Adam Scott of Australia notched a milestone as the International team dug out of a big hole on Day 2 of the Presidents Cup, sweeping all five foursomes matches against the United States at Royal Montreal Golf Club on Friday.
After being swept in the fourball matches on Thursday, the Internationals needed nothing less than a stellar performance in the alternate-shot format to avoid going into the weekend with an almost insurmountable deficit.
And they responded in a manner that captain Mike Weir of Canada could hardly have dreamt of, turning the tables to even up the score at 5-5.
“I believed in the guys,” Weir said in a greenside interview. “(Going) 5-0 was obviously a bonus. We just wanted to get back in this and the guys responded incredibly.”
Scott added, “I think everyone was very focused coming out today. 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.”
American captain Jim Furyk said: “When I look at the scores, they played a lot of great golf. We’re going to have to get ready for (Saturday). We’ve got a tough match on our hands.
“We got to watch them celebrate. I hope that sticks with everyone (on my team). We’ll regroup, get some good pairs out there in the morning and it’s our turn to come out firing.”
The Internationals completely dominated three matches, including a 5-and-4 rout by Scott and his Canadian partner Taylor Pendrith against Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
The match victory earned Scott his 22nd point in the Presidents Cup, an International team record. He is making his 11th consecutive appearance in an event that pits a team of players from countries outside Europe against the U.S.
Scott said of his pairing with Pendrith, “I’ve played with lots of different guys, and I knew that we were going to be a good pairing, and the captains seemingly found a lot of good pairings in this format today.
“But (it) felt easy. The momentum got going our way, and in this format, that’s a big advantage. Happy to close it out like we did.”
Scott has never played on a winning team in an event that the Americans have dominated since its inception in 1994, losing only once in 1998, and tying in 2003.
Scott and Pendrith were not the only International pairing to dominate on Friday.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Korean Sungjae Im set the tone with a 7-and-6 dusting of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay in the opening match.
“Yesterday, the beginning was not really a nice beginning, but today from the beginning, our vibe was vibing and we were trying to win the match,” Im said. “With Hideki, our teamwork was amazing. When I would hit the shot, he would finish with the putt, so it was a great job.”
Canadian duo Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes also won convincingly, 6-and-5 over Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau.
The other two matches were more competitive. Australian Jason Day and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout outlasted Max Homa and Brian Harman 1-up, thanks in no small measure to a deft pitch shot by Day to gimme range at the last that secured the point.
The U.S. seemed set to avoid being swept when Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley parred the last against Korean duo Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An. But Kim calmly sank a 15-footer to halve the hole and secure a 1-up victory.
Scheffler said of the International team, “Today was an important day for them. They really went out and played great. It seemed like late in the round yesterday, they were hitting a lot of good putts that were kind of going around the edge. Today those putts were going right in the back of the cup. Just tip of the hat to those guys.”
–Field Level Media
