In summary

  • Min Woo Lee has been paired with Sungjae Im to face world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in the opening four-ball match at Medinah.
  • International captain Geoff Ogilvy called Lee's name out first for the pairings and plans to use him more than his two outings in Montreal in 2024.
  • Adam Scott, making a record 12th Presidents Cup appearance, will pair with Ryan Fox to take on Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa.

Min Woo Lee declared himself a “better player” than when he made his Presidents Cup debut and he’ll need to be after being handed the monster assignment of taking world No.1 Scottie Scheffler down on the opening day at Medinah.

International captain Geoff Ogilvy forecast using Lee more than the two outings he had in a losing team effort at Montreal in 2024 and called his name out first when pairings for the opening four-ball matches were confirmed.  

Lee, 28, will play with Korean Sungjae Im, the team’s highest ranked player against Scheffler and Sam Burns.

It was a bold call from the captain but Lee, who grew up playing matchplay, a staple of amateur golf competitions in Australia, said he couldn’t wait to make his mark on the contest.  

He said it allowed him to be “aggressive” and without fear, a state the Internationals need to play in order to end the dominance of the USA.

“Yeah. I love match play. It’s been a while since we’ve played match play. It’s not like a normal thing for us. But when we’re an amateur, we played so much of it,” he said.

“I really enjoyed it. Most of our big tournaments are match play. Yeah, looking forward to get back into it. I guess you can be a bit more aggressive, especially when you’re playing best ball, you got a treatment as well.

“But I think just having the freedom of another player and the next hole is a fresh start, I can go and play aggressive. That's how I normally play. Yeah, stroke play is obviously one of our normal events.”

Lee is part of a new generation of players who have grown up watching the Presidents Cup, and like making the Olympic team, made it a target.

Min Woo Lee is ready to cook at Medinah. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

He was only used twice by captain Mike Weir in Montreal, but Lee said he was not just better for that experience, but legitimately a better player now too, having broken into the world’s top 30.

“It was a great experience. I wish I played more. I only got to play two days, the first day and the singles. So only one of the team format,” he said.

“But I know I'm a little bit better player than last time, and I guess that egged me on to become a better player.

“I wanted to be a big part of this team, and I wanted to play every day, and hopefully I can. But, yeah. I mean, it was a great experience with the boys. It's one of my favorite weeks.

“Although the results aren't the way we wanted to last time. It was still just such a fun week. So hopefully we can be close at the end.”

Asked if he was ready to “cook”, Lee was adamant.

“Yes,” he said.

“We are. I am. Yes, I am.”

His veteran Australian teammate, Adam Scott, who is making a record 12th Presidents Cup appearance, will also be sent out on the opening day, pairing up with Open champion Ryan Fox to take on US Open champion Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa.

Lee said Scott was the “backbone” of the team, and they wanted to win for him after 11 losses.

“I feel like I need to step up, too, to make him not feel like he has something to prove,” he said.

“You know, he's done so much for golf and international golf. Like he just -- we just want him to forget about the golf and just forget about the outside of golf and just play golf. We know he's a great golfer.

“So if he can just do that without the pressures, that would be great.”

The International team went down 5-0 after a horror opening day in Montreal two years ago, something Ogilvy said couldn’t happen again as his team looks for just a second victory in the 16th staging of the event.   

“Better than Thursday last time would be good,” Ogilvy replied when asked about a preferred score line on the opening day.

“Look, we would love to be in front, obviously. Have a winning session. I think every team on every side would always like to win a session. I mean, that’s the job tomorrow is to win a session.

“I’m sure we’ll be in good moods either way, but the goal would be to win the session.”

ROUND ONE FOUR-BALL MATCHES

2.35am AEST - Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns (USA) vs. Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im (INT)

2.53am AEST - Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele (USA) vs. Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune (INT)

3.11am AEST - Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun (USA) vs. Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria (INT)

3.29am AEST - Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa (USA) vs. Adam Scott and Ryan Fox (INT)

3.47am AEST - Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay (USA) vs. Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim (INT)