WOBURN, England – Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen joined England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick at the top of the British Masters leaderboard on Friday after both reached a 9-under total of 133 at the halfway stage.

Kjeldsen, who won the Irish Open earlier this year, made a 3-under 68 in his second round, while Fitzpatrick, the sole leader on day one, shot a 2-under 69.

Kjeldsen holed out from a greenside bunker 40 yards from the flag on the third hole, a par-4, which was his highlight of the round.

“It was not stress-free today,” Kjeldsen said. “I got off to a slow start and didn’t make the putts, then I hit a bad second shot on three and found the bunker but holed it.

“I focus on the sound when the club hits the sand. Straight away I felt I had a lovely sound to the shot and I managed to get up on the hill and watch it disappear.”

The 21-year-old Fitzpatrick again birdied 17 and 18 to maintain his first-place position on the leaderboard.

“It was pretty tough out there today for me, I didn’t feel like I hit it my best,” Fitzpatrick said. “I scored well coming in to shoot 69 and stay at the top.”

Fitzpatrick is chasing his first professional victory on the European Tour but is primarily focused on improving his world ranking of 111.

“I wouldn’t say it is something I am concentrating on (a first win), it is more one hole and one round at a time,” Fitzpatrick said. “If the one doesn’t come this week, but I keep moving up the world rankings, that is good enough for me.”

England’s Richard Bland, who needed treatment on the course for a back injury, is a shot behind, alongside Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Bridgestone Invitational winner Shane Lowry, of Ireland, is also in contention going into the weekend. He is two shots off the lead with 135.

“I’m pretty happy, I could have been a few shots better but I am in a good position going into the weekend,” Lowry said. “The two par-fives on the back nine were my front nine today and I didn’t make birdie, which is a little bit annoying.”

Tournament host Ian Poulter is five shots behind on a 4-under total of 138.

INCHEON, South Korea – The Presidents Cup wasn’t an hour old when Nick Price looked at the scoreboard and had that sinking feeling.

It was filled with American red.

And there wasn’t much Price or the International team could do about it Thursday in an opening session that ended just like so many others in this one-sided affair.

Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson capped off a performance that was as businesslike as their handshakes, and the Americans had a 4-1 lead after foursomes in which they never trailed in any match except the one they lost.

“A tough day for us,” Price said. “Having said that, we are only five points into 30. We still have another 25 points left out there. So we’ve got a long way to go, and that’s that I told my team. Just to keep their chins up and do the best they can tomorrow.”

The International team was adamant that the number of matches be reduced – it was lowered from 34 to 30 – to keep it a close contest. After one day, maybe having one less match on Thursday helped.

It could have been worse.

The Americans, who have lost the Presidents Cup only one time since it began in 1994 and are going for their sixth straight victory, had a lead after the opening session for the fifth straight time. The margin was their largest since a four-point lead in 2007 at Royal Montreal.

That makes the five matches of fourballs on Friday even more critical.

U.S. captain Jay Haas put Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson in the first match, followed by Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker.

“He’s going for the kill,” Price said. “If we get momentum going, it can change things.”

All the momentum belonged to the Americans on Thursday.

Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes ran off four straight birdies early in their match against Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, and that set the tone. They wound up winning a tight match when Scott and Matsuyama missed key putts and ended it on the 16th hole.

“That was my whole goal,” Watson said. “Get out there fast, change the color so the other guys see that and it sparks them going forward.”

Watson and Holmes didn’t deliver the first point. That came from Fowler and Walker, who are unbeaten as a team but picked up their first win. They halved their three matches at the Ryder Cup last year, and they had the shortest match at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, 5 and 4, over Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee.

The lone International victory came from Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace of South Africa, who took advantage of some sloppy play by Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed in a 3-and-2 victory. Kuchar hit a tee shot into the water on No. 11, and he hit a wedge so far on No. 14 that it didn’t even reach the creek.

Grace went 0-4 in his Presidents Cup debut two years ago, and the South Africans gave the International team at least some hope.

