Presidents Cup golf: Tiger Woods paired with Justin Thomas

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- United States captain Tiger Woods picked himself to play alongside Justin Thomas against an International Team duo of Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann to tee off at the 2019 Presidents Cup.

The foursome will tee off at 5:32 p.m. EST Wednesday (9:32 a.m. Thursday local time) at Royal Melbourne Country Club in Melbourne, Australia. The four-day tournament begins with four-ball format, meaning each member of each two-man team plays his own ball. Each team counts the lowest of their players' two scores on each hole. The team with the lowest score wins the hole. If the low scores are tied, the whole is halved in points.

Thursday's (local time) slate includes five four-ball matches. American viewers can tune into the first round from 5:30 p.m. EST Wednesday to midnight Thursday on the Golf Channel.

The other first round matches include: Americans Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele against Adam Hadwin and Sung-jai Im; Americans Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland against Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen; Americans Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed against Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan; and Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau against Adam Scott and Ben An.

Americans Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar are sitting out for the four-ball session. Cameron Smith and Haotong Li are sitting out for the International squad.

Cantlay and Schauffele tee off at 5:47 p.m. EST Wednesday, after Woods and Thomas. DeChambeau and Finau follow at 6:02 p.m. Simpson and Reed tee off at 6:17 p.m. Johnson and Woodland tee off against Ancer and Oosthuizen at 6:32 p.m.

The tournament continues with five foursome matches in the second round, before breaking into four four-ball matches, four more foursome matches and ends with 12 singles matches.