With a third of the team hailing from these shores there will be no questioning the Australian contribution to the 11^th Presidents Cup which gets underway in Korea tomorrow.

Spearheaded by the Internationals’ highest
ranked player, Jason Day, there are three automatic qualifiers and a Captain’s
Pick representing Australia over the four days and they will be expected to
contribute plenty both on and off the course.

Adan Scott is the veteran of the side and
spiritual leader boasting easily the most appearances at the event, this his
seventh time representing the rest of the world side. Day and Charl Schwartzel
are the only other team members who have played more than once.

Marc Leishman makes his second start after
also playing in 2013 while Steven Bowditch is on debut after Nick Price made
him a Captain’s pick last month.

Publicly, Day is bearing much of the
pressure from the media after a barnstorming end to the PGA TOUR season which
included his first major title and three other wins in the space of six starts.

That dazzling form has many billing this
week as a showdown between the 27-year-old Queenslander and World Number 1
Jordan Spieth though with the Day One draw already announced, they won’t face
each other just yet.

Day will play with Steven Bowditch against
Phil Mickelson and Open Champion Zach Johnson while Spieth will team with
Dustin Johnson against Danny Lee and Marc Leishman.

In the team room it is Scott who most will
look to, the 2013 Masters champion not only a veteran of the matches but
surprisingly vocal about his disappointment at never being on a winning team.

Despite an up and down season and moving to
a short putter this week for the first time since a failed experiment in March,
Scott will naturally assume a leadership role in the team room and between he
and good friend Day they will garner plenty of respect from the rest of the
side.

Scott has been paired with Hideki Matsuyama
for the first day’s foursomes match, the pair coming up against the long
hitting combination of Bubba Watson and J.B Holmes.

Matsuyama and Scott combined well in 2013,
Price obviously feeling they can improve on their Muirfield Village form where
they won 1 ½ points from a possible four.

Marc Leishman’s two win/two loss record
from 2013 will have been a valuable learning tool for the always cool Victorian
and he will be glad of the experience as he pairs with rookie Danny Lee for the
first day’s foursomes.

The senior partner in the pairing, Leishman
will be under the pump as he tries to guide Lee through the roller coaster of
representing the International team on home turf while also trying to ward off
the fearsome team of Spieth and Dustin Johnson.

Johnson is one of the consistently longest
and straightest drivers of the ball in the game while Spieth is unquestionably
the world’s best putter, a perfect combination for the foursomes format.

Leishman, though, is known as one of the
coolest customers in the game and his unflappable nature will be a big asset in
what is likely to be a difficult, and important, match.

Rookie Steven Bowditch will have it a
little easier on the opening day in his pairing with Jason Day but will no
doubt be feeling plenty of nerves on the first tee.

The 32-year-old has taken his game to a new
level in the past two seasons and the honour of being selected to play for the
International team will not be lost on him, particularly against the formidable
combination of Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson.

A player capable of making lots of birdies,
Bowditch’s putter tends to dictate his scores and if the flat stick gets hot he
will be a dangerous proposition in any format and against any opponent.

Day, of course, is no stranger to pressure
golf and though he is the younger of the two will be the senior partner in the
on course pairing.

In a relatively inexperienced International
team Australia’s role will be crucial in the attempt to take down the
powerhouse US team for just the second time since the inception of the Cup in
1994.

On paper the Americans look too strong but
the next four days will determine what happens in the only place that matters
in these events: the grass of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea.