Saturday 14 December 2019 05:56, UK
Tiger Woods has decided to break up a winning partnership and leave himself out of Saturday morning’s fourball matches at the Presidents Cup.
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Woods, only the second playing-captain in the tournament's history, won both of his matches alongside Justin Thomas over the first two days to help Team USA stay within three points of the International Team at Royal Melbourne.
The 15-time major champion, who led from the front to get the visitors off to a winning start in Thursday's fourballs, has instead selected Rickie Fowler to partner Thomas in the top match.
"It would be hard for me to go all the sessions," Woods said. "I've been fortunate enough to go out there with JT (Justin Thomas) and we've got two points.
"JT played great and Rickie [Fowler] played awesome this afternoon. They have been looking forward to playing with one another and they have had success before."
Fowler and Thomas will go up against Marc Leishman and China's Haotong Li, who makes his tournament debut after being left out by Ernie Els for the first two sessions.
Adam Scott, one of three players in the International side to have won in both sessions, partners Byeong Hun An as they face Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau in the second match of the day.
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele stay together after winning their foursomes match on Friday, taking on Sungjae Im and Abraham Ancer, while Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson will look to avoid a third consecutive defeat together when they play Hideki Matsuyama and CT Pan.
The International Team, looking to avoid an eighth straight defeat in the biennial contest, won the Thursday fourballs 4-1 and claimed a share of the spoils in the foursomes to take a 6.5-3.5 lead into the weekend.
The two sides will play two sessions on Saturday, switching to foursomes in the afternoon, with all 24 players then involved in the Sunday singles.
Woods also skipped the afternoon foursomes but said he was not injured and would play the singles.
"You have to do what's best for the team, and I'm getting ready for the singles tomorrow," he said.
Saturday fourballs (Timings GMT on Friday)
2002 Haotong Li/Marc Leishman v Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas
2016 Abraham Ancer/Sungjae Im v Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele
2030 C.T Pan/Hideki Matsuyama v Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed
2044 Byeong Hun An/Adam Scott v Tony Finau/Matt Kuchar
Watch the Presidents Cup throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 7pm on Sky Sports Golf and 11pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
