Couples puts his faith in the union

GOLF PRESIDENTS CUP:USA CAPTAIN Fred Couples believes his team's greater experience and a shared nationality will be the keys to continued success over the Internationals at this week's Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

Couples will lead the United States at Harding Park, having adopted a team from Jack Nicklaus which has lost only once and tied once in seven meetings in the Ryder Cup-style event with the Internationals, led this week for the first time by Greg Norman.

"Like Greg, we have great team players," Couples said. "We have great guys, a lot of guys, probably more so on my team have played in more Presidents Cups, so they know what's going on. We have hit on this a bunch.

"He's got guys from other countries, other places, so it's a little more difficult. I think we all understand that.

"But for myself, my team is out there having a great time just like Greg had talked about his team enjoying it. The team room has been phenomenal. We have all been here only a day, but I've been here since Friday night with a couple of guys. Thursday can't get here quick enough for me."

Norman admitted his team (comprised of players outside the US and Europe) drawn from his native Australia, South Africa, Canada, Colombia, Argentina and South Korea, was lacking in a shared identity but the language problem was not a major concern.

"From our perspective, my perspective, you just have to make sure they feel included with everything," said Norman. "And when you have a conversation, you have to make sure they know exactly what you're saying.

"You would probably be surprised, some of them, you probably think they don't speak good English or they don't understand what's going on; these guys, they know what's going on," he said with a laugh.

"So it's very easy. My responsibility is to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

Norman has three rookies in his side - Camilo Villegas of Colombia, shock US PGA champion YE Yang of Korea and Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa.

Yang is brimming with confidence following his final-round heroics at Hazeltine in August when he overhauled Tiger Woods to become the first Asian-born major champion, and he said he would relish a return battle with the world number one in Sunday's singles.

"Tiger is going to probably come out with a vengeance if he is teamed up against me the final day," Yang said. "I will try to play with a similar strategy to try and play my own game, and I won't try to force anything."

For his part, Woods, the newly-crowned FedEx Cup champion, was more concerned with the intricacies of the alternate-shot foursomes and better-ball fourball formats.

"Alternate-shot my record has been good," Woods said. "It's been fourball where it has not been as good as I would like to have it. It's just one of those things where you've got to make birdies at the right time and make a lot of them. I've played matches where I've shot 63 in fourball and have lost."

Galaxy of stars US and International teams and management

US TEAM

Captain: Fred Couples

Assistant captain: Jay Haas

Players:

1 Tiger Woods

2 Phil Mickelson

3 Steve Stricker

4 Kenny Perry

5 Zach Johnson

6 Stewart Cink

7 Sean O'Hair

8 Jim Furyk

9 Anthony Kim

10 Justin Leonard

Captain's picks:

Lucas Glover

Hunter Mahon

INTERNATIONAL TEAM

Captain: Greg Norman (Aus)

Assistant captain: Frank Nobilo (Nzl)

Players:

1 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)

2 Vijay Singh (Fij)

3 Camilo Villegas (Col)

4 Retief Goosen (Rsa)

5 Ernie Els (Rsa)

6 Angel Cabrera (Arg)

7 Mike Weir (Can)

8 Robert Allenby (Aus)

9 YE Yang (S Kor)

10 Tim Clark (Rsa)

Captain's picks:

Adam Scott (Aus)

Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)

DETAILS

Course: Harding Park, San Francisco, California. 7, 137 yards, par 71.

On TV: Eurosport from 8pm.

SCHEDULE

Thursday: Six foursomes matches, starting at 8.10pm (Irish time).

Friday: Six fourballs (6.55pm).

Saturday: Five foursomes (3.35pm), five fourballs (8.05pm).

Sunday: Twelve singles (5.25pm).

Singles matches all square after 18 holes will be played until there is a winner unless overall result is decided.

Opening foursomes

Thursday's opening foursomes (Irish times, US names first)

8.10pm: Kim/ Mickelson v Weir (Can)/Clark (Rsa)

8.22pm:Mahan/O'Hair v Scott (Aus)/ Els (Rsa)

8.34pm: Glover/Cink v Singh (Fij)/Allenby (Aus)

8.46pm: Perry/Johnson v Cabrera (Arg)/Villegas (Col)

8.58pm: Woods/Stricker v Ogilvy (Aus)/Ishikawa (Jap)

9.10pm: Furyk/Leonard v Goosen (Rsa)/Yang (SKor)