“I know we’re behind,” Grace said, glancing at a scoreboard behind him. “But one point is better than none.”

The Americans got help from top to bottom.

Spieth, coming off a year of two majors, the FedEx Cup and the No. 1 ranking, and Dustin Johnson made for a formidable duo. They set the tone early when Spieth holed a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 2, and Johnson stepped up on the next hole and hammered a tee shot nearly 350 yards.

They halved that hole, but a message was sent.

“Me hitting bomb drives, Jordan holing putts,” Johnson said. “That’s what you want to get in their heads.”

Johnson had a few wild drives, too, but they restored their cushion early on the back nine and coasted to a 4-and-3 victory.

Mickelson had to rely on a captain’s pick for the first time since the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. Players wanted him on the team for his experience and enthusiasm, and the Hall of Famer showed he was more than capable with a club in his hand. Mickelson holed a bunker shot on the par-3 13th to go 2 up, and he came up big with a key drive on the 18th with water down the right side.

Jason Day, coming off a five-win season that included his first major, did his part to extend the match. Day holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to keep alive hopes of at least earning a half-point. But on the closing par 5, Mickelson’s big drive set up nothing more than a 7-iron for Zach Johnson, and he put it 10 feet below the hole.

Day’s eagle putt from about 18 feet slid by on the left, and he and fellow Aussie Steven Bowditch conceded the eagle to Mickelson for a 2-up U.S. win.

“It’s tough when you go out there and you see all the red and we’re down,” Price said. “I’m certainly not despondent about the whole thing. I think this team is going to bounce back a lot quicker than maybe any of the other teams we’ve had. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.”

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Alison Lee shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with China’s Xi Yu Lin in the LPGA Malaysia, the 20-year-old American’s first event since her emotional Solheim Cup debut.

Lee birdied five of the first eight holes at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, and added birdies on Nos. 12 and 14. The UCLA student bogeyed the par-3 17th and – after rain and lightning delayed play more than three hours – got up-and-down for par on the par-4 18th.

In the Solheim Cup last month in Germany, Lee was in tears after Suzann Pettersen called for the American to be penalized for picking up her ball when she mistakenly thought a short putt had been conceded in the completion of a fourballs match. Infuriated, the U.S. rallied to beat Europe in the biggest comeback in event history, with Lee winning her singles match.

“Not only did we win, but just to be able to be there and participate and be a part of something so great like that and to go into history with the biggest comeback ever,” Lee said. “Definitely learned a lot from it.”

She has been busy off the course.

“Right after Solheim I took one day off and started school right away and did my apartment and bought books and went to class, did rush,” Lee said. “I don’t know how I’m sitting here right now. I don’t know how I survived, but I did it somehow. I feel like it’s all a great experience. I love still being in school.”

Lin three-putted the 18th for her only bogey.

“I guess I was a little too aggressive trying to make another birdie,” Lin said.

Michelle Wie was a stroke back along with defending champion Shanshan Feng, Yani Tseng and Chella Choi. Finally over hip and ankle injuries, Wie had eight birdies and three bogeys.

“Just feels so good to be out here and not thinking, ‘Oh, this swing is going to hurt my hip and my ankle,'” Wie said. “Just going out there and being actually able to hit balls and hit golf shots and play the way that I know I can.”

Feng dropped out of a tie for the lead when she three-putted the final hole for her lone bogey.

Top-ranked Inbee Park, the 2012 winner, was tied for 10th at 68. She won two majors this year and is tied with second-ranked Lydia Ko for the tour victory lead with four.

Ko had a 71. The 18-year-old New Zealander is coming off consecutive victories in the Canadian Women’s Open and Evian Championship, where she became the youngest major champion.

Pettersen opened with a 77. The Norwegian star had a double bogey and four bogeys.

The event is first of five straight in Asia. The LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship is next week in South Korea, followed by stops in Taiwan, China and Japan.

