They have got nothing to lose, and a lot of times, that’s a little easier to play from,â€� he said. “We can’t allow them to gather any kind of momentum. They feel like they got some off the last Presidents Cup and we certainly didn’t want that to happen. So tomorrow is a big day. “Patrick and I are very serious and very focused on tomorrow in this alternate-shot format where we have been very successful. Doesn’t matter who we are playing.â€� Warned Reed: “You never know what they can do. Match play, they can go out and they can just play lights out, all of a sudden they’re 9-under through 9, and it’s like, OK, well, they’ve played perfect. So if we go out and just play our game, play the best we can, and if we do that and we’re happy with how we played, we should be able to win a match.â€� Stricker, ever the diplomat, cautioned against mismatches on paper. He knows the International team will be expecting Grace and Oosthuizen to continue their winning ways in the fourth match of the day, but he’s confident his rookie duo of Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger can offer a proper response. “Take Oosthuizen and Grace – with their record, you think they’re going to take it to Koepka and Berger. But we’ve got a U.S. Open champion and both are fiery – it’s a challenge for them. We like that challenge. “You know, it’s so hard to tell. I don’t think it’s fair to judge one player over the other. They’re all really great players. It’s such a fine thing to try to dissect these teams when you don’t know how they’re going to play. It’s golf.â€� And the first of four intriguing days will start Thursday at Liberty National.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The season’s strongest field will face a new-look course in this year’s edition of THE PLAYERS Championship. THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was renovated after last year’s tournament. The changes include a new drivable par-4 12th hole, a new hazard between Nos. 6 and 7 and subtle changes to several holes, including expanded greens and the removal of rough to promote creative recovery shots. The new 12th hole, where eagles are possible but a water hazard lurks left of the green, offers players another opportunity to be bold on the back nine. There are now three holes on that side where eagles are a real possibility (Nos. 11, 12 and 16). And then, of course, players must face the Island Green before tackling the challenging 18th hole. You can watch golf’s best players take on the new Stadium Course during PGA TOUR LIVE’s Featured Groups coverage on Thursday and Friday. This week’s Featured Groups include the top three players in the FedExCup standings, seven past winners of THE PLAYERS Championship and three former FedExCup champs. Featured Groups coverage will run from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Two morning Featured Groups are available to PGA TOUR LIVE subscribers, while a single afternoon Featured Group will be shown free of charge. Featured Groups also can be watched on Twitter from 7:30 a.m. to approximately 8:45 a.m. on Thursday and Friday. Featured Holes will run from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. with coverage of the drivable par-4 12th and the island-green 17th. On Tuesday, PGA TOUR LIVE will show THE PLAYERS Championship’s Military Appreciation Concert with Sam Hunt from 6-8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. A PLAYERS preview show will be featured on Wednesday from 12-2 p.m. MORE: Tee times (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup rankings in parentheses) THURSDAY MORNING Rickie Fowler (8), Henrik Stenson (79), Jason Day (104): Three past champions of THE PLAYERS are in this group, including the past two winners. Day won by four shots last year after shooting a course-record 63 in the first round, while Fowler won a dramatic playoff two years ago. Stenson, winner of the 2009 PLAYERS and the 2013 FedExCup, also is the reigning Open champion, shooting a final-round 63 last year at Royal Troon to win a memorable duel with Phil Mickelson. Fowler has finished no worse than 16th in his past six starts, including a win at The Honda Classic. Tee time: 8:16 a.m. off No. 10. Jordan Spieth (7), Hideki Matsuyama (3), Phil Mickelson (36): A former winner of THE PLAYERS, a former FedExCup champion and the No. 3 player in this season’s standings are part of this threesome. This is the 10-year anniversary of Mickelson’s win at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. He has more missed cuts (8) than top-10s (3) at this event. Spieth, the 2015 FedExCup champion, won this season’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; he finished T4 in his PLAYERS debut (2014), but has missed the cut in his past two appearances. Matsuyama, a two-time winner this season, played in the final group of last year’s PLAYERS, finishing seventh. This group also could serve as a Presidents Cup preview. Spieth and Mickelson rank third and 14th in the U.S. Team standings, while Matsuyama is second in the International Team standings. Tee time: 8:27 a.m. off No. 10. THURSDAY AFTERNOON Dustin Johnson (1), Justin Thomas (2), Rory McIlroy (48): This group features last year’s FedExCup champion and the top two players in this year’s standings. McIlroy won the FedExCup after a dramatic playoff with Ryan Moore at last year’s TOUR Championship. Johnson and Thomas each have three wins this season, but Johnson has a 296-point lead thanks to five top-three finishes in eight starts this season. He was runner-up on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship after winning his prior three starts. Johnson and Thomas also are the top two players in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. McIlroy is making his first start since finishing seventh at the Masters. He got married during that hiatus. He has finished no worse than 12th in his past four PLAYERS starts after missing the cut in his first three tours around TPC Sawgrass. Tee time: 1:52 p.m. off No. 1 FRIDAY MORNING Sergio Garcia (13), Adam Scott (77), Matt Kuchar (47): Three former winners of THE PLAYERS Championship are in this group. Garcia, the 2008 winner at TPC Sawgrass, is making his first start since his emotional victory at the Masters Tournament. All three members of this group finished in the top 10 at the Masters. Kuchar, who made a hole-in-one on the 16th hole Sunday, finished fourth. He won the 2012 PLAYERS and was third at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course last year. Adam Scott, winner of the 2004 PLAYERS, finished ninth at Augusta National this year. He has missed just three cuts in 15 appearances at THE PLAYERS. Tee time: 8:16 a.m. off No. 10. Dustin Johnson (1), Justin Thomas (2), Rory McIlroy (48): McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, plays alongside the top two players in the FedExCup standings. Both Johnson and Thomas have won three times this season. Johnson leads the FedExCup after posting three wins and a runner-up in his past four starts. Tee time: 8:27 a.m. off No. 10. FRIDAY AFTERNOON Jordan Spieth (7), Hideki Matsuyama (3), Phil Mickelson (36): A former winner of THE PLAYERS, a former FedExCup champion and the No. 3 player in this season’s standings are part of this threesome. Mickelson is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his PLAYERS win. Spieth, who finished fourth in his PLAYERS debut in 2014, won the 2015 FedExCup. Matsuyama is a two-time winner this season. Tee time: 1:52 p.m. off No. 1.
Tiger Woods made plenty of history with his victory at the 1997 Masters, but how many of the 27 records he set or tied that year does he still own?
