After an historic counterpunch Friday from the beleaguered International Team, the Americans regained control of the Presidents Cup on Saturday at Royal Montreal.
The United States will carry a hefty four-point lead into Sunday singles after rattling off consecutive 3-1 session wins. The International side will need another historic day to win the Presidents Cup for the first time since 1998.
Here are the top numbers and notes to know from Day 3 at the Presidents Cup.
1. A day after being swept in five foursomes matches, the Americans asserted themselves quickly Saturday morning, sending out world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa in the first four-ball group. The duo never trailed in a tight match against Aussie Adam Scott and Canadian Taylor Pendrith and won the 16th and 17th holes to seal a full point, 2-up.
The United States finished the foursomes portion of the competition outscoring the Internationals 8 to 1, the most lopsided result in that format in any single Presidents Cup all-time. The lone duo to win even half a point in the format for the Internationals was Si Woo and Tom Kim, who blitzed Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark, 4 and 3.
2. Considering every factor both current and historic at play, Friday’s International romp in alternate shot was one of the most surprising sessions in the history of international team golf. With the previous day’s winning recipe in hand, Mike Weir went back in the kitchen with three of the same pairings as the day prior – duos that won their matches by scores of 7 and 6, 6 and 5, and 5 and 4. The Kims, fresh off their morning win, completed Weir’s Saturday afternoon lineup.
That alone in a vacuum seems like a safe strategy. But by doing so, the International captain played the same eight players – with their same partners – as the morning session. It was the first time in Presidents Cup history that a team used identical pairing sets in two sessions in the same day.
3. Call it regression to the mean, better play by the Americans or maybe even simply fatigue, but the results in Saturday foursomes didn’t mirror the day prior.
On holes 13 through 18, the United States won 10 holes to the International side’s five. Entering the fourth session, there wasn’t a single match where either side overcame a deficit larger than 1 down to win any match. Two did it in Saturday foursomes: Morikawa and Sam Burns (2 down) and Scheffler with Russell Henley (3 down). Scheffler and Henley won five of the seven holes they played on the back nine of that match, by far the largest hole win differential on the back side all week.
Of course, nobody is more accurate than the Monday morning quarterback. If Weir had restructured his alternate shot mix on Saturday and saw the same 3-1 output, that would have received equal, if not harsher, questioning. Regardless, the International team will need to overcome its second four-plus point deficit of the week Sunday to win the Presidents Cup for the first time in 26 years.
.@Patrick_Cantlay comes up clutch in all the big moments 😤
Patrick Cantlay assure toujours dans les moments décisifs.#PresidentsCuppic.twitter.com/W4wlDDNWIZ
— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 28, 2024
4. Scheffler helped deliver two full points, the first time he has had a day in either the Presidents or Ryder Cup with multiple match victories. Scheffler is the first reigning world No. 1 to win multiple matches in the same day at this event since Dustin Johnson did it on Saturday in 2017 at Liberty National. His 3 and 2 win with Henley in the afternoon was his first in foursomes in either cup event, having lost each of his first five tries.
The top-ranked International player, Hideki Matsuyama, wasn’t as fortunate. Matsuyama and Sungjae Im dropped both of their matches, with neither reaching the 18th hole. For the day, Matsuyama lost 6.75 strokes total, per Data Golf. Hideki had the worst strokes gained tee-to-green number of any player in the Saturday afternoon session (-2.34).
5. The Americans halted a frightening foursomes trend with their strong play in the fourth session. They entered the day having lost 12 of their previous 13 matches in the format dating to last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome, losing 74 holes and winning just 34 in that stretch. The U.S. enjoyed some much-needed game control in the format: in those previous three sessions, they played a grand total of 10 holes with match leads. In four foursomes matches Saturday, that number was 24.
6. Through two days of team play, driving accuracy played a significant role in deciding holes won in the foursomes format. In nine foursomes matches, there were 54 par 4s and 5s either won or lost. More than 70 percent of those holes were won by the side that found the fairway with their drive.
This was an especially critical factor for the International team in the alternate shot. In the nine foursomes matches, there were 24 instances where the United States missed the fairway on a par 4 or 5 while the Internationals hit theirs. The International side’s hole record when that happened was a staggering 17-2-5.
7. The Americans entered the week with a decided ball-striking advantage on paper. The average strokes gained approach rank this season for the U.S. roster is nearly 40 spots better than that of the International side.
There have been bursts of black-and-gold-clad heroism, but the hard numbers reflect that fact: per Data Golf, each of the top four – and even of the top eight – in strokes gained tee-to-green this week are playing for the United States. Five of the bottom six in that statistic are on the International side.
8. Si Woo Kim produced an all-time Presidents Cup moment on Saturday, holing a near-impossible flop from the rough to tie he and Tom Kim’s match with Cantlay and Schauffele. Si Woo has gained more than five strokes on shots around the green this week, easily the most of any player in the competition.
While he has struggled most of the season with his putting, his short game is an unheralded skill set receiving plenty of shine this week. On short game shots from the rough, Si Woo has an average proximity to the hole of 7 feet, 5 inches – more than a foot better than the PGA Tour average.
No words, just Si Woo Kim 🤯
Rien à dire, tout simplement Si Woo Kim.#PresidentsCup | @IntlTeam pic.twitter.com/hc58b96ILk
— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 28, 2024
9. No team has come from more than two points back entering singles to win the Presidents Cup, but a four-point margin has been overcome in the Ryder Cup multiple times. In 1999, the Americans started Sunday singles four points behind at Brookline before roaring back to win. Thirteen years later at Medinah, Team Europe came from four points down to stun the Americans in one of the great comebacks in the history of the sport.
At Brookline, the U.S. put the first seven singles points on the board before holding on to win. At Medinah, the Europeans got five of the first six. American captain Jim Furyk undoubtedly knows that, in turn sending the world’s top-two players out early. Xander Schauffele will go out first against Jason Day, while Scheffler and Matsuyama will square off in the third singles match.
10. If you’re looking for reason to believe in an International Sunday charge, consider this: since 2007, they have actually outscored the Americans in singles, 48 1/2 to 47 1/2. In that span, each side has won more singles points on three occasions, winding up even in the format twice. The largest margin the Internationals have ever enjoyed in a singles session is plus-3 in 2013 and 2017.
The 15th Presidents Cup has been a week of experiencing the unprecedented. The International side hopes to add one more ‘first-ever’ to the list Sunday.
(Top photo of Scottie Scheffler, left, and Collin Morikawa: Harry How / Getty Images)
