The Americans have better players and a deeper talent pool so it is perhaps no surprise that the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay found an extra gear as the Internationals faltered towards the end of the Saturday evening foursomes.
However, as light began to fade, the Internationals were in position to give themselves a chance of doing something they’ve managed to do only once.
The Internationals played all the shots, created all the noise and breathed new life into a competition whose relevance in the golfing landscape had been brought into question.
But it appears to have been all in vain after a half hour window completely turned the tide of the 2024 Presidents Cup and has USA heavy favourites heading into this evening’s Sunday singles.
Internationals went from having won one and being up in two and all square in one of the four foursomes matches to, level in three to losing three all in the blink of an eye.
The heroics of the International side turned to loose shots and unforced errors.
Corey Conners began to miss putts while even the usually rock solid short game of Mackenzie Hughes deserted him on the last as Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns came out on the right side of a topsy turvy encounter.
World number one Scottie Scheffler admitted he was on a different planet against Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama and he had to rely on Russell Henley to dig him out once or twice.
But he deserves huge credit for how he played during the closing stretch with the Americans coming from three down after 6 to take the lead for the first time on 14 after Scheffler nearly holed his approach.
The rot began to set in for the Internationals as Im found the water on 15 while Matsuyama’s usually stellar iron game deserted him.
Then it was the Kim’s. The stars of the entire week, two Ian Poulter’s moulded into one frenzied, energetic pile of intimidation and passion.
Every good shot or holed putt met with a bursting of pumped arms, screaming and chest pounds.
But for Tom Kim, his game had left him by the time Si Woo was holing a flop shot for a win on 16 and parading around the green in a celebration that will live long in the memory.
But Schauffele and Cantlay remained steely eyed and focused on the job at hand. Schauffele had already landed a blow on the 15th with a long range putt before Cantlay had the last laugh on 18, rolling in a 20-footer before Si Woo missed to halve the match.
It was a devastating way to lose the session. For all the good golf the Internationals had played, to have the session turn the way it did will be a hammer blow to Mike Weir’s men.
But fatigue had to have played a part as well.
46-year-old Adam Scott looked jaded coming off the 18th green after playing his second match in a day and fourth in three days.
Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners also wilted towards the end on Saturday after playing four successive matches as did Im and Matsuyama after teeing it up continuously since Thursday.
Might the freshness of Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Jason Day who had won their foursomes game on Friday have benefited the home side coming down the stretch?
In contrast Jim Furyk freshened up his side between Saturday morning and afternoon, dropping Tony Finau, Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark.
The Internationals have also been carrying players who are out of form such as Min Woo Lee, Byeong Hun An and Bezuidenhout and maybe Weir decided that his fourball pairings were also his best pairings overall and he made the calculated risk to stick with them.
The USA meanwhile have built the core of their team around Cantlay, Schauffele, Scheffler and Morikawa all of whom have played all four matches.
The Internationals have proven to be more than competitive in the foursomes sessions but have been thoroughly outclassed in the four balls and their chances heading into Sunday rested on being at worst case, level with the Americans going into the singles.
Even playing away from home, the US are heavy favourites in the singles format which rewards power, quality and the depth of a side which the visitors heavily outrank their hosts.
Outside of the 2017 edition, the Internationals have not been ‘hammered’ in recent contests but the Americans already have one hand on their tenth victory in a row.
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