The United States could find it even harder to win this week's third President's Cup than they did two years ago, when their margin was a mere single point.
Because they do not have home advantage for the first time in the brief history of the Ryder Cup style clash against the "internationals" from outside Europe, the US team despite their strength could struggle this time.
The first two editions in 1994 and 1996 were staged at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainsville, Virginia, the US team winning 20-12 and 16 1/2 - 15 1/2. Fred Couples sank the winning putt both times, in 1996 from 25 feet for birdie on the 17th hole against Vijay Singh.
This time the venue is Royal Melbourne, a tough par-72, 6,981 yard layout where the greens are fast and ferocious and where the weather is forecast to be hot and windy.
Though the internationals are eager to win after closing the gap so much in 1996, the two teams have adopted a friendly approach while insisting they don't want the event to take on the same fanatical feel of the Ryder Cup between the US and Europe.
"But that doesn't mean we don't want to win," said Australian Peter Thomson, the captain of the international team. "It'll be different matter when they get on the course."
The US team comprises nine of the 12 players who lost the Ryder Cup match against Europe least year, including world number one Tiger Woods.
He, for one, is enjoying the laidback approach here as opposed to the pressure-cooker atmosphere in Valderrama a year ago. "This is how it should be," he said.
US captain Jack Nicklaus paired Woods, who is in his first President's Cup, alongside Couples in Friday's opening foursomes despite the expectation that the youngster would play with close friend Mark O'Meara, the Masters and British Open champion.
"I paired them together because they wanted me to, it's as simple as that," Nicklaus explained.
"When you've got 24 of the world's best players together it's not that hard to make the pairings. You really just try and make everyone happy."
Woods and Couples, who has won six of his previous seven President's Cup matches, will meet Ernie Els of South Africa and Fiji's Vijay Singh in the most mouthwatering of today's five opening matches.
The first of the foursomes, when teams of two take alternate shots on the same ball, will be played between O'Meara and David Duval and New Zealanders Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner.
Five fourballs will be played in the afternoon in which the two players from each side left out of the foursomes must see action, according to the rules of the President's Cup, an event launched to give the world's best non-European players the chance to play the US in a team event.
Five more foursomes and fourball matches will be played tomorrow with 12 singles matches on Sunday.
The other morning matches see Australians Greg Norman and and Steve Elkington up against Jim Furyk and John Huston, Shigeki Maruyama of Japan and Australia's Craig Parry against Lee Janzen and Scott Hoch and Stuart Appleby and Nick Price against Davis Love III and Justin Leonard.
Phil Mickleson and Mark Calcavecchia were left out of the US team for the foursomes with Japan's Joe Ozaki and Paraguay's Carlos Franco rested from the international team.
