Team USA jumped all over the International Team on Day 1 of the Presidents Cup on Thursday. Friday, it was a very different story as the Americans were trounced in historic fashion.
For the first time in either Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, or Solheim Cup history, a Day 1 sweep was followed by another sweep, per golf stat guru Justin Ray. The International Team embarrassed Team USA, picking up all five points Friday. The manner in which they accomplished that feat was even worse.
The first match of Friday Foursomes witnessed the largest defeat in the event's history. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, who Team USA captain Jim Furyk jokingly explained why they were not paired together on Thursday, played together Friday. They were beaten badly by Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im, 7 & 6. That tied for the largest such defeat in Presidents Cup history.
“We had a tough start to the first matches,” Matsuyama said afterward. “Five losses wasn't the result we wanted to have. But we knew that we could come back from this.”
They might have known, but not many others did. That includes Tiger Woods' former coach, Hank Haney, who expressed his displeasure with the Presidents Cup.
Things did not get any better for Team USA as the day rolled on.
Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith decimated Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala, 5 & 4. Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners, two Canadiens playing on home soil, needed just 13 holes to defeat Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau, 6 & 5.
Max Homa and Brian Harman tried making a comeback in their match. They won the 17th hole to cut the deficit to one but were unable to win the final hole. That placed all of the pressure on Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley to salvage the day for Team USA.
They were unable to do so, though. In the most tightly contested match of the day, Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An edged out the final point, 1-Up.
“Today was an important day for them,” Scheffler said shortly after the loss. “They really, really went out and played great.”
“…There's 30 points available. 10 of the points are done. There's 20 more to go get.”
Coach Furyk likely has to go back to the drawing board to figure out pairings for Saturday. There will be four Foursome matches and four Four-ball matches, with eight points total up for grabs.
The International Team has all of the momentum. Can the Americans wrestle it back?
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