Medinah (United States) (AFP) – World number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns rallied late to give the United States a 3-2 lead over the Internationals after Thursday’s opening four-ball matches at the Presidents Cup. In the marquee matchup of the opening day at Medinah, Scheffler and Burns edged South Korean Im Sung-jae and Australian Min Woo Lee 1-up to establish a slender US lead in a golf tournament it traditionally dominates.
Im made a 10-foot birdie putt to win the par-three 13th hole, but a Burns tap-in birdie at 14 lifted the US duo level. Scheffler won the 17th with a par and tied the 18th with a par for the victory. “We just did our best to stay in it,” Scheffler said. “We stepped up when we needed to.”
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“I’m really proud of them. So happy for Scottie and Sam to get that big lead-off win for us,” added US team captain Brandt Snedeker. While Scheffler’s match was first to tee off, Justin Thomas and 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun bagged the first point of the 16th Presidents Cup. They defeated Canada’s Corey Conners and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria 4&3. The Americans never trailed, with Thomas winning the fifth hole on a 22-foot birdie putt for a 2-up edge, then making birdie from 12 feet to win the 14th and 16 feet to win the 15th and clinch a win.
The two-time major winner improved to 7-0 in Presidents Cup four-ball matches. “Match play is such a bizarre thing,” Thomas said. “I’ve played great with some great partners. Happy we got a point today.” The Internationals equalized when Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune defeated Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele 3&1. Matsuyama gave the Japanese duo the lead for good by winning the eighth on a six-foot par putt to 1-up and ninth on a birdie from just inside 10 feet for a 2-up edge.
He halved the next five holes with pars or better, then won the match with a 10-foot birdie putt at 17. “He played well and I did the best I could. I was just happy to get the point,” Matsuyama said through a translator.
After Scheffler and Burns had made it 2-1, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa added a further US victory, going 3-up within six holes against New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Australian Adam Scott. Fox hit back with a birdie on seven, but Clark immediately responded with an 18-foot birdie putt on the eighth. Scott birdied the par-three 13th to again reduce the gap back to two, before a Clark birdie on 15 prompted a 3&2 win.
The day’s final match pitted South Koreans Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo against Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay. The Korean duo never trailed, winning the first two holes. Tom Kim nearly had a walk-off ace on the par-three 16th. The ball ricocheted off the flagstick, but his birdie was still enough to seal a 3&2 win. “We had to put the accelerator down. We kept the pressure on and played well,” he said.
The United States has a 13-1-1 edge in the rivalry with the Internationals. The non-European global squad’s only victory came in 1998 at Australia, and the US is seeking an 11th consecutive victory in the biennial competition. International captain Geoff Ogilvy said the 3-2 deficit was “not that bad.” Teams need 15.5 of the 30 points on offer to capture the trophy. “Saw some good stuff… We will take that,” said Ogilvy.
© 2024 AFP
