Tom Kim led a charge, but the U.S. team won the battle.
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A day after sitting ahistoric International rally, Tom Kim’s Presidents Cup efforts were delayed again on
Dense fog shrowded Royal Montreal Saturday morning, the beginning of what was set as a marathon, 36-hole day at the Presidents Cup, suspending play after the first two of four morning four-ball matches. Kim was the third match to go off, but had to wait an extra hour and 37 minutes to hit his first shot.
But once he did, there was no mistaking who brought the heart and soul of the international squad.
On the 1st, his partner, Si Woo Kim, walked in his birdie putt to immediately take a 1 Up lead over Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Tom Kim turned back to the Canadian faithful, pumping his fist at them before completing a spin and high-fiving his partner.
On the 2nd, it was Tom’s turn as he drained a 12-foot birdie from the edge of the green and immediately turned back toward the crowd and pumped both fists in the air.
That set the tone for the match, which ended up as 4 and 3 victory for the International side, with Si Woo Kim making a curling birdie putt and removing his hat before the ball even reached the cup, as the clincher on the 15th hole.
“It’s nice to be able to make some putts for the team,” Kim said. “Definitely there was a few moments where momentum definitely could have shifted, but hung tight and did really well.”
But that was those were the only bright spots in the morning for the Internationals as the Americans took the other three matches, taking a narrow 8-6 lead as they begin the afternoon foursome session.
In the first match, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took a while to get going as he and Collin Morikawa tied eight consecutive holes against Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith and their match was tied as they got to the 16th hole. But the seven-time winner this season showed up late, making birdies on both 16 and 17, his first two of the day, to pull ahead for a 2 and 1 win.
Scheffler credited the seven-foot par putt Morikawa made on the 15th, after Scheffler had already made bogey, for giving him the boost he needed.
“I was getting a little bit impatient out there and I’m standing there on 15 green thinking to myself, what am I doing, and just hoping Collin can knock that putt in, and that was huge for our team there,” Scheffler said. “I was able to make a couple birdies when my partner needed me because he was a bit alone out there for a while today, so I was proud to step up when I needed to.”
In the second match, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau methodically pulled away from Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners with three birdies on the back nine to win 3 and 2.
The last match took the longest to finish as Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns took a 2 Up lead with six to play over Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im with an eagle by Cantlay. But Im drew out the match as long as he could, matching Cantlay with three straight birdies on 14, 15 and 16 before the Americans finally took the 2 and 1 win with a tie on 17.
Four more matches headed right back out upon the conclusion of Cantlay and Burns’ win as the fourth session switches to foursomes for the afternoon.
