Presidents Cup Day 1 Pairings: Some Familiar U.S. Duos Split at Royal Montreal

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay have been a perennial pair in team events but are apart in Thursday's best-ball opening matches.

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will not play together in opening fourballs at Royal Montreal. / Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

MONTREAL — U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk has split up some of the Americans’ most obvious pairings of late for the first day of the competition at Royal Montreal while also putting some stronger players with rookies.

The team of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay—which has played together in the team format at least once in every Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup going back to 2019—is not together, nor is Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, who were together both at the 2022 Presidents Cup and the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Schauffele, who won the PGA Championship and the British Open this year, will lead off for the Americans on Thursday along with Tony Finau, taking on the International team of Jason Day and Ben An in fourball, or best-ball. That match begins at 11:35 a.m. ET.

Collin Morikawa is partnering with Presidents Cup rookie Sahith Theegala against Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee at 11:35 a.m.

Scheffler, who won the Masters and Players Championship and recently captured the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, is playing with rookie Russell Henley and against the South Korean team of Sungjae Im and Tom Kim at 12:11 p.m.

They are followed by Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley against Taylor Pendrith and Christiian Bezuidenhuit at 12:29 p.m. and then Cantlay and Burns who take on Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners at 12:47 p.m.

The Americans are sitting the 11th and 12th players in the Presidents Cup points list, Brian Harman and Max Homa.

Sitting the first day for the International squad are Mackenzie Hughes and Si Woo Kim.

The Presidents Cup is a four-day event that has five points available on Thursday and another five available on Friday in foursomes (alternate shot). There will be a double session on Saturday, with four fourball matches in the morning followed by four foursomes in the afternoon.

There are 12 singles matches on Sunday, with the U.S. needing 15 points to retain the Cup and the International side needing 15.5 to win it.