The 2024 Presidents Cup is in the books, and after a Sunday of little suspense, the United States won the Cup for the 14th time in 15 editions of this event, this time by a final score of 18 ½ to 11 ½. We call ’em like we see ’em around here. They are:
Winners
Xander Schauffele: Led off the singles and wiped the floor with Jason Day 4 and 3 to earn the first point for the U.S. and, perhaps most significantly, never leaving a doubt that the first point of the session would go any other way..
Russell Henley: Went out fourth in singles, a sign of confidence from captain Jim Furyk, and delivered a 3 and 2 win to cap a 3–1 week. The 35-year-old was playing in his first U.S. team event and deserves a spot in a second event: the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Keegan Bradley: Clinched the winning point by taking down Si Woo Kim. Best of all, learned a bunch of punchy new U.S. team combos from captain Furyk. Can carry a little extra moxie into the Bethpage Ryder Cup next year.
Jim Furyk: This doesn’t erase the defeat from his 2018 Ryder Cup captaincy, but there’s a different kind of pressure now in this event considering Dan Marino and John Elway were still taking NFL snaps the last time the U.S. lost a Presidents Cup. The U.S. can’t lose this event, and Furyk adds his name to the list of captains who can say they didn’t.
Losers
Tom Kim: Like Saturday, it stings to put him here, but the International’s newly minted lead antagonist brought the fire but could only draw Sam Burns on Sunday and finished the week 1-2-1.
Adam Scott: Played his heart out and won two points for his team, but (potentially) ending a playing career without a win in this event in 10 appearances is tough to swallow. A mortal lock to captain the team in four years in Australia.
Mike Weir: Let the second-guessing begin around the International captain, who will get plenty of questions about his lineups. If you were so confident in Jason Day to put him out first in Sunday singles, then why sit him for all of Saturday? Why send out the same four groups for Saturday afternoon when they won all of one point Saturday morning? Why play Taylor Pendrith (-4.11 strokes-gained total) in every match? We could go on.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Presidents Cup Day 4 Winners and Losers: U.S. Coasts to 10th Straight Victory.
