Presidents Cup 2019: Tiger and Thomas to face Leishman, Niemann in opening match

Melbourne, December 11: Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas will open the Presidents Cup for the United States against International team's Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann.

Woods, the USA's playing captain, picked himself alongside Thomas for the first of Thursday's five four-ball matches at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

The USA are favourites to win the event for an eighth straight time and Woods and Thomas could give them a perfect start.

While Woods (24-15-1) has a strong Presidents Cup record, the 15-time major champion is 7-9-0 in the four-ball format.

“We has a game plan of who we wanted to start up with. We were committed to putting ⁦@JustinThomas34⁩ & I out there.” Captain ⁦@TigerWoods⁩ on being first off for the #USTeam pic.twitter.com/dB8cFQQLyu

— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) 11 December 2019

Woods opted to pick Dustin Johnson, who is returning from knee surgery, alongside Gary Woodland against Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen.

American duo Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will face Adam Hadwin and Im Sung-jae, Tony Finau and Bryson DeChambeau meet Adam Scott and Byeong Hun An while International pair Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan will take on Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed.

Thursday's four-ball matches (International v the USA)

Marc Leishman/Joaquin Niemann v Justin Thomas/Tiger Woods

Adam Hadwin/Im Sung-jae v Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay

Adam Scott/Byeong Hun An v Bryson DeChambeau/Tony Finau

Hideki Matsuyama/C.T. Pan v Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed

Abraham Ancer/Louis Oosthuizen v Dustin Johnson/Gary Woodland