Yikes.
You couldn’t draw up a worse opening session for the International team. What should be a story recapping a competitive first round from Royal Montreal feels more like an obituary for Mike Weir’s side, which faces a 5-0 deficit heading into Friday.
The Americans’ sweep of Thursday’s four-ball matches is the third by Team USA in an opening Presidents Cup session. The Americans won the competition by at least eight points in the two previous instances.
So what went wrong for the black and gold? Well, everything.
Let’s start with the players. Of the 24 golfers who teed it up Thursday, the Internationals rostered the five worst performers based on strokes-gained data and nine of the bottom 12.
To make matters worse, the Internationals’ best players failed to show up. Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, and Sungjae Im were three of the day’s five worst performers, each losing over 1.5 strokes to the field. Im was the second worst with minus-3.9 strokes gained.
The International team faced an uphill battle from the jump against an American team loaded with talent, but it has next to no chance of ending its nine-event losing streak without its best players earning important points.
What’s even more frustrating for the International team is that the matches were far closer than the final scoreboard indicates. Three matches ended on 18, and the fifth match – Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay versus Corey Conners and Hideki Matsuyama – was a 9-foot birdie putt away from also going to the last hole.
Perhaps that’s the day’s lone bright spot for the team, but coming up empty-handed while being competitive in all five matches can only increase the pain.
“I have a feeling the matches were closer than what the score indicates,” Scott said. “Our guys are just going to have to lift a little bit. We’re going to have to find another gear to beat a tough American team.”
The Canadian crowd will also have to find another gear if it’s hoping to see meaningful golf on Sunday.
It falls on the players to hit shots that make the home crowd get loud and turn heads across the property, but the fans on the grounds did not provide the lift the International team needs to be competitive. Home-course advantage is crucial in these team competitions, and that advantage was non-existent on Thursday. When caddies and players’ wives are visibly trying to pump the fans up after their team hits it close, there’s a big issue.
“We need to get louder, I think, the next few days here and really feel the home support,” Canadian Taylor Pendrith said.
Tom Kim, one of the few International players who provided any energy on Thursday, agreed.
“I think it was a little too quiet today being on home soil,” Kim said. “I wish they would have helped us out a bit more, especially being in Canada. I know how much they love golf.”
The reality of a 5-0 deficit set in while Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark secured the final point on 18. The Americans hung around on the final green for an extended time, acting as if they had won the cup, while the Internationals vanished from the course as quickly as they could.
Dejected fans left the property wondering what they had just witnessed, and one fan was overheard saying that “today was supposed to be the close session.”
That fan is right. The Americans have a plus-1 point differential in four-ball sessions dating back to 2007, according the Twenty First Group’s Justin Ray, and a plus-33 point differential in foursomes (alternate shot), the format for Friday’s matches.
What’s even more concerning for the International side is what appears to be an inability to react to Thursday’s disaster.
Weir and Co. decided to leave Kim off Friday’s tee sheet. The young Korean provided two memorable moments on the front nine Thursday despite losing 3-and-2 to Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley. Kim was also the International team’s second-best performer on a strokes-gained basis.
“Tom wasn’t in the plans for (Friday), but doesn’t mean he might not be down the road,” Weir, the captain, said when questioned why Kim was sitting Friday’s session. “We’re sticking with the plan.”
Poor performances, zero home-course advantage, and a plan that doesn’t seem adaptable is a recipe for disaster.
“We’re now in a really tough spot,” Scott said. “But thankfully there’s tomorrow.”
We’ll have to wait and see if Scott’s still thankful for tomorrow once Friday’s results are in.
