MONTREAL — For all the talk of United States dominance in the Presidents Cup, the disparity in world ranking average versus the International challengers and their relative lack of depth, the competition should never be this lopsided.
As dominant as Scottie Scheffler has been this year in the world of golf, the difference between the elite of the elite who compete in Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups is really minuscule.
Throw in the fact that the events are match-play format, and the perceived or real differences in team strength are lessened even more, given the nature of playing hole-by-hole rather than total strokes.
So days like Friday at Royal Montreal should not be surprising, even though it understandably will be viewed that way.
A day after a humbling and disappointing thrashing at the hands of the Americans, the Internationals fought back with a similar barrage, this time taking all five foursomes matches and turning what appeared to be another foregone conclusion into a competitive Presidents Cup heading into Saturday’s eight matches. (Saturday morning four-ball matches are here.)
Playing the foursomes format that has traditionally given the Internationals fits, they made easy work of the Americans in three of the matches, eked out two others and tied the competition at 5-5 with 20 points still to be determined on Saturday and Sunday.
“Incredible. Incredible day for us,” said Adam Scott, 44, the veteran of this competition who is playing for the 11th time in the Presidents Cup but has never won one. “To come back and show everyone what this team is made of after a tough day out there yesterday is just incredible.
“We've got a big day tomorrow and a bigger day Sunday. I think we can enjoy this this evening and then come out incredibly focused. This team knows what it's capable of now.”
Si Woo Kim capped the rousing comeback by draining a 15-footer for par on the 18th green that kept the Americans from at least getting a half-point on the day, sparking a mad celebration that was well deserved. It sealed a 1-up victory for Kim and Byeong Hun An over Scheffler and Russell Henley.
ICE IN HIS VEINS 🥶
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 27, 2024
Si Woo Kim seals the @IntlTeam sweep in foursomes @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/i8lWpBJOxm
It was an impressive display of fortitude one day after being embarrassed despite all of the matches being close.
The turnaround was so stunning that the Americans led just one match for one hole—when Scheffer and Russell Henley made a birdie at the 2nd.
For the day, the International side combined to win 27 holes while the Americans captured just seven.
Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im got it started by taking out the most accomplished American pairing of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. They trounced the U.S. duo 7 and 6 and concluded with seven consecutive birdies, a remarkable accomplishment in alternate shot.
Cantlay and Schauffele had been 3-0 together in foursomes in previous Presidents Cups and 5-2 overall including the Ryder Cup. They were 4 down after six holes.
“Almost unheard of,” said Scott, who played in the group behind with Taylor Pendrith and took out Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa 5 and 4. “What happened was there were a lot of cheers for us and the cheers kept coming our way. And a lot of it was because of what they were doing.”
Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, who sat out Thursday, lost just one hole in their match with Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau, winning 6 and 5.
Jason Day came through with a clutch flop shot from behind the 18th hole to help preserve a 1-up victory with partner Christiaan Bezuidenhout over Max Homa and Brian Harman.
The final match saw Kim and An take out Scheffler and Henley, who were 1 down with five to play but could not tie the match.
“Today was an important day for them,” Scheffler said. “They really, really went out and played great. It seemed like late in the round yesterday they were hitting a lot of good putts that were kind of going around the edge. Today those putts were going right in the back of the cup. Just tip of the hat to those guys."
The abundance of International team pride was apparent. There is no prize money at stake this week, no world ranking points and—in the overall big picture—not much that will hurt your legacy in this team competition.
But nobody likes to get smacked down as the Internationals did on Thursday. To win a few points back would have been a decent accomplishment. To get them all?
“Just really proud of the guys,” said International captain Mike Weir. “I was confident in our guys. To play that well yesterday and not have any points on the board was disappointing, to see the hard work and stick in there, I couldn’t be happier.”
The Americans entered the Presidents Cup with its 12 players averaging 12.4 in the Official World Golf Ranking. That includes No. 1 Scheffler, No. 2 Schauffele and five of the top 10.
The International team averages “only” 34.3 in the OWGR but in reality that discrepancy is small. There was a similar disparity last year in Rome, where the Europeans dispatched the Americans (eight of the U.S. players who were at the Ryder Cup are on this Presidents Cup) in relatively easy fashion.
In fact, the Americans on paper almost always have the stronger team than the Europeans, and anyone who follows the competition knows how that has worked out. The U.S. has not won the Ryder Cup in Europe in more than 30 years.
Conversely, the International side in the Presidents Cup has just a single victory, back in 1998 when Shigeki Maruyama (who is an assistant captain this week) went 5-0 in Australia and the biggest drama was Tiger Woods’s singles match against Greg Norman.
Since then, the Internationals have forged but a single tie (in 2003) and notched nine consecutive defeats.
Even with a stronger U.S. team, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Perhaps the Americans win more often than not. But nine in a row?
“It is, certainly, something I’ve thought about,” Scott said. “With Hideki as well, Jason. We’ve been around over 10 years, each of us now. It is an accomplishment outside of our individual performances that we miss (by not winning this event.) I think if I answered now, I would probably underestimate the impact it would have if we were to get a win.”
That is now in play, a possibility with two days to go that almost didn’t seem possible 24 hours earlier.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as International Team Stuns U.S. With 5-0 Sweep to Tie Presidents Cup and Add Much-Needed Suspense to Weekend.
