Montreal: US Team put itself on the verge of successfully defending its Presidents Cup title on Saturday in dominating the morning four-ball and afternoon foursomes matches to lead the International Team 11-7 in Quebec.
With both teams deadlocked at five points going into day three at Royal Montreal Golf Club, the Americans won the four-ball matches 3-1, a score they would later match in the foursomes on a day when the players were out on the course for nearly 12 hours.
The U.S. Team now need a projected 15.5 points to retain the title in a competition it has lost only once in 14 previous tournaments.
“Really the matches were close today. I know what the score looks like. I think the same thing you saw on Thursday, the score looked bad at 5-0, but those matches were all really, really tight. They just happened to go our way,” said U.S. Team coach Jim Furyk.
“Tomorrow, I think keeping our focus, not getting ahead of ourselves, being prepared. I know the guys are tired right now. They want to get some rest and come out firing again tomorrow. We had to come out today like the Internationals had to come out on Friday. So it will be a gunfight out there tomorrow.”
In the four-balls, the U.S. Team brought out its big guns, Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, the world No. 1 and No. 3 respectively, in its opening match to put away Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith 2&1. World No. 2 Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau then secured another point for the Americans in beating the Canadian pairing of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes 3&2.
The International Team got its lone point of the morning when Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo beat Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark 4&3 in a match where the Koreans led from the opening hole. Patrick Cantlay got a measure of revenge for his thrashing by the Internationals in the Friday foursomes when he and partner Sam Burns beat Hideki Matsuyama and Im Sung-jae 2&1.
Morikawa said after his morning match that the U.S. Team had quickly put the 5-0 shutout it suffered to the Internationals in the Friday foursomes behind them to get on with the job on hand.
“Honestly, I think after we came in and got our frustrations out, we knew once we got back home and got some rest, it was a brand-new day and we had to come out here and at least start. As the leading group it was really important for us to put a point on the board.”
In the foursomes, alternate shot, which the Internationals led for much of the afternoon, Scheffler and Henley paired to get their second point of the tournament when they beat Matsuyama and Im 3&2. The Internationals got its only foursomes point when Scott and Pendrith beat Brian Harman and Max Homa 2up.
The Americans quickly rebounded when Morikawa and Burns held off Conners and Hughes 1 up. With the light fading at Royal Montreal, the final match saw Cantlay drain a 20-foot putt at the last to give him and partner Schauffele a 1up win over Kim Si-woo and Tom Kim.
With Scheffler missing several short putts early on to fall three holes down to Matsuyama and Im through five holes, the Paris Olympics gold medalist gave full credit to playing partner Henley for their comeback where their first lead came after 14 holes.
“That’s what’s great about team golf, you don’t get to experience too much. He really picked me up because I felt like I was letting him down early in the match. I really was,” said Scheffler who will face Matsuyama in the showcase pairing of the 12 final day singles matches.
–IANS