MONTREAL — Scottie Scheffler delivered big shots late in two matches, and Patrick Cantlay capped a strong recovery by living up to his “Patty Ice” reputation with a clutch birdie in the dark that gave the Americans an 11-7 lead on a long Saturday at the Presidents Cup.
Scheffler finished off a tight four-ball match with two late birdies in the fog-delayed morning, and then he gave the Americans their first lead in foursomes with a wedge into a foot on the 14th hole that led to another point.
The 90-minute fog delay made it a race to beat darkness. Carts pulled up alongside the 18th green at Royal Montreal with lights on to help illuminate the green. Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were all square with the dynamic South Korean duo of Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim.
Both had birdie putts just inside 17 feet — a 2-inch difference. Cantlay went first and poured it in the heart, just like he did with so many putts Saturday morning in a four-ball victory with Sam Burns.
Si Woo Kim, who produced so many big moments, couldn’t answer this one.
The Americans won three out of the four matches in both sessions, expanding the lead to the same margin it was two years ago at Quail Hollow.
All that’s left for them to make it 10 straight victories in the Presidents Cup is the 12 singles matches. The International team has won the singles session only three out of 14 times, all of them when it trailed by at least six points and the cup had been all but decided.
“Xander helped me read it,” Cantlay said of his match winner in near darkness. “It was like a cup out with some speed, and a putt like that will make me sleep a little better tonight.”
There was some measure of payback for Cantlay and Schauffele. It was late Saturday at Quail Hollow when Tom Kim buried a big putt at the end and slammed his cap to the turf, an audacious celebration for the 20-year-old.
This time, Si Woo Kim holed an unlikely chip from deep rough below the 16th green to square the match, and he ran across the green with his hands folded in a “Good night” gesture, much like basketball star Stephen Curry at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Not so fast.
Cantlay’s putt and that final point again put the Internationals in a deep hole as they try to win for the only the second time. Their only win was in 1998, before Tom Kim was even born.
Adam Scott, playing in his 11th Presidents Cup without ever being on the winning side, carried Taylor Pendrith to a 2-and-1 victory in foursomes over Brian Harman and Max Homa, the only International point in foursomes.
Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim won big over Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark in morning four-ball for the lone International victory.
They were all square or leading in all the afternoon matches at one point until the Americans took control, as they often do. Morikawa and Burns dug out of an early hole and beat the Canadian duo of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes on the 18th hole when Hughes hit a poor chip and Conners never came close on the 12-foot par putt.
Scheffler missed a pair of short par putts early in the match against Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im in falling three down after five holes. Scheffler and Russell Henley scratched back — one hole at a time, Henley kept reminding him — caught them on the 12th and pulled ahead with Scheffler’s late heroics.
International captain Mike Weir sent out his same teams twice, meaning four players — Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Byeong Hun An — sat out all of Saturday.
“We like the matchups, we like the pairings, and we’re rolling with it,” Weir said.
In the anchor match in the morning, Im three times matched birdies against Cantlay and Burns to keep the match from getting out of hand. Cantlay chipped in for eagle on the 12th for a 2-up lead. And then Im and Matsuyama — mostly Im — tried to rally.
Im hit to 6 feet on the 15th, only for Cantlay to make from 25 feet. Im was in tight again on the 16th, and Cantlay poured in his putt from 18 feet. Instead of the match being all square with two to play, the Americans were dormie and closed out the match when Matsuyama missed an 8-foot birdie attempt.
