The 2013 Presidents Cup will not feature the tandem of world's No.1 Tiger Woods and No.3 Phil Mickelson after U.S. captain Fred Couples decided to split the two future Hall of Famers' ahead of this week's team competition at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Couples made his decision to split the Grand Slam-winning duo for the reason that he wants other members of the United States Presidents Cup team to team up with the world's most popular golfer this week.
"As far as Tiger goes," Couples said in an interview with Philly.com, "he's our No. 1 guy. All 11 guys want to play with him."
Tiger and Mickelson might have combined for 19 Grand Slam championships, but the tandem has a surprising 0-2 record when playing alongside each other in any team international competition.
Woods, who will serve as the individual leader of the group, is apparently a fan of the Presidents Cup pairings format.
"I think it's fantastic how they do the pairings,'' Woods said Tuesday after a practice round at Muirfield Village via ESPN. "You can really set up some pairings and really get some key match-ups or guys who are not playing well and put them out against another group that is not playing well. You can do those kind of match-ups.
With Mickelson out of the picture as Woods' partner, Couples hinted on Tuesday the possibility of another Woods-Steve Stricker partnership while up-and-coming golfer Matt Kuchar and PGA Champion Jason Duffner could also see action alongside the world's No.1 golfer.
"Phil probably won't," Couples said. "Steve Stricker will probably play with Tiger a little bit."
"Matt Kuchar's out there playing with [Woods], and [PGA champ Jason] Dufner," said Couples, who's managing his third Prez Cup unit. "So I let them tell me [with whom they want to play]," added Couples.
As for International Captain Nick Price, he would look at the compatibility of his players more than anything else.
"You've got to try and figure out compatibility more than anything else amongst players," Price told USA Today." ... I think with all the communication that we've done, I think they feel more of a team today, and so we tried to get everyone to speak a little bit last night (at the team dinner). I want to get feedback from the guys and find out how they feel about things."
Finally, after a week of evaluating possible tandems and match-ups, Couples and Price unveiled their pairings for this year's Presidents Cup.
Thursday's Four-Ball Pairings at Presidents Cup
Match 1: Jason Day and Graham DeLaet vs. Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker.
Match 2: Bill Haas and Webb Simpson v. Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama
Match 3: Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen v. Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley
Match 4: Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth v. Ernie Els and Brendon de Jonge
Match 5: Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods v. Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman. Match 6: Grace-Sterne v. Johnson-Dufner
For more Presidents Cup Pairings announcement, go to Presidents Cup @Twittter.
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