ÎLE BIZARD, Que. – The American side showed their depth while the Internationals ran out of gas.
And now Mike Weir’s squad faces a stern uphill battle in Sunday’s finale at the Presidents Cup.
After a 90-minute fog delay early Saturday, the final match finished in the dark with Patrick Cantlay rolling in a 16-footer to say ‘night-night’ to Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim (the former giving the aptly named Steph Curry celebration to Cantlay and Xander Schauffele after pitching in from a ridiculous lie just two holes prior).
The Americans now lead 11-7 heading into Sunday’s singles at Royal Montreal.
Already the International Team has shown that they know how to claw back from a deep deficit. They know exactly what they need to do — but that doesn’t make it any easier.
“We’re right there,” said Canadian Taylor Pendrith. “Obviously we’re going to need a really solid day, and everybody’s going to have to play great to put points up on the board, but we’re right there and really good day tomorrow can win this thing.”
For the first time in Presidents Cup history, the International Team featured the exact same teams in both the morning and afternoon sessions, with Pendrith and Adam Scott, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, Kim and Kim, and Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im playing all eight matches over 12 hours on Saturday.
Conners and Hughes couldn’t recreate their Friday magic in either session, going 0-2 on Saturday. They lost 3&2 to Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele in the morning and stumbled late against Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns in the afternoon, losing 1-up.
“These team competitions, they’re emotional roller coasters, no doubt,” Weir said.
Hughes delivered one of the highlights of the day, pitching in for eagle from the greenside bunker on the par-5 12th, but the Canadian duo lost four straight holes on the front nine to cough up a 2-up lead. Hughes flubbed a pitch on the closing hole and Conners missed the 11-foot par attempt.
The pair were visibly emotional at the end of a long day.
“I had a little chip there, and that’s going to sit with me for a while,” Hughes said. “Just didn’t quite have it today. I didn’t play that great in the morning, and they trusted us to come back out in the evening or this afternoon and put a point on the board.
“We did a lot of good things but fell short, so it kind of stinks.”
For Sunday singles, Hughes will play in the last match of the competition against Max Homa. Conners will play against Tony Finau, and Pendrith gets Cantlay.
Weir was quick to defend his decision to run back the same lineup for the alternate shot session. It was hard not to utilize the same pairings from Friday’s absolute drumming of the Americans in foursomes.
“We went 5-0 yesterday and had a lot of momentum. We talked it through, and that was it. We had a plan,” Weir said.
There is no denying this is set to be a tall task for the International Team to mount a furious comeback on Sunday. Jason Day will be the first off for Weir’s team (Day did not play at all on Saturday), followed by Tom Kim (Weir’s emotional sparkplug), and then Hideki Matsuyama (his No. 1-ranked player). Unfortunately, of course, Team USA can – and did – counter with some of the best in the world. First off for the Americans is two-time major winner this year Xander Schauffele, and then Sam Burns (the only undefeated golfer so far this week), and then world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
This 11-7 advantage is the exact same that the Americans had two years ago in Charlotte heading into the final day. Weir said there were plenty more distractions that year – it was the first year that golfers who went to LIV would not be able to participate and captain Trevor Immelman had to make some extra picks to round out his squad – and now, he explained, there would be none of that. The job to do is in front of them.
“These are 12 awesome players we have on our team. We have tremendous belief in them. They have tremendous belief in themselves,” Weir said. “It’s the best group of guys I’ve ever been around. We love them, and we know they’re going to come out fighting hard tomorrow.”
In a team competition like this, there are two keys to success — momentum, and success around the greens. That’s exactly what we’re seeing from the U.S. side after a horrific final 80 minutes at Royal Montreal. Per Toronto’s DataGolf, the International Team’s win probability climbed to 27 per cent, but finished at just about 5 per cent when the sun set.
The Americans know exactly what they need to do on Sunday. Same, too, do the Internationals. A lot of work and a lot of golf ahead.
“I think everybody’s got to bring their best stuff,” Pendrith said. “Obviously it’s not the day we were looking for, but we’re going to come ready tomorrow, and we’re going to play great.”