UXBRIDGE, Ont. — The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) has announced the seven boys and five girls who will comprise Team Ontario for 2016. The team met in full for the first time, Oct. 2-4 in Foot’s Bay, for their kickoff camp held at OviinByrd Golf Club.

The team is set for a full winter of training, which will include two camps in Florida, along with a camp/the Can-AM Matches during March Break in South Carolina. The camps will all be leading up to the start of the 2016 season, which will begin with the Team Ontario Cup in late April.

“The coaching staff and I are very excited to begin training with this very talented group of young athletes,” said GAO Manager of Sport Performance Mary Ann Hayward. “Several of the players already hold national and age category provincial titles and we are looking forward to raising their games to the next level and hopefully putting more Ontario players onto the National Development Team.”

This year’s team again highlights the quality of the GAO’s high performance programs as eleven members of the team are either returning to Team Ontario or are products of the GAO’s Regional (U17) Team Program.

With each new installment of the team, there are departures. Three 2015 members have graduated from the program and are furthering their career in the ranks of the NCAA. Unionville’s Max Sear is attending the University of West Virginia; Ruthven’s Alyssa Getty is at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Ridgeway’s Madeline Marck-Sherk is at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The 2016 version of team Ontario will feature five returning players:

• Jason Chung, 16, from Thornhill and Thornhill Golf & Country Club, coached by Charlie Woo.
• Monet Chun, 14, from Richmond Hill and The Summit Golf & Country Club, coached by Don Lee.
• Jackson Bowery, 17, from London and Greenhills Golf Club.
• Jake Bryson, 16, from Dunrobin and Eagle Creek Golf Club, coached by Kevin Haime.
• Isabella Portokalis, 14, from London and West Haven Golf & Country Club

Joining the returnees, are the following graduates of the GAO Regional Team Program:

• Lachlan O’Hara (Team York), 15, from Mississauga and Credit Valley Golf & Country Club, coached by Jeff Overholt and Jon Roy.
• Ty Celone (Team Ottawa), 16, from Long Sault and the Upper Canada Golf Course.
• Peyton Callens (Team Waterloo), 15, from Langton and Delhi Golf & Country Club, coached by Ralph Bauer.
• Sam Meek, (Team York – 2014), 17, from Peterborough and Kawartha Golf & Country Club, coached by Henry Brunton.
• Hailey McLaughlin, 14, from Markham and Cedar Brae Golf & Country Club, coached by Gord Burns.
• Alexandra Naumovski, (Team York – 2014), 18, from Halton Hills and Brampton Golf Club.

Rounding out the team is: Alyssa DiMarcantonio, 12, from Maple and Station Creek Golf Club, coached by Thomas Youn.

GAO Head Provincial Coach Reggie Millage, a Class ‘A’ PGA of Canada professional from Milton, leads the Team Ontario coaching staff. Millage enters his third season with the team. Also returning this year are Athletic Therapist Andrew Hoermann, Strength and Conditioning Coach Nick Martichenko and Mental Skills Coach Judy Goss.

The team is already an accomplished group and they will look for even more success in 2016. Some highlights from the 2015 season included: Chung – CN Future Links Quebec Champion and silver in the Ontario Juvenile Boys’ Championship; Callens – AJGA Junior All-Stars at Ravenwood Champion; Celone – CJGA Mizuno National Champion; McLaughlin – Ontario Bantam Girls and Women’s Four-Ball Champion; DiMarcantonio – Ontario Peewee Girls’ Champion, Bantam Tour Hidden Lake Champion and silver at the Ontario Bantam Girls’ Championship; Chun – Ontario Junior Girls’ Match Play Champion, silver at the Ontario Juvenile Girls’ Championship and bronze at the Spring Classic; Naumovski – silver at the Ontario Junior Girls’ Championship; Meek – Bronze at the Ontario Junior Boys’ Championship; Bowery – Bronze at the Spring Classic; and Portokalis – bronze at the Ontario Bantam Girls’ Championship.

