MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Mark O'Meara and David Duval, the best two players in America this year, will get a chance to keep their Presidents Cup record perfect.
O'Meara, the PGA Tour player of the year after winning the Masters and British Open, will be paired again with Duval, the leading money winner, in the first of five alternate-shot matches against the International team at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
O'Meara and Duval, 3-0 in the 1996 matches, will go up against Peter Thomson's two captains picks - Greg Turner and Frank Nobilo of New Zealand.
Thomson also decided to put his top two Australians together - Greg Norman and Steve Elkington - in the second match against John Huston and Jim Furyk. Norman and Elkington have never been paired together in the Presidents Cup, but won the Shark Shootout together last month in Norman's return to golf after shoulder surgery.
Tiger Woods, who went 1-2 while paired with O'Meara in the Ryder Cup last year, will be paired with Fred Couples in the marquee match - they'll go up against two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els and reigning PGA champion Vijay Singh.
Five alternate shot matches will be played Thursday evening (Friday morning in Australia), followed by five best-ball matches.
"I don't think there were any surprises," Nicklaus said. "It's pretty difficult to get a surprise pairing when you have 24 of the world's best players."
Unlike the Ryder Cup, every player must be in at least one match on the first day. Nicklaus decided to sit out Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia for the first batch of alternate-shot matches, while Joe Ozaki of Japan and Carlos Franco of Paraguay will sit for the International team.
Calcavecchia, on his first national team since the 1991 Ryder Cup, is 0-4 in alternate-shot matches and 4-0 in the best-ball matches. Mickelson is 1-3-1 in his alternate-shot matches in either the Presidents or Ryder Cup.
That's not to say Nicklaus spent the night tossing and turning about who will be paired together, or studying spread sheets of his squad's record in match play. He has said he would leave the pairings largely up to the players, and that's exactly how it turned out.
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