MONTREAL — They’re less talented. They don’t all speak the same language. They haven’t won in 26 years. The home crowd wasn’t giving them much help. And oh yeah, they trailed 5-0 after Day 1. There was all but nothing left for the Internationals to cling to entering Friday foursomes at the Presidents Cup, a format they’ve been demonstrably worse in for three decades. Hope was seemingly gone.
Until Patrick Cantlay missed an 8-foot putt on the first hole of the first match, and the Internationals were suddenly on attack.
The shift was swift and strong, and began with a bold choice. After a demoralizing Thursday shutout, captain Mike Weir benched rising star Tom Kim and sent out their two best players — Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im — in the starting group to try and gain some traction. It worked. Matsuyama and Im demolished the famously successful U.S. duo of Xander Schauffele and Cantlay, tying the biggest blowout in Presidents Cup history (7 & 6). The rest of the internationals followed suit by winning all five matches to even the cup and start a thrilling weekend.
The internationals didn’t just win all five matches. They came out and dominated, a thrilling sweep sealed by Si Woo Kim sinking a 16-foot putt under pressure on 18 to beat Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley with everyone at Royal Montreal watching the final match.
The Canadians. The long-defeated veterans. The struggling young guys. The stars they needed. Nearly everyone stepped up Friday for the International’s first foursomes session win since 2005 as they evened the cup, 5-5.
Giving the home crowd something to cheer about!@CoreConn and @MacHughesGolf are 6UP thru 11 @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/GBUy7PcI63
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 27, 2024
Adam Scott, the Australian legend who’s never won the cup in 10 tries, teamed with Canadian Taylor Pendrith to take down Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala, 5 & 4. The American duo thrived together in a Thursday win, but Theegala struggled mightily with his irons Friday and Scott seemingly didn’t miss a putt in crunch time. Scott entered the day with an 18-26-6 record and was clearly deflated Thursday evening, sensing another U.S. blowout. Now, his team has a chance.
“I think everyone was very focused coming out today,” Scott said Friday. “We knew we were in a deep hole, but no one felt discouraged. There were signs of good golf out there yesterday, but we just didn’t get it done, and we cleaned it up a little bit today. We were determined to do that, and the crowd is bringing the energy today.”
Christiaan Bezeuidenhout was the most criticized player Thursday, losing nearly two strokes on the green as he missed constant opportunities in a one-hole loss. Weir sent him back out there with veteran Australian Jason Day — another former world No. 1 with a frustrating 5-12-4 career record — and Bezuidenhout opened with a tough 12-foot birdie to spark a nearly wire-to-wire win over Max Homa and Brian Harman. Homa and Harman were the ones who couldn’t buy a putt this time. The Americans made a late run to take it to the 18th hole, but Day played the hero with a fantastic pitch from the rough to save par and win the match.
Then Weir, a beloved Canadian himself, sent out his first all-Canadian duo for the cup in Montreal. Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes thrived from start to finish against Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau, who only birdied one hole all day. The Canadians birdied five of their first 11 and the suddenly building crowd rallied around them in the 6 & 5 win. Conners had been ragged on as one of the higher-ranked Internationals who remained 0-5 in cups. Friday, he was the best player in the field while gaining 2.74 strokes from tee to green.
The only truly tight match all day was Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley against the South Korean duo of Si Woo Kim and Byeong-Hun An. Kim, who sat the Thursday four-ball session, set up multiple birdies on the back nine and sinking an essential 12-foot birdie on 15 to maintain the lead. On 18, needing a par to win the match, An left his chip well short to ask a 15-foot putt from Kim. He made the par to save the match, with the Internationals flooding the green to celebrate the suddenly tied cup.
And it all started with Matsuyama and Im. The Japanese star Matsuyama is the clear top International, the linchpin they needed to lead them if they wanted any hope this week. He won the Genesis Invitational and St. Jude Championship, earned an Olympic bronze and had arguably his best overall season since 2017. He and Im, the No. 13 player in the world per Data Golf, birdied seven consecutive holes from Nos. 6-12 to runaway with the win that tied the largest in Presidents Cup history. The two hunted for pins and never wasted a putt, while Cantlay had a tough day. Cantlay is a renowned match player, and statistically he was the best in the field Thursday, but Friday he lost 2.59 strokes.
“Yesterday the beginning was not really a nice beginning,” Im said, “but today from the beginning our vibe was vibing and we were trying to win the match.”
The International Team has won this event just once, a 1998 victory at Royal Melbourne. Since then, they’ve tied, lost by one, lost by two, three and so on, but they’ve never been able to top the Americans. Nobody has ever overcome a 5-0 deficit to win.
But all that matters for Weir and company is that they are right in this thing. They entered Friday without so much as a hope. They left it believing they can make history.
(Top photo of Mackenzie Hughes: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
