Golf has reached the team portion of the fall schedule, and the sport’s biggest names are back in action for one of the few times they’ll play until next season. This year, Team USA faces the International Team at Medinah Country Club in Chicago, Illinois. The Presidents Cup offers a unique chance to see the players work together and usually proves dramatic and memorable. Let’s dive into the matchup and look through the many available options to pinpoint a few of my best bets for Thursday’s action from DraftKings Sportsbook.
The Presidents Cup format closely mirrors the Ryder Cup but gives players outside Europe a chance to compete as part of the International Team against Team USA. It alternates years with the Ryder Cup, filling this important slot in the fall schedule. Team USA has won 10 straight Presidents Cups, and the International Team hasn’t won since 1998 in Australia. Overall, Team USA is 13-1-1 since the event began in 1994.
On Thursday, the teams will compete in five fourball (best ball) matches, with the first match beginning at 12:35 p.m. ET. In best ball matches, two American players will face a team of two International players. Each golfer plays their own ball throughout the match. Each team takes the lowest score between the two players on each hole. It’s a match-play format, with each match worth one point and teams playing for a total of five points this Thursday. To win, a team must secure 15.5 points over the week.
In this post, we’ll focus on my three best bets for Thursday’s action at the Presidents Cup.
Fourballs Day 1 Winner – USA (-174)
The Americans are extremely heavy favorites to win the event overall (-420), so getting them to take the lead after Day 1 at -174 actually feels like good value. The players’ individual rankings definitely tilt toward Team USA, with eight players in the top 11 of the Official World Golf Rankings. Meanwhile, the International team has just one player in the top 20. Team USA’s average rank is around 16th in the world, while the International Team is around 50th.
Team USA is starting the day with a dynamite pairing of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, and if they can secure a win, they’ll be off to a great start. Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im won’t back down, but if Scheffler and Burns are in form, they should cruise to a win and start the U.S. ahead. Even if the International Team can claim a point or two with an upset, I don’t see them pulling off three upsets and taking the win for the day. The American firepower is just a little too much for them in the matches listed below.
Justin Thomas/Jackson Koivun over Corey Conners/Nico Echavarria (-156)
The Americans are pairing the youngest player in the Presidents Cup, Jackson Koivun, with veteran Justin Thomas. Thomas is 10-3-2 overall in Presidents Cup play and an impressive 6-0-0 in fourball. Thomas and Koivun have played practice rounds together all week, and Koivun has said Thomas has become his mentor.
The duo should be a formidable pair after a strong season for both; Thomas finished 43rd in the FedExCup Standings, while Koivun finished 67th. Koivun got his first PGA TOUR win at the 3M Open and posted six straight top-31 finishes, including his win in Minnesota and his T5 last week at the Biltmore Championship Asheville. His current form, along with Thomas’s success and experience, puts them in a great spot against Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria.
Echavarria also won on the PGA TOUR this year, finishing 45th in the FedExCup Standings, while Conners finished 59th. He had only one top-10 finish in his 22 tournaments. Conners is 2-7-0 in his Presidents Cup history, while Echavarria is making his debut like Koivun.
I give the advantage to Team USA on both the rookie and the veteran in this pairing, so I think they’ll earn the full point.
Si Woo Kim/Tom Kim over Chris Gotterup/Patrick Cantlay (+112)
While the International team may not have the depth to match the Americans, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim have proven special in the past, and the International squad is using them as closers on Thursday against Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay. This match is the International team’s best chance to get a point.
Si Woo Kim is the highest-ranked player on the International side, and he had a great PGA TOUR season even though he didn’t win. He finished in the top 10 in 11 of his 24 starts, including three runner-up finishes. He is 6-5-0 in his Presidents Cup history, and is 3-0-0 in four balls. Si Woo will be paired with Tom Kim, who is 3-5-1 overall in Presidents Cup action but serves as a great agitator for the International Team. The match play format suits him, and he always puts on a great show, especially when he works with Si Woo Kim. Tom Kim had a strong summer on the PGA TOUR, including a win at the Genesis Scottish Open and a run to the TOUR Championship.
On the Team USA side of this matchup, Gotterup is making his Presidents Cup debut after a great season in which he won three times and finished in the top five of the last two events in the FedExCup Playoffs. He’ll be paired with Cantlay, one of the most experienced Americans, who comes in with a sterling 10-4-0 record in the Presidents Cup. Cantlay and Gotterup are no pushovers, but Cantlay hasn’t won an individual event in a long time and doesn’t bring as much momentum as many of the players on Team USA.
