World Cup of Golf: Ranking the 28 Teams

No. 19 — Netherlands: Joost Luiten (60), Darius van Driel (380)

No. 18 — New Zealand: Danny Lee (62) and Ryan Fox (158)

No. 17 — China: Haotong Li (131) and Wu Ashun (171)

No. 16 — Canada: David Hearn (142) and Adam Hadwin (181)

No. 15 — South Africa: Jaco Van Zyl (94) and George Coetzee (139)

No. 14 — Scotland: Russell Knox (18) and Duncan Stewart (315)

If you haven’t realized it yet, Russell Knox is good at golf. The once journeyman is having a breakout year and then some, compiling a couple of worldwide wins and nearly as many top-20s as his current world ranking. Surely, a golf-rich country like Scotland has a better option than the world No. 315 to pair alongside him, right? Perhaps, but one thing that makes this event special is how the lead player gets to choose his partner. For Knox, this is an opportunity to play with Stewart, an old college teammate at Jacksonville University. Stewart, like Knox, has been a pro since 2007 and may finally be coming into his own after winning a Challenge Tour event this season. If he can pull his weight, the sky’s the limit this week for the Scots.

No. 13 — Korea: Byeong Hun An (43) and K.T. Kim (56)

No. 12 — France: Victor Dubuisson (93) and Romain Langasque (188)

No. 11 — Italy: Francesco Molinari (36) and Matteo Manassero (344)

One could imagine Molinari would have loved to pair up with older bro, Edoardo, this week. They won the World Cup back in 2009 and paired up on a winning Ryder Cup squad in 2010. While Francesco’s game is back to old form, thanks in large part to a win at the Italian Open in September, Edoardo had to advance through European Tour Q School last week just to keep his card. Instead, Francesco will roll with another former can’t-miss-kid, Matteo Manassero. Still just 23, Manassero is creeping back toward the form he showed when he was winning events as a teen. Few teams this week have the horses with experience in the winner’s circle like Team Italy.