Spieth and Johnson to face Lee and Leishman on opening day of Presidents Cup

World number one Jordan Spieth is in action on the opening day of the Presidents Cup ©Getty Images

World number one Jordan Spieth of the United States will team up with Dustin Johnson against New Zealander Danny Lee and Australian Marc Leishman on the opening day of foursome matches at the Presidents Cup, which gets underway at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon tomorrow.

The contest is the last to take place in the first session of the event, which sees a team from the United States take on an International side, made up of players from non-European nations.

The draw was made today before the respective captains, Jay Haas for the Americans and Nick Price of the International team, chose who will face each other.

“Jordan and Dustin, they have been wanting this for a while, wanting this pairing,” Haas said.

“And what Jordan wants, Jordan gets right now.

“We wanted to get Jordan what he wanted here early on and maybe that can happen down the road."

The draw also pitted Jason Day of Australia, who recently held the number one ranking following his victory at the BMW Championship in Chicago, and compatriot Steven Bowditch against American veteran Phil Mickelson and partner Zach Johnson.

Australia’s Adam Scott and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who played together at the 2013 event in Dublin, will go up against J.B Holmes and two-times Masters winner Bubba Watson in the first match of the competition.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye was in attendance at the Opening Ceremony of the Presidents Cup ©Getty Images

Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed then face South African duo Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen, who won The Open in 2012, before Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand make their bow at the competition for the Internationals against Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker.

Both teams will compete for points over the four days of competition, which has a similar format to that of the Ryder Cup, held every two years between the United States and Europe.

Fourball matches will be held on Saturday (October 10) before 12 singles matches are scheduled for Sunday.

The United States have been the dominant force at the event in recent times, winning eight of the previous 10 tournaments with one tie, and their only defeat came in Melbourne in 1988.

Nicklaus, the 18-times major winner, says he is “proud” that the tournament will take place on a course named after him and one which he helped design.

“It's a nice little golf course and I am proud of it,” the American said.

“I think the players will enjoy playing it.

“I went out this morning and the golf course is in fantastic condition - the greens are perfect.”