Every two years, depending on whether you are American, European or the rest of the golf world, professional golfers do something that is about as foreign to them as wearing shorts on the golf course - they play together as a team. For the rest of the time the closest they will come to any sense of a team is the "we" the caddies use when they speak of the great round their golfer shot.The Presidents Cup begins in Korea today, and for the rest of the week will showcase the might of America against the Internationals, captained by Nick Price.At last week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland Irish golfer Graeme McDowell summed up how complex the team environment in golf is when he questioned just how effective Jordan Spieth would be at next year's Ryder Cup."Having a 22-year-old leader, it's an interesting dynamic," McDowell said.It's also interesting that the world's best golfer does not necessarily make the best Presidents Cup player. Even at his peak Tiger Woods was never the kind of force in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup that he was as an individual golfer.Yet Ian Poulter, who by comparison is hardly on the same level as Woods, has become recognised as a giant within the European Ryder Cup set-up and one of that team's great talismans of success.The captain's pairings are critical in these tournaments.Who plays with whom goes far beyond the personalities involved.When it comes to the foursomes, or alternate shots, a captain will consider the individual skills of each golfer and how they might complement another.This goes right down to considering what golf balls the players are used to playing with.A player who favours a particular ball for the majority of his year will feel uncomfortable playing with someone who has a dramatically different preference.Then there's the question of personalities. Do you pair an aggressive player with a conservative one? Do you go out with your strongest players early in order to gain some momentum?Do you pair a mentally strong player with another who might have all the skills but struggles to bounce back from a bad hole?Golf is an individual sport, which is both a blessing and a curse. When a golfer loses a tournament, he has nobody else to blame.He cannot, like a football goalkeeper, find fault with four shaky defenders in front of him. He only lets himself down.But when he finds himself with a flag on his bag, and a whole team and a whole continent relying on him, making a 10-foot putt can suddenly become harder than making that same putt to win the Open...