Presidents Cup 2024: Superlatives and stumbles on Day 2 at Royal Montreal

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MONTREAL — When Si Woo Kim made a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole to secure a 1-up win for the Internationals in Friday’s last foursomes match of the Presidents Cup, it felt like a bigger moment than securing just one point. The gallery at Royal Montreal roared loudly and the home team’s large contingent rushed the winning pair as if they’d just won the Cup outright. The only thing missing seemed to be champagne.

The Internationals were rightly in an ebullient mood after one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the event’s 15-edition history. Waxed 5-0 by the favored American squad on Thursday in fourball, they responded with a shutout of their own, sweeping all five alternate-shot foursomes matches to tie the score 5-5 heading into the weekend.

To understand how big this was is to know that the Internationals had not won ANY foursomes session since 2005. Or, as the always sharp Tom Kim noted, “When I was 3.”

It was a big day, a good day for golf, and there were plenty of highs for the Internationals and disappointments for an American team that was as flatly played Friday as any session by this squad in recent memory. To wit: This U.S. led for only ONE of the 57 holes that were played.

Best match

Only two of the five matches went to the 18th hole, and the best came last with Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley trying to scrape their way back against Si Woo Kim and Ben An. The American pair took the only U.S. lead of the day at the second hole, but the Internationals answered by tying it up at 3, and the match was even through 12. Then Kim hit a spectacular tee shot on the par-3 13th to three feet for birdie, and the Internationals held a 1-up lead going into 18. The hosts were in trouble after driving in the rough and coming up short of the green, but Kim saved the full point by making his putt that stirred his teammates and the crowd.

Best Match, runner-up

For a match that might have been considered a giveaway point for the Americans because of Harman and Homa have not been in form, the battle with Jason Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout turned into a great one. Three-up through 12, the Internationals looked to be in full control against the American duo that sat out on Thursday. But the visitors fought back when Homa gifted Harman a 6-footer that he made for birdie at 13, and the Internationals gave away the 17th with a bogey to be only 1-up. Both teams missed the green, but it was Day’s world-class flop from behind the green for a gimme par that clinches it, with Harman’s strong pitch missing the hole by inches.

Best team

Internationals captain Mike Weir got what seemed like deserved criticism for not putting a Canadian out first on Thursday, but he thrilled the faithful with the syrupy combo of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes on Friday. And they didn’t disappoint with a 6-and-5 thumping of Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau that had the fans singing “O Canada” on nearly every hole.

Best cheerleader

The mantle of “Captain America” has been passed down through the years on the U.S. team side, but the Internationals have never seemed to truly have a player to rally around. They do. Mr. International? With Kim only figuratively sitting the bench for foursomes, he worked up the crowd every chance he got.

Proving this is a guy you want to have at your back, Kim said Friday night, “As a player, you want to go out and perform, but at the same time, this week isn’t about performing, it’s about being a good teammate. When I knew I was going to sit out, I told myself what can I do for my teammates to go out tomorrow and feel the energy, because our crowd wasn’t going. I had one goal today, and that was to get there before everyone got to the first tee and get the crowd going for my guys. Our fans brought it. Our I-N-T fans really brought it today, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Happiest man for the Internationals

Beyond Weir, it has to be Adam Scott. The Aussie, winless in 10 previous Cup appearances, looked truly disconsolate on Thursday evening. Twenty-four hours later, he appeared both relieved and joyous at his team’s impressive turnaround. Of the feeling heading into the day, Scott may have said it best when he offered, “I think one thing going for us today was we were coming out to play with our pride on the line. We got kicked pretty badly yesterday. There is a confidence amongst this group, but we got brought down to Earth, and we came out today and all lifted our levels. This team is very capable of pushing the U.S. Team all the way this week, and today was a good step for us to make it a big fight this weekend.”

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com