The International Team spectacularly turned the tables on the USA with a 5-0 clean-sweep of their own to level the Presidents Cup after the Friday foursomes – an unexpectedly one-sided session which included a record-equalling defeat for Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Against almost all expectations – apart from seemingly the Mike Weir-captained team’s own – the International side rebounded from an opening day 5-0 defeat to the Americans in the fourballs to hit straight back 24 hours later in an astonishing comeback performance at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club.
The Internationals’ day two surge was headlined in the first match by a joint-record 7&6 victory for Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im over Cantlay and Schauffele, the world No 2.
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Xander Schauffele hit his second shot at the fourth hole into the trees during the second day’s foursomes at the Presidents Cup
To the delight of an increasingly-vociferous home crowd, the all-Canadian pairing of Corery Conners and Mackenzie Hughes recorded a similarly impressive 6&5 win over Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau.
Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith beat Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa 5&4, a point which meant Scott became the most successful International player in the competition’s 30-year history.
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Jason Day’s sensational birdie at the seventh saw him and Christiaan Bezuidenhout take the lead in their foursomes clash at the Presidents Cup
The other two matches were closer-fought affairs but the International team still held on in the face of late pressure being applied by their respective American opponents as the defending champions strived to avoid losing all matches in a session to their rival for the first time since the 2003 tournament.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Jason Day finished 1 UP on Max Homa and Brian Harman despite both finding water with tee shots over the closing holes, while South Korean pair Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An recorded the same winning score against world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.
Sky Sports Golf’s Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA champion, said: “I feel shocked, probably like everyone else in the golfing world right now.
“The Internationals needed to do what they did today. I didn’t see them coming out as they did – going out and decimating the Americans as they did in that first match really set the tone for the rest of the day.
“It seemed that finally they had the momentum on their side and they built on it every single chance they got.”
More to follow…
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