Looking ahead Team Ontario will train indoors during the winter months at Peak Performance Golf in Vaughan. ClubLink’s TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Florida will host Team Ontario training camps in January and February.  During March-break, the team will head to the Wachesaw Plantation Club in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina for a training camp as well as to take part in the Can-Am Matches, an annual team-match event between the top junior golfers from Ontario and South Carolina.

INCHEON, South Korea – Comparing the Presidents Cup to the Ryder Cup is like listening to a conversation between a Scot and an American.

The words might be similar, but they sound nothing alike.

The biggest difference with the Presidents Cup is an American team that is filled with smiles, not stress. And there’s a reason for that. The Americans haven’t lost in these matches since 1998, and the last four have not been particularly close.

They walk taller. They worry less.

Jordan Spieth has played in one of each in his short but already stellar career, and it was hard not to notice the contrast between the two cups.

“It seems there is a bit of a difference in the two teams rooms in the Presidents Cup experience I’ve had and the Ryder Cup last year,” Spieth said Wednesday. “Almost like we put too much emphasis on the Ryder Cup instead of just freeing up to play our own game.”

Ryder Cup practice rounds felt like dress rehearsals. Presidents Cup practice rounds feel like a Tuesday money game on tour.

“We feel like the favorites,” Spieth said. “We’re walking around with cockiness in our step, and often that can bite you if you’re not careful, but we’re aware of that. But the point is, we’re out there smiling because we believe whatever matchup we want to put together, we believe we can beat the other team.”

The Americans, who have won the Ryder Cup only one time in the last 16 years, go after their sixth straight victory in the Presidents Cup when the matches get started Thursday at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

Adam Scott, who has yet to play on a winning Presidents Cup team in six previous tries, and Hideki Matsuyama lead off the foursomes session against J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson, two of the longest hitters in golf.

Spieth and Dustin Johnson are in the anchor match against Marc Leishman and Danny Lee.

A lively opening ceremony Wednesday night, which featured South Korean President Park Geun-hye and former President George W. Bush, began with great suspense when a secret box was carried onto the stage. It was carefully opened to reveal the shiny gold Presidents Cup trophy.

But there really hasn’t been much suspense at all.

The last time it was close was in 2003 at South Africa when it ended in a tie after Ernie Els and Tiger Woods matched pars in three sudden-death playoff holes before it was too dark to continue. Jack Nicklaus was the captain that year, and he mentioned that Presidents Cup in a speech Wednesday night. Nicklaus referred to it as the greatest sporting event in which he had ever taken part.

“We have that opportunity again this week,” Nicklaus said.

The Presidents Cup has lacked the rancor of the Ryder Cup, which is inevitable when it’s a competition between two tours (PGA and Europe) instead of the Americans against an International team in which all but one player – Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand – is or will be a PGA Tour member.

“They’re all Americans, they were just born in a different country,” U.S. assistant captain Fred Couples said.

This is the first Presidents Cup without Woods since 1996 when he was a 20-year-old playing on sponsor exemptions to avoid going to Q-school. Els didn’t qualify and didn’t feel worthy of a pick, so he is out for the first time since 2005.

Price has an International team that is the youngest ever despite the 45-year-old Thongchai. The captain is worried that if the Presidents Cup is another blowout, even some of the players might start losing interest.

What might give these matches a little edge is a debate over the number of matches, which were reduced from 34 to 30 this year in a decision that left neither team happy. The International team wanted it lowered to 28, like the Ryder Cup. The Americans wanted it to stay at 34.

Price believes the fewer the matches, the more likely it is to come down to the last day.

Whether that makes a difference depends largely on the one aspect that doesn’t change no matter what kind of cup is involved. It’s about making putts, winning holes and piling up points.

“We don’t have a crystal ball, and anything can happen in this game,” Scott said. “But I believe we’re moving closer to a great competition.”

MISSISSAUGA — The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) announced the recipients of the 2015 Volunteer Awards on October 5, as par of the annual Volunteer Appreciation Day held this year at Mississaugua Golf & Country Club.

