U.S. heavy favorite in Presidents Cup

DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The 10th Presidents Cup gets under way Thursday with the United States a heavy favorite to defeat a team of international stars led by Adam Scott.

Scott, second to Tiger Woods, is the only member of the International Team among the Top 15 in the world rankings.

A dozen players from each side will battle in 34 matches over four days at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course that hosts a PGA Tour event each May.

Six fourball matches will be played Thursday, six foursomes matches will take place Friday and five matches of each type will be conducted on Saturday. The event ends on Sunday with 12 singles matches.

The United States has a 7-1-1 record in the previous nine editions of a competition pitting the Americans against players from around the world exclusive of Europe.

Half of the International Team is from South Africa, three are from Australia and there is one each from Canada, Japan and Argentina.

The opening match Thursday will begin at 11:45 a.m. with Americans Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker taking on Jason Day and Graham DeLaet.

With the matches then starting at 14-minute intervals, the rest of the opening day pairings include Bill Haas and Webb Simpson vs. Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley vs. Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwarzel, Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth vs. Ernie Els and Brandon de Jonge, Matt Kuchar and Woods vs. Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman and Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson vs. Branden Grace and Richard Sterne.