Maybe they won’t admit it, but on Friday at the Presidents Cup, the Americans had to be thinking, if only for a moment, surely what happened two years ago couldn’t happen again.
When the underdog Internationals erased a 5-0 deficit to win all five foursomes matches on Day 2 of the 2024 Presidents Cup, it was a stunner. It also, ultimately, didn’t matter — the Americans cruised to their 10th straight win anyway — but it was a shockingly unnerving development for the Americans, who of course did not want to endure that same feeling today.
And then it happened again.
The International team won all five foursomes matches (alternate shot) at Medinah Country Club on Friday, flipping the Presidents Cup and taking a stunning 7-3 lead into a crucial weekend.
“We’ve seen in these events that when you get a lot of your team up on the leaderboards, some momentum, it inspires all the groups,” said International team captain Geoff Ogilvy. “Yeah, it was an incredible day for us.”
It’s just the seventh time a team has swept a Presidents Cup session, and it’s the first time it’s happened in consecutive Presidents Cups. The 7-3 edge also ties the largest lead the Internationals have ever held through two sessions. The other time was in 1998, the only year they’ve won the Presidents Cup.
And while the Internationals did this two years ago, it was still 5-5 after Friday. Now? It’s 7-3.
“We just wanted to come win the session,” Ogilvy said. “They were all in a really good frame of mind — but you would never imagine doing five sets.”
The US grabbed early leads in the first two matches of the day but couldn’t hold them. At 4 p.m. local, just as the fifth match made the turn, the Internationals led four of five matches and the other was tied. A few minutes later, Wyndham Clark rolled in a birdie putt on 12 in the third match to give the US its only lead on the scoreboard. But even that didn’t hold.
The first International point came from the second match, as Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im beat Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman — the only two Americans who sat out Thursday — 3 and 2 after Matsuyama made a long par save on 16 and Bridgeman lipped out his par try.
Point No. 2 came after Canadians Nick Taylor and Corey Conners beat Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, who US captain Brandt Snedeker put in the lead-off match for the second straight day. On Thursday, Scheffler and Burns won 1 up for their first win in five tries as teammates (they were 0-3-1 as Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup partners prior) but they never led past the fourth hole on Friday.
The Canadian duo gave Scheffler and Burns a chance for a half point on 18, when Taylor missed the fairway well right and Conners had to pitch back into it. But Taylor’s approach danced around the hole and was conceded for a par, and when Burns lipped out his birdie try the Internationals claimed the 1-up victory and full point.
“I hit a poor drive, and the motivation there was to give myself and Corey a chance at 4 to put a little pressure back on them,” Taylor said. “It was a good number with a 9-iron, and it came out perfectly. It was more so redemption for that tee shot, but happy to walk away with a 4, and fortunate there that Sam’s lipped out.”
At that moment it looked grim for the Americans, who were no longer leading any match after Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee made back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 and beat Collin Morikawa and Clark 1 up.
The other matches finished shortly after. Justin Thomas and Cameron Young never made a birdie in a 3-and-2 loss to Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. (It was the first Presidents Cup loss Thomas suffered in foursomes play; before Friday he was 4-0-2 all-time in the format.) And seconds later Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim beat Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 4 and 3, a match that ended with Schauffele lipping out a putt from close range.
The last time the Americans trailed at home after Friday was in 2005, although they rallied to win, and that was the first of what’s now been 10 straight victories in this event. But that deficit was one — not four.
“This thing is 35, 40 per cent over — it’s not even half-time of a football game,” Snedeker said. “There’s a lot of golf left.”
Although you could say the first two days of the Presidents Cup are mere table-setters. There’s eight matches up for grabs on Saturday (four fourballs, four foursomes) before 12 Sunday singles matches decide the winner.
The Americans are 13-1-1 all-time in this event and have won 10 straight. But now they are down 7-3, and the last two Presidents Cup Fridays have proved anything is possible.
This article originated on Golf.com
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