The GAO volunteer recognition program has been designed to recognize outstanding performances and contributions by volunteers who have played an instrumental role in promoting the growth and development of amateur golf throughout the province of Ontario, while preserving the integrity and traditions of the game.

“Our volunteer team in Ontario is second to none and their dedication to the growth of the sport is inspiring,” said GAO Interim Executive Director Mike Kelly. “From course rating to championships to committee work, volunteers move our association forward with passion and for that we are grateful.”

This year, the GAO presented two Honourary Life Director Awards, two Dick Grimm Distinguished Service Awards, the Volunteer of the Year Award and the District Volunteer of the Year Award.

Honourary Life Director Awards — Bill Muzak & Jim Bristow
Honourary Life Directors are recognized for their outstanding achievements through their involvement as a Committee and Board Member. This year the GAO chose to recognize a pair of individuals who have made tremendous contributions to the association and golf in the province.

Bill Muzak, a resident of Baden, can often be seen and heard at many GAO events as a starter welcoming players and guests to the tee at tournaments. He has been volunteering as a Tournament Official since 2001. He also served on the Board of Directors from 2008 to 2014 during which time he sat on numerous board and operating committees.

Jim Bristow, from London, is a past Ontario Golf Association President (1996) and has been a volunteer with the GAO since 2002. He is a level 4 Rules Official, but also works as a Site Coordinator, Senior Rules Official and currently serves on the GAO’s Finance/Risk Committee.

Dick Grimm Distinguished Service Award — Randy Millage & Kathy Hill
The Dick Grimm Distinguished Service Award is considered the highest honour recognizing individual service to the game of golf in Ontario. The award is named after Richard H. Grimm, who was affectionately known as “Mr. Canadian Open” for his service to the event from 1965 to 1993. The GAO’s Dick Grimm Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual’s meritorious service as a volunteer. Recipients of this award embody the principles of integrity, dignity and commitment, which are central to the volunteer experience and to Mr. Grimm’s persona.

Kathy Hill, a Mississauga resident, has been a course rater for more than 20 years. She has been a Team Leader and Chair of the Handicap & Course Rating Committee and is designated as a Master Course Rater. Throughout her time volunteering with the GAO, Hill has shown strong leadership and interpersonal skills. She has taken on additional responsibilities in the form of recruiting and training new course raters and has always been willing to help out when called upon.

Randy Millage, from Ennismore, has been involved in golf in the province since 1980. His work has concentrated on junior programs that began out of his home club: the Peterborough Golf & Country Club. He has also served as club president and on numerous club committees. Millage teamed up with the GAO in order to organize junior events. The events helped to open doors for junior golfers by making connections with NCAA schools. Millage is also a Certified Rules Official and has been a Site Coordinator at GAO qualifiers and championships for many years.

Volunteer of the Year — Pat Newman
The GAO Volunteer of the Year Award has been designed to recognize and honour a GAO volunteer who has demonstrated outstanding performance and contributions while preserving the integrity and traditions of the game.

Pat Newman, a native of Collingwood, has been a GAO volunteer since 2007. As a dedicated Rules Official, Newman has demonstrated his leadership skills in that role along with the positions of Senior Rules Official and Site Coordinator. One of Newman’s greatest accomplishments happened in 2014 when he took on the task of writing and introducing the GAO qualifying manual. It became evident that the manual is a valuable resource for new and returning volunteers and has provided consistency at qualifiers that are operated by volunteers.

District Volunteer of the Year — Shirley Egerton
The District Volunteer of the Year Award has been designed to recognize those volunteers who embody the spirit of volunteerism and have shown dedication by making a significant contribution in promoting, supporting and expanding amateur golf within their district.

Shirley Egerton, who lives in Bath, has been volunteering with the GAO since 2009 as a Tournament Official and has been the Kingston District Coordinator since 2013. Egerton has fully embraced her district community and has taken a special interest in promoting and supporting junior golf in the district. She is always available to help and takes time to mentor new volunteers at qualifiers and championships.

