The first day of the Presidents Cup is in the books and already it is the Americans who hold a significant advantage, winning all five of the day’s fourball matches to hold a commanding 5-0 lead.
On a day that contained plenty of drama and talking points, here is our day 1 recap.
Americans Show Class to Edge all Five Matches
A 5-0 lead suggests that the Americans were completely dominant during all five of the fourballs matches that hit the course on Thursday but that wasn’t the case as all five matches came down to the wire.
Pushed all the way by the International side, three of the five matches came down to the 18th green, but it was America who were able to hole the crucial putts or hold their nerve with classy scrambling or approach play.
Take Xander Schauffele as a prime example. Paired with Tony Finau, the pair were two up with just four holes to play. Losing two consecutive holes and with the match tied as they hit the par 3 17th, Schauffele knocked his approach to 6 feet and made no mistake with his birdie putt before then stiffing his approach into 18 to within just two feet to secure the walkoff birdie victory.
Keegan Bradley was able to hole a birdie putt from a mile away on 18 to secure victory and Collin Morikawa was also able to produce heroics on 18 to hold off the Australian duo of Adam Scott and Min-Woo Lee.
Throughout the day there were just too many putts that burnt the edge of the hole from the Internationals with Adam Scott, Sungjae Im and Taylor Pendrith all missing vital putts in their matches to help the Internationals get some gold on the board.
International Captain, Mike Weir, will be proud of how his team fought but unless they can seize the momentum quickly, this year’s Presidents Cup could already be beyond him.
Set up of Royal Montreal Can be Questioned
Heading into the first day’s play, several of the players and media called into question the difficulty of the Royal Montreal setup. By no means the longest or most challenging layout, there was a fear that the layout of the course would suit the Americans to a tee and so that proved to be the case.
As the home team, the Internationals can set up the course how they like and with the pin positions being easily accessible there was a fear that if the action boiled down to a shootout it would favour the Americans over the Internationals and time and time again this proved to be correct with the Americans able to take aim with their wedges and pepper the flags all day.
Whilst in parts the rough was certainly thick, there is a feeling that after the first day, the Internationals had missed a trick.
It’s no secret that for every Ryder Cup, Europe starts as the underdogs but there is a reason why the Americans haven’t won on European soil for over twenty years.
The Europeans set up their courses to make scoring exceptionally difficult, they make the fairways tight and the rough thick. Often in European Ryder Cups shootout scenarios do not happen and the Europeans successfully take away the Americans strengths, the Internationals failed to do this yesterday.
Unless the Internationals can do something drastic to the course to help the Internationals find a way back into the contest expect much more of the same over the next few days.
Crowds go Flat as Americans Successfully go About Their Business
The day started with McKenzie Hughes chugging a beer on the first tee and whilst that certainly got the crowd going, there was a strange atmosphere across Royal Montreal yesterday.
Knowing that the Internationals would be starting each match as the underdog you would have thought that the crowds would have been right behind their men, however after the Americans got off to their hot start it all went very flat, very quickly.
Needing the crowd to give them a lift, it never came and after the day’s play had concluded Tom Kim mentioned that his team needed more, ‘I think it was a little too quiet today being on home soil. I wish they would have helped us out a bit more, especially being in Canada. I know how much they love golf.’
If the Internationals are to harbour any serious hopes of clawing their way back into this year’s contest, they simply need the crowd on their side today.
Despite Their 5-0 Drubbing The Internationals Show That They Are up For The Fight
One of the main reasons why so many of us like team events like the Presidents Cup is because it brings a different dynamic to the sport we love and it’s great to see some of the best players come together to compete for something more than just an individual prize.
In the build up to this year’s event, there can be no doubt that slowly but surely the event is rising in stature but due to the one sided nature of the results, the Presidents Cup still ranks significantly behind the Ryder and even Solheim Cups.
Determined to stop the Americans from winning a tenth straight Presidents Cup title, there were several International players who were pumped and none more so than Tom Kim.
Kim burst onto the scene two years ago when he almost single handedly took the fight to the U.S. team, this year looks to be no exception.
Paired against his great mate Scottie Scheffler, the two exchanged words on the second hole but emotions spilled over further still on the 8th.
With Kim rattling home a long birdie putt, his celebration in the direction of Scheffler was bordering on uncomfortable, but it got worse. With the world number one still having a putt to half the hole, the Internationals took the unprecedented step of leaving the green and instead headed straight to the 9th tee box.
Seen as a disrespectful move, that angered US Assistant Kevin Kisner, with him exchanging terse words with International assistant Camilo Villegas.
In the end cooler heads prevailed, and the match was finished in good spirits but if anybody doubted how much it means to both sets of players they need to look no further than yesterday’s match between Kim and Scheffler.
What to Look Forward to on Day 2
Foursomes takes centre stage today with five more matches due to take place. The Internationals have to get the better of the day otherwise any hopes they have of claiming a first Presidents Cup in 26 years will all but be over.
Here are how the matches are scheduled for today
Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay vs Hideki Matsuyama & Sungjae Im
Sahith Theegala & Collin Morikawa vs Adam Scott & Taylor Pendrith
Max Homa & Brian Harman vs Christiaan Bezuidenhout & Jason Day
Wyndham Clark & Tony Finau vs Correy Connors & McKenzie Hughes
Scottie Scheffler & Wyndham Clark vs Si Woo Kim & B H An
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
