Only five of the total 30 points available at the Presidents Cup have been claimed, and only five more will be up for grabs on Friday at Liberty National in New Jersey. So there’s a lot of golf left to be played over the weekend.
Presidents Cup 2017: Tee times, pairings, and TV schedule for Friday
The Internationals are in a must-win situation on Friday at the Presidents Cup, but fortunately their lineup will play a format that’s been fairly kind to them in recent years.
Unfortunately for the Internationals, that doesn’t mean much in these team match play competitions. Losing early sessions is a critical blow, and it’s rare to see a comeback, especially from such a heavy underdog like the Internationals are this week.
So it’s not hyperbole to say this Friday Four-ball session is a must-win for Nick Price’s International squad. They’re down 3.5 to 1.5, which in match play, is a rout after one session. They can’t really afford for that margin to widen and probably need to make up at least a point and take three of the five possible points on Friday.
The good news is the Four-ball format has been kinder to them in recent years compared to Thursday’s alternate-shot Foursomes format. Stats ace Justin Ray of Golf Channel ran the numbers since 2007 to illuminate the disparity in formats:
Price successfully lobbied the PGA Tour to reduce these first two sessions from six matches to five. The six-match setup meant the full 12-man roster had to play the first two days, and that exposed the lack of depth the International side has had compared to team USA. That’s often been cited as a big reason for the lack of competitiveness in this event, in which the Internationals have a 1-9-1 record since it started in 1994.
Sitting out on Friday for the International side will be Si Woo Kim and Emiliano Grillo. Those two struggled as a pair on Thursday, getting rolled up by America’s top duo of Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth. It was no surprise to see them put on the bench for the second session. On the American side, Steve Stricker sat down Daniel Berger and Matt Kuchar, a rookie and veteran. Here’s your lineup for Day 2:
Session 2 — Five Four-ball Matches — 11:35 a.m. ET Friday
- 11:35 a.m. ET — INTL Hideki Matsuyama/Adam Hadwin vs. USA Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed
- 11:50 a.m. ET — INTL Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace vs. USA Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas
- 12:05 p.m. ET — INTL Jason Day/Marc Leishman vs. USA Kevin Kisner/Phil Mickelson
- 12:20 p.m. ET — INTL Charl Schwartzel/Anirban Lahiri vs. USA Kevin Chappell/Charley Hoffman
- 12:35 p.m. ET — INTL Adam Scott/Jhonattan Vegas vs. USA Dustin Johnson/Brooks Koepka
Golf Channel will again have the full coverage on Friday, which runs a little longer. Four-ball obviously takes more time with, well, four balls in play as opposed to just two in alternate-shot Foursomes. So Golf Channel will be live by 11:30 a.m. ET, right before that first match tees off at Liberty National. Mike Tirico is getting some extra time this week in the booth too, and it’s always good to have Tirico doing more golf, which has been a big plus since his move from ESPN to NBC. Here’s your media schedule for the day:
Friday’s Day 2 coverage
Television:
11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. — Golf Channel
Online streams:
11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio:
Noon to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208 and streamed here)
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