Team USA delivered a day one-thrashing of the International side to make a dominant start to their attempt to win a 10th successive Presidents Cup.
For just the third time in the 15th staging of the biennial teams competition, the USA produced a round-one clean-sweep to establish a commanding 5-0 lead in the fourballs going in to Friday’s foursomes.
It marks a dream start for US captain Jim Furyk’s bid to retain the title at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club and leaves Mike Weir’s International team with an uphill struggle over the remaining four rounds.
Despite Thursday’s one-sided overall scoreline, three of the five fourball matches did go down to the 18th hole with the International side left to rue a succession of missed opportunities and gilt-edged birdie putts on the back nine.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler and playing partner Russell Henley delivered the day’s most comprehensive win, beating South Korean pair Tom Kim and Sungjae Im 3&2, but the match still contained the round’s biggest flashpoint and talking point.
Kim and Scheffler are known to be good friends but their match appeared to briefly get heated after a series of birdies on the seventh and eighth holes.
After Kim had shouted in delight after rolling in a birdie putt on the seventh, a jubilant Scheffler then roared ‘what was that?’ towards his friend after sinking his own putt to halve the hole.
Things got heated mid-way through Scheffler and Russell Henley’s match aginst Sungjae Im and Kim
Kim then birdied the eighth to put the pressure on the American pair and controversially, before Scheffler had even played his shot in an attempt to halve the hole, Kim and Im had walked on to the ninth tee box.
Scheffler subsequently missed his putt to give the International side the hole win, bringing their deficit at the time back to one. Kim and Im failed to win another hole thereafter as the International pair’s challenge faded, with a half on the 16th ultimately confirming the US pairing’s comfortable win.
On Kim and Im leaving the eighth hole early, Sky Sports Golf’s Paul McGinley said: “That’s bordering on bad behaviour there. That’s disrespectful in my opinion. I know it’s competitive out there but it certainly shows you there’s an underlying edge here. It’s not all fun and games.”
Day One fourballs results – USA 5-0 International
- Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau (USA) def Jason Day (Aus) and Byeong Hun An (Kor) 1 UP
- Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala (USA) def Adam Scott (Aus) and Min Woo Lee (Aus) 1 UP
- Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley (USA) def Sungjae Im (Kor) and Tom Kim (Kor) 3&2
- Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley (USA) def Taylor Pendrith (Can) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 1 UP
- Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns (USA) def Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) and Corey Conners (Can) 2&1
Who will win the Presidents Cup? Watch the 2024 contest from September 26-29 live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 6pm on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the Presidents Cup and more with NOW.
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