The GAO congratulates all of the 2015 award winners and thanks all of the volunteers who put in countless hours to make GAO events successful.

INCHEON, South Korea – Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson battled at Chambers Bay in the U.S. Open. They will be partners in South Korea at the Presidents Cup.

Spieth and Johnson will be in the anchor match of foursomes Thursday against Danny Lee of New Zealand and Marc Leishman of Australia when the Presidents Cup begins at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

Spieth had a successful partnership with Patrick Reed at the Ryder Cup last year, and Johnson and Matt Kuchar won both their team matches at the 2012 Ryder Cup. Now they’ve swapped. Kuchar will be with Reed in the second of five matches against Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace of South Africa.

U.S. captain Jay Haas says Spieth and Johnson wanted to play together. He says whatever Spieth wants, Spieth gets.

INCHEON, South Korea – Phil Mickelson studied the line of the putt from both sides, and then he stood over an imaginary golf ball about halfway to the hole and gently swung his putter to make sure he had the right read.

And it wasn’t even his shot.

“The first part is going to slide to the right,” he told Presidents Cup rookie Chris Kirk, “and then it’s going to try to move back to the left.”

Kirk narrowly missed the putt, and Mickelson winced.

This was more than just one of his money games on a Tuesday at a big event. Mickelson had yet another rookie under his wing, relishing in his role as the guy who has played the Presidents Cup as many times as the U.S. captain (Jay Haas) and two of his assistants (Fred Couples and Steve Stricker).

“His experience is huge,” Jimmy Walker said. “He’s playing with Chris Kirk and he’s telling him things throughout – the history of his play, little tidbits here, something that might help Chris down the road in the next couple days. So I think that’s what really helps.”

The history of Mickelson in the Presidents Cup is extensive.

He has never missed one since it began in 1994, and this might be the most special of all. He was 30th in the U.S. standings and needed a captain’s pick to join the Americans at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. Haas sought the opinion of the players who qualified, and it became an easy choice.

“Across the board, the players were all in when we were texting and talking to them,” Haas said. “The captains, certainly, were all about Phil. … You could say, ‘Well, his play didn’t warrant being a consideration’ and all that. But I don’t know that you can put a value on what he means to the players and the demeanor he brings into the team room.”

He showed that much at the first team dinner Monday night.

Mickelson dressed for the occasion in flag pants, which look like pajama bottoms with a Stars & Stripes pattern.

“I asked him if he was cooking because it looked like something a chef would wear,” Walker said. “American flag pants. It was great.”

For all the incessant trash talking, side bets and laughs, there is a serious side to this Presidents Cup for Mickelson. He is proud of his streak – his 21st consecutive time playing in the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup – he was as much a player’s pick as a captain’s pick.

“That meant more to me than anything, and I’m appreciative of the chance to have felt how that feels to be wanted by the other players,” Mickelson said. “And it was very emotional for me when I found out. It makes me just want to play hard and so anything I can to help us succeed.”

That hasn’t been a problem for the Americans in the Presidents Cup. They haven’t lost this match against the International team (players from everywhere outside the United States except for Europe) since 1998 at Royal Melbourne, and they have won every time since a tie in South Africa.

Mickelson became the first American to go 0-5 in South Africa in 2003, a forgettable year in which his wife nearly died giving birth to their third child and Mickelson failed to win a PGA Tour event for only the second time in his career. Jack Nicklaus was the captain of that U.S. team, and he marveled later about how Mickelson remained upbeat all week despite not winning a match.

“He is the Alpha dog,” Zach Johnson said. “He does have kind of that mentality of, ‘You know what? I’ve done it and I know what it’s about.’ But there’s also a significant selflessness there. In other words, he knows he’s just 1-12th of the team. When you have a leader that gets that, that’s pretty awesome.”

Mickelson doesn’t see it that way. He just wants to win points.

He has a 20-16-11 record, tied with Tiger Woods for the most points contributed at the Presidents Cup. He doesn’t see his role much differently now, even though he is being looked upon as much as an inspiration and as a Hall-of-Famer with 45 victories worldwide.

