Mickelson-Kim to open Presidents Cup

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim will be the first American team on the course Thursday for the opening matches of the eighth Presidents Cup.

Mickelson and Kim were paired together for three matches during last year's American Ryder Cup win over Europe and will take on Tim Clark and Mike Weir in the first of Thursday's six foursomes matches.

Golfers from outside the United States and Europe join together to form the International Team and will take on the top Americans in 32 matches held over four days. This year's event will be played at the Harding Park course along the shore of San Francisco's Lake Merced.

The United States has won five of the previous seven competitions. The International Team won nine years ago in Australia and one meeting ended in a tie.

Adam Scott, chosen by International Team captain Greg Norman despite his poor play this year, will join Ernie Els in the second match, taking on Hunter Mahan and Sean O'Hair.

U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover will get his first taste of international team golf when he joins British Open champion Stewart Cink in facing Vijay Singh and Robert Allenby.

Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson will then go against Angel Cabrera and Camilo Villegas. Cabrera defeated Perry in a sudden death playoff at this year's Masters.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker will play against Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa, and the team of Jim Furyk-Justin Leonard will meet Retief Goosen and PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang.

Six more team matches will be held Friday and 10 will be held Saturday. There will be 12 singles matched played on Sunday.