MONTREAL — The International duo of Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim provided most of the mind-numbing highlights and theatrics, holing putts and chip shots and dancing across the Royal Montreal landscape for the better part of 10 hours on Saturday.
But even all that was not enough Saturday, their theatrics ultimately muted by a Patrick Cantlay birdie putt in the gloaming that took all the starch out of a celebratory, partisan crowd and some of the vigor out of the two protagonists.
For all the Kim heroics on a long, fog-delayed day, the U.S. Presidents Cup team still came away with six of the eight available points during the third day of competition to extend its lead to 11–7 going into the 12 singles matches.
The U.S. needs to win just 4½ of the available 12 points in order to win the Presidents Cup for the 10th straight time. (Click here for the Sunday singles lineup.)
It was particularly painful for the two Kims who played their hearts out and had a tough team of Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in a tussle for much of the afternoon and early evening foursomes match (alternate shot), only to come out on the short end of a 1 up outcome.
A clutch birdie on 18 to win the match.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 28, 2024
@Patrick_Cantlay secures the third point for the U.S. Team in the afternoon Foursomes matches. pic.twitter.com/BAoqe6wvfM
All of which undoubtedly brought a great deal of satisfaction to the longtime friends and partners who were on the bad end of plenty of partisan taunting and might have just possibly had enough of their competitors’ celebratory antics.
“I think it just motivates us more, if anything,” Schauffele said. “I know I can speak for P.C. here, we wanted to win that match pretty bad. Man, did it feel good when P.C. made that putt there in the dark.”
Later, Schauffele added: “Yeah, they're competitors. Pat and I, we got a really good look at that at Quail Hollow (at the 2022 Presidents Cup). I was pretty excited when P.C. and I were able to go back out, especially after we got thromped yesterday (in the same format against Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im). I don't even know if that's a word, but you get the point. A point's a point. Very satisfying to win it that way.”
It’s clear that the two Kims have forged a bond and become a rallying point for the International side, one that has the potential to get under the skin of the American players.
Tom Kim suggested afterward that there was some bad blood at times, saying he heard cursing from American players and wondered about poor sportsmanship.
“You see me out there throwing fist pumps and jumping on the green,” Tom Kim said. “It's all part of it, I get it. I just don't think there's a need to look at someone and curse at them. I just don't think there's a need for it.
“I understand it. I don't get hurt about it. My feelings don't hurt at all. I hope there's no negative comments. That's not what I'm trying to do here. I just feel like there's always little things, like what could I have done better? It's just certain things like that. I put my partner in some tough positions, and that to me is the most frustrating part of the day.
“He and I talked about when we got down early let's just push it to 18. Obviously we did, and they had to play good to beat us, so claps to them.”
One of the tough spots Tom Kim put Si Woo Kim in came at the 16th hole, down 1. With Schauffele and Cantlay on the green, Tom Kim’s approach sailed right and embedded in the bank next to the green and above a bunker on a slope.
A search for the ball ensued, with Schauffele, of all people, the one to find it. Because it was embedded, Si Woo Kim could take a drop.
He then launched a pitch shot high into the air, watched it land softly, and roll into the for an unlikely birdie. His celebration was one to behold, giving the “Good night” gesture made famous by basketball star Steph Curry in the Olympic Gold game in Paris.
It only served to wake up Cantlay and Schauffele.
“I didn't even know what the goodnight gesture was until about 10 minutes ago,” said Cantlay—who also didn’t know what all the fuss was about a year ago at the Ryder Cup when he was being taunted for not wearing a hat.
“I don't care what they do. I know they're going to get amped up if they make birdies. They made a ton of birdies. They got amped up in front of the home crowd. Home crowd loved it. That's great. That's great for golf. We just made one more birdie.”
Tied with one hole to go, Schauffele’s approach sucked back to 20 feet with Tom Kim’s approach inside. But when Cantlay holed the putt—setting off a wild U.S. celebration—Si Woo Kim was unable to match the birdie.
And that extra half point was big. In fact, had Cantlay missed and Si Woo Kim made, the score would have gone to 10-8, a far more reasonable deficit.
Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith were the only International team to notch a victory in the afternoon, a 2 up win over Brian Harman and Max Homa. The other two matches were tight, but the U.S. team of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley won three straight holes to win 3 and 2 and Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns won the 18th hole with a par to edge Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes 1 up.
That latter match was particularly painful for the International side as well. Conners and Hughes led 2 up early, went down on the back side and tied it with a birdie at the 16th.
International captain Mike Weir will undoubtedly be second-guessed for his lineup treatment, electing to go with the same eight players on a grueling 36-hole day, meaning four of his players only saw the course as spectators.
And while the Canadian tandem of Conners and Hughes was an obvious choice for the afternoon foursomes competition given their alternate-shot prowess on Friday, the duo had looked miserable earlier in the day in making one birdie combined in losing four-ball effort.
Meanwhile, veteran Jason Day sat out as did fellow Aussie Min Woo Lee, who has not played since Thursday. Ben An and Christiaan Bezuidenhout also didn’t hit a shot on Saturday, which makes their effectiveness on Sunday when all of their efforts will be needed understandably questionable.
Earlier, following a 1 hour and 37-minute fog interruption, the U.S. earned three of four points in the morning four-ball competition, with only Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim winning for the International side.
There has yet to be a tie through 18 matches.
U.S. captain Jim Furyk has put a good number of his stars out early in the singles with the idea of muting any momentum and thwarting any rallies. Schauffele is going out first, with Scheffler third and Cantlay fifth. Furyk put Morikawa in the 11th slot taking on Adam Scott if it gets that far.
“It's a very, very solid U.S. team, and we've got a big task at hand,” said Pendrith, who will face Cantlay. “But a lot of the matches have gone deep into the holes and have been decided on 18 a lot, so we're right there. I think tomorrow we're going to have to come out and have good energy and play well and get off to a good start.
“We've got a tough task, but we're up for it. Yeah, we need to get some points early.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Another Presidents Cup Win Is in Reach for U.S. After Steady Saturday in Montreal.
