2013 Presidents Cup: Tee times, pairings, match schedule for Friday

The Presidents Cup continues on Friday with another six-match afternoon session at Muirfield Village outside Columbus, OH. Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup spreads out its matches across four days instead of cramming in double sessions each day before Sunday singles.

With just six matches, the PGA Tour will once again hold tee times until late in the day. They’ll go off even later on Friday, with the first group set to go at 1:10 p.m. That’s 90 minutes later than the start on Thursday, but the extra time built in on Friday is due to a format change.

This second session will now be Foursomes, as opposed to Four-ball. Foursomes is the alternating shot format, where each two-man team is playing just one ball for one score. It’s much more difficult for the players, but because you don’t have four tee shots and four players hacking away until at least the green like in Four-ball best ball, things should move faster and the session should wrap up around 6 p.m., well before darkness in central Ohio. The opening session on Thursday barely got in before dark thanks to a 90 minute weather delay, but there’s little chance of rain in the Friday forecast.

There are not a whole lot of changes from the Thursday lineup. Nick Price has kept all six two-man teams in tact, while switching around the order slightly. Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, perhaps his best team, will anchor the session while a struggling Ernie Els and a red hot Brendon de Jonge get bumped up the ladder. Branden Grace and Richard Sterne may be playing the “sacrificial lamb” role, as Price responded to Fred Couples announcement of Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker by throwing that untested South African duo out there against what looked to be America’s strongest team on Thursday.

Fred Couples did tinker with his groups a bit, rotating four players on two teams. The Wake Forest pair of Webb Simpson and Bill Haas were broken up, with Haas now set to play with Hunter Mahan and Simpson partnering up with Brandt Snedeker. Those four guys are probably the most interchangeable on the roster, as the other eight are kind of locked into a partnership at this point.

The Foursomes format has been brutal on the International team, which does not have the luxury of playing the unique match style every year like many of the U.S. Players. If they can keep the deficit at one point, the day will be considered a success by captain Price. Here’s the tee sheet for Friday’s Foursomes matches:

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