For the second Presidents Cup in a row, the International team shut out the Americans in Friday foursomes, marking a massive momentum shift for the away team.
The Internationals now lead the Cup 7-3 overall, which is tied for the largest International lead through two sessions in Presidents Cup history. The last time the Internationals led 7-3 through the first two sessions was when they won their only Cup in Australia in 1998.
“We just wanted to come win the session,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “They were all in a really good frame of mind, but you would never imagine doing five sets.”
After tight matches through the front nine with a couple hints of red, the scoreboard started going gold and a sense of belief built around the underdogs.
First on the board was Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama, who only gave three holes to the U.S. At the 16th, Matsuyama holed a long par putt to beat Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman, 3 and 2.
Next it was Corey Conners and Nick Taylor stunning world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and world No. 8 Sam Burns.
The American duo of Scheffler and Burns won their first match together at either a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup during Thursday fourballs, moving to 1-3-1 together across both events. But after narrowly beating Min Woo Lee and Im, 1 up, they were defeated 1 up by Conners and Taylor.
It’s a continuation of a larger struggle for Scheffler, who is now 1-8-0 in foursomes across both Cups.
If there was a point the Americans could have hoped to save on the back nine, it was Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark, who were 1 up through Nos. 12-14 until Open champion Ryan Fox came in clutch with his putting to win 1 up with Lee.
The last two matches were dominated by the Internationals.
Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout beat Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, 3 and 2. The only hole Thomas and Young won on the back nine was the 13th, but the Internationals were already 3 up by that point.
“I think we had a similar situation two years ago in Canada (going 5-0 in foursomes),” Scott said. “Hopefully we learned from that, and we can back a great day up tomorrow.”
The electric duo of Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim knocked off Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in the most dominant match of the day, moving Cantlay and Schauffele to 4-2 all-time in foursomes at the Presidents Cup.
The Kims never gave away the lead. After being tied through Nos. 2-4, they started building before closing things out on the 15th, 4 and 3.
“I think [the International team room] is going to be crazy, but last time at Presidents Cup we’ve done too much high tension, so we didn’t really focus next day, so I’m just going to chill and then get rest and get the job done tomorrow,” Si Woo said.
Saturday is the longest day of the week, with morning fourballs followed by afternoon foursomes. The U.S. will look to regroup while the Internationals could make a charge that gets them close to the necessary 15.5 points to win, although neither team will hit that number until Sunday.
“You’re going to have sessions like this in these things,” U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker said. “I feel terrible for the guys because I know they grinded out there and gave me everything they had today, and it wasn’t meant to be. That being said, there’s still 20 points out there. There’s a lot of golf left to play.”
For Saturday fourballs, the U.S. will send out its three winning pairings from Thursday’s fourball matches: Thomas/Jackson Koivun, Morikawa/Clark, Scheffler/Burns. Snedeker will send a new pairing of Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young in the third morning match.
Ogilvy will send four repeat pairings, with Lee/Im facing Thomas/Koivun, Kim/Kim facing Morikawa/Clark, Taylor/Conners facing Gotterup/Young and Matsuyama/Ryo Hisatsune facing Scheffler/Burns.
“This thing is 35, 40 percent over,” Snedeker said. “It’s not even halftime of a football game. There’s a lot of golf left.”
