Presidents Cup 2019 Opening Ceremony: Date, Start Time, TV Info and Live Stream

Tiger Woods will lead the United States team against the Internationals at the 2019 Presidents Cup, which begins on Thursday at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

The Internationals are captained by South Africa's Ernie Els, who will be aiming to guide his team to victory for just the second time in the history of the tournament.

The Royal Melbourne Golf Club hosts the event for a third time and brings some of the world's greatest golfers together for this biennial team event.

The opening ceremony kicks things off on Thursday and is swiftly followed by the first round, which consists of five fourball matches

Date: Thursday, December 12

Time: 9 a.m. local time/10 p.m. (Weds.) GMT/5 p.m. (Weds.) ET

TV Info: Golf Channel (U.S.), Sky Sports Golf, Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Live Stream: Golf Channel (U.S.), Sky Go (UK)

A full tournament schedule is available from the Presidents Cup official website.

Preview

The United States will be favourites to win in Australia because of their historic dominance of the Presidents Cup. The team have won 10 of 12 editions and have claimed victory in the last seven in a row. 

Woods arrives as a playing captain, alongside a star-studded team featuring Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele.

However, the United States will be without world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who was forced to withdraw in November because of injury and has been replaced by Rickie Fowler:

Woods arrives in good shape after claiming his remarkable fifth Masters title at Augusta in April. He also won the Zozo Championship in Japan in October and equalled Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour titles:

The 43-year-old's appearance at the Presidents Cup as playing captain will give the tournament a boost, and he is looking forward to getting started in Melbourne, per George Willis at the New York Post.

"It's going to be a lot of fun for all of us, me included," he said. "Going against Ernie and his team is no easy task. The Aussie fanatics and the home crowd will be into it."

The Internationals can take heart from the fact one of their only wins came at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1998 when they enjoyed a comprehensive nine-point victory:

Els was part of the winning team in 1998 and returns as captain with a side that includes Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen.

The Internationals have also had to cope with a late withdrawal. Australia's Jason Day has pulled out with a back problem and been replaced by Byeong Hun An.

Els' team lacks the experience the United States possess and contains seven rookies, but their captain has said his players are looking forward to facing Woods, per Will Gray at the Golf Channel.

"The youngsters look up at him, but they definitely want to have a piece of him," he said. "So, we'll see who I think can really play against Tiger the best and get the best result."

The course at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club should prove challenging and may be something of a leveller. Former Australian golfer Stuart Appleby explained what the players can expect:

The Internationals will not lack for support either with Australians Scott, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith in their side but still face a tall order overcoming a United States team that looks far superior on paper.