MONTREAL — Tony Finau may really feel a giant change when he stepped on the first tee Friday at the Presidents Cup. The horseshoe-shaped grandstand was packed and loud. The gallery was four-deep down the first fairway. The vibe was solely completely different.
The largest distinction was the scoreboards. They switched from purple to gold.
All of them.
In a shocking turnaround at Royal Montreal, the Internationals flipped the script on the U.S. crew by sweeping the foursomes session, a efficiency so one-sided, the Americans led in solely one in every of the 5 matches, and that was for just one gap.
Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im tied a document for the largest blowout in the Presidents Cup. Jason Day assured a full level with a chip that was chic even by his requirements. Si Woo Kim polished off a most good day with a 15-foot par putt.
Three of the matches did not get past the 14th gap.
“Incredible,” mentioned Adam Scott, enjoying in his eleventh Presidents Cup with out ever successful. “To come back and show everyone what this team is made of after a tough day out there yesterday is just incredible. … This team knows what it's capable of now.”
Tom Kim did not play and nonetheless performed a giant position. The 22-year-old from South Korea had mentioned Thursday he thought the crowd was too quiet, and he hoped Canadian followers would “help us out a little bit more.”
That they did, and scorecards stuffed with gold International leads weren't even essential. The noise throughout Royal Montreal made it clear what was taking place. Inside the ropes, there was nothing the Americans may do about it.
“We definitely felt the energy right out of the gate,” Finau mentioned. “I hit the first tee shot yesterday in our group, and I hit the first tee shot today. It was night-and-day difference, I think just the noise and the energy.”
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, 3-0 in foursomes at the Presidents Cup, by no means stood an opportunity towards Matsuyama and Im. The Internationals had birdies on their closing seven holes, a staggering streak contemplating they had been alternating pictures, for a 7-and-6 win.
It tied a Presidents Cup document, final completed in 2011 when Scott and Ok.J. Choi defeated Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 12 holes. The Americans did not assist the trigger by not hitting a fairway till the eighth gap. Then once more, Matsuyama and Im had been the equal of 8 below for 12 holes.
Right behind them, Scott and Taylor Pendrith made three straight birdies. They by no means trailed and misplaced just one gap in a 5-and-4 win over Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa. Scott grew to become the highest-scoring International participant of all time, passing Ernie Els along with his twenty second profession level.
The Canadians delivered, too. Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners gained the first two holes in a 6-and-5 rout over Wyndham Clark and Finau. They misplaced just one gap, and that was solely after that they had a 6-up lead after 11 holes.
It marked the first time in Presidents Cup historical past {that a} crew gained three matches in a single session by the 14th gap.
“There was a lot of belief amongst the room, amongst the guys, that hey, we can still do this. We're still a great team, and we've got a lot of golf left to play,” Hughes mentioned. “We came here this morning, we had our heads held high, chin up, and we were ready to play.”
Two matches went the distance, and the Internationals had been simply as relentless.
Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout had been 1 up over Max Homa and Brian Harman going to the 18th. Day confronted a pitch from muddied grass that had been tamped down by spectators. One of the greatest chippers in golf, even he was impressed to see it roll out to a foot.
“The lie wasn't that great. It was wet,” Day mentioned. “So I was just trying to understand the lie a little bit more through the practice swings. Is it going to bounce? Is it going to dig? Just for how wet it is.
“Halfway by the shot I had my hand up, simply figuring out it was going to be an excellent one.”
And then Si Woo Kim produced one last cheer. In a match in which 13 holes were halved, Kim and Byeong Hun An were 1 up over Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley going to the 18th when An hit left into a thick, nasty lie in the rough and Kim couldn't reach the green.
“It was a tricky second shot, so I instructed him, ‘Just get me inside 15 toes and I acquired it.' And I knew I had an opportunity to win,” Kim said.
Henley missed a 25-foot birdie putt. Kim drained a 15-foot par putt to secure another 1-up victory, another full point, and a deadlock going into the weekend.
Saturday features two sessions — four matches of fourballs, four matches of foursomes — before the 12 singles matches Sunday.
It's almost like starting over, and now it becomes a sprint.
“I'm simply so pleased with the guys, so pumped for them,” International captain Mike Weir said. “To play that nicely yesterday and never have any factors on the board was disappointing. So to see their exhausting work and them sticking in there and us captains and myself asking them to stick in there and imagine, could not be happier.”
It was the sixth time a session had been swept in the Presidents Cup, and the first for the International team since a 6-0 foursomes shutout in South Africa in 2003.
It was the second time the Presidents Cup had been tied after two sessions. In 2003, it was 5.5-5.5 and ended up tied 17-17, after Woods and Els tied three sudden-death playoff holes and captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player agreed to a draw under the cover of darkness.
Weir put out three of his best foursomes matches for the Saturday morning fourballs session; U.S. captain Jim Furyk kept three of his fourballs partnerships from Thursday.
“I mentioned yesterday, ‘Their again's towards the wall. They're going to come out firing,'” Furyk said. “Well, I'm certain my guys are slightly pissed off proper now again in the crew room. The thought is to come out firing tomorrow.”
Information from The Associated Press was used on this report.
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