Not even the top-ranked golfer on the earth may fend off the Worldwide Staff blitz on Friday afternoon in Quebec.
After a second straight historic day at Royal Montreal, we’ve all of the sudden acquired a battle for the Presidents Cup.
The Worldwide Staff, led by a wild 7&6 win from Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im, swept the Individuals in Friday’s foursomes matches. That not solely marked the Worldwide Staff’s first win in an alternate shot match session since 2005, nevertheless it marked the primary time that there have been back-to-back sweeps in both a Presidents Cup or a Ryder Cup in historical past.
Abruptly, because of a clutch putt from Si Woo Kim to finish the day, the match is tied 5-5 on the halfway level.
“I believed within the guys,” Worldwide captain Mike Weir mentioned. “Whether or not it was 3-2, 4-1, 5-0 was clearly a bonus [for us today]. We simply wished to get ourselves again on this. The blokes performed unbelievable, they actually responded extremely.”
Matsuyama and Im acquired the day began, and didn’t waste any time. The duo flew to what matched the most important margin of victory in Presidents Cup historical past. They wanted simply 12 holes to close down Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele and rating the primary factors their workforce has seen all week.
It was pure domination. Cantlay and Schauffele didn’t win a single gap within the match, and Matsuyama and Im made seven straight birdies to finish their match. Naturally, there was an enormous celebration on the twelfth inexperienced as soon as the match was official. A 7&6 win has occurred simply twice earlier than in Presidents Cup historical past, and solely by Worldwide pairings.
Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes weren’t far behind, both. The duo shut out Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau of their match. The Canadians gained on holes 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9 after which Conners sank a deep birdie putt on the eleventh to all of the sudden put them up by six. That pushed them to their 6&5 win.
Although they had been a bit gradual to get going, Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith beat Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa 5&4 of their match. They gained holes 4, 5 and 6 to leap forward after a decent opening few holes, after which they gained three straight to begin the again 9 earlier than closing their match early. Theegala and Morikawa gained a single gap, the seventh, which was the one win for america among the many three blowout teams.
The win for Scott made him the winningest Worldwide participant in Presidents Cup historical past, too, surpassing Ernie Els’ factors document of 21.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Jason Day closed out their match with Max Homa and Brian Harman 1 Up after holding on late, too, which introduced the Worldwide workforce inside a single level. Then, in what was by far the closest match of the day, Kim and Ben An lastly overtook Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley down the stretch. After splitting holes twice on the entrance facet, Kim and An lastly birdied once more on the thirteenth after throwing a dart off the tee.
Kim and An almost stumbled on the 18th after their drive landed within the thick tough alongside the left facet of the golf green. However Kim drained a deep par putt to transform the up-and-down, which accomplished the session sweep and made historical past.
The Individuals maintain a dominant 12-1-1 document within the Presidents Cup, and have gained 9 straight heading into this weekend’s occasion in Canada. Based mostly on how Friday went, the U.S. Staff will want a powerful outing early on Saturday to retake management of the event. In any other case, the 12 singles matches on Sunday might be very fascinating.