“If he wins all his points, he’s a real good leader,” Bubba Watson joked. “No, it’s like having another assistant. He understands what it takes. He’s had the experience. He’s had the bad and the good. When he speaks, everybody listens.”

Even when he’s trying to bring some humor?

“He brings it all,” Watson said. “And if it’s not that funny, you just laugh because you feel bad for him.”

INCHEON, South Korea – The battle at the Presidents Cup began Tuesday even before the first match.

U.S. captain Jay Haas still doesn’t understand why the number of matches was reduced from 34 to 30 for this year’s event, meaning he has to sit eight players over three days of team matches.

“You look at our lineup, and it’s hard to sit guys,” Haas said.

He has another powerful squad at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea with his son, Bill, having the worst world ranking at No. 29. That’s still higher than seven players on the International team.

International captain Nick Price remains disappointed that PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem only reduced the number of matches to 30. He said his players lobbied strongly this summer to make it 28 matches, just as it is at the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup.

“The Presidents Cup should be on an apples-to-apples basis,” Price said. “We seem to think looking at the past that the most excitement there is in an event is when you have a 28-point format. I think the Solheim Cup showed that two weeks ago. So that’s something that I think the guys who are going to play … will continue to push for that.”

Americans have believed for years that fewer matches allow a weaker team to hide players. They used to say that about the Ryder Cup, which for years was close even when it appeared the Americans had the stronger team.

Price said fewer matches allowed for more strategy in team play, and it kept the competition from getting out of hand.

He could easily have been speaking of his own experience in the Presidents Cup, because it hasn’t been close for a decade. Ever since a tie in South Africa in 2003, the Americans not only have won the last five times, they have won by an average score of 19-15.

Going back to the inaugural event in 1994, only once has the International team won. That was in Australia in 1998, which was played two weeks before Christmas.

“I think we’ve seen in the past that the Presidents Cup needs more excitement,” Price said. “It needs to be more closely contested. Certainly most of us on the International team feel that hasn’t been the case the last five or six Presidents Cups.”

It could use some tension in the final hour Sunday, so maybe this argument will spark even a smidgen of acrimony.

The Presidents Cup begins Thursday with five matches of foursomes (alternate shot), meaning two players from each team won’t compete on the opening day. Five matches of fourballs (better ball) follow on Friday, with two more players having to sit.

On Saturday, there will be four matches of foursomes in the morning and four matches of fourballs in the afternoon, leading to the 12 singles matches.

Previously, everyone played on Thursday and Friday, and only two players sat out the morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday.

“There’s a lot more strategy involved when you have to sit guys out,” Price said. “And some people think that you’re hiding the weakest players, but in actual fact, what you’re doing is putting your strongest team forward. It’s a glass half-full or glass half-empty, depends which way you look at it.”

All Haas sees are 12 players who flew halfway around the world and will have to sit out a match or two. The new rule requires everyone play at least three times by the end of the week.

“I didn’t look at it as playing your strong players more,” Haas said. “I guess the U.S. team over the years at the Ryder Cup it was, ‘Oh, they’re hiding players.’ That’s maybe sour grapes. It will be harder because all 12 used to play Thursday and Friday, and now we sit two. If teams lose, who do you sit? Before, you just go out there and do it.

“We’ll see,” Haas added. “We’re having … not issues or anything like that, but more thought involved to do it the right way. We’re trying not to screw it up.”

The Americans only have one player – Chris Kirk – who has never competed in a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. The International side has five rookies, which might not be the worst thing for Price. A year ago, the U.S. sailed to an 18 1/2-15 1/2 victory at Muirfield Village.

“Some of the veterans who have played in numerous Presidents Cups, they have had a tough time in the past I think, certainly at Muirfield, getting them motivated, because it’s been a bit one-sided,” Price said. “So I think with the points changed now, I think the guys are looking forward to this a lot more than any of the previous two or three.”