CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After watching his team lose both sessions on Saturday and its lead heading into the final day trimmed to four points, U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Davis Love III trusted that his 12-man team would deliver in Sunday singles.
“This is one of our best formats, and they’re going to come out mad tomorrow,” he predicted.
Love front-loaded his lineup with several of the top players in the world to attempt to put a sea of red on the scoreboard early: Justin Thomas in the leadoff spot followed by Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. They delivered mixed results, but Team U.S.A. needed just four points to retain the Presidents Cup and continue its domination in its biennial match, winning 17 ½-12 ½.
On an overcast fall day at Quail Hollow, they did enough to take care of business, led by Jordan Spieth, who went out in the second match of the day and defeated Australian Cam Davis 4 and 3. Spieth secured his first-ever victory in singles and notched a perfect record of 5-0, the first player from either team to do so since South African Branden Grace in 2015.
“It feels really good,” Spieth said. “When you go out early as I’ve done pretty much every team event on a Sunday, they’re looking for red on the board, and it feels good to finally provide that.”
Patrick Cantlay avenged his lone defeat of the week on Saturday afternoon, besting Adam Scott, 3 and 2.
“I knew it was really important for me to get my point today,” Cantlay said, “and I’m really content with how I played.”
But the outmanned International team kept it interesting until late Sunday. South Korea’s Si Woo Kim shushed the crowd, with his finger at 15 and silenced them with his putter on 18, draining a clutch birdie putt at 18 to edge Thomas 1 up.
“J.T. give me fist pump, and then I had to do it. And I had to make it, and I made it,” said Kim, who was a team-best 3-0-1, of his putt to tie the 15th hole. “Then, like, yeah, I had to do something. I think that give me more energy.”
Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz was 2-0-1 in the matches he played, knocking off World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who finished 0-3-1, by a score of 2 and 1.
“I believe Munoz is going to come out of this competition with a real infusion of self-belief and confidence,” NBC’s Paul Azinger said. “He has made some huge putts.”
Munoz likely would agree. “Probably one of the best things I ever achieved in my life,” he said.
Xander Schauffele essentially called his shot in clinching the winning point for Team USA.
“I’ll just save mine for tomorrow,” he said when asked for his highlight on Saturday.
Schauffele, who was in the seventh match of the day on Sunday and won a total of three points for his country, squandered a 3-up lead but hung on to defeat Canada’s Corey Conners 1 up.
“Just luck of the draw, you know what I mean?” Schauffele said. “It was close. It was stressful and what you saw there was a big sigh of relief.”
The U.S. team featured six of the top 10 in the world, while Hideki Matsuyama, who tied Sam Burns on Sunday, was the top-ranked international player at No. 17. Missing from the International side was World No. 3 Cameron Smith, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who were among the defectors to LIV Golf and ineligible for the competition.
Nevertheless, the International side made a valiant comeback on Saturday. But they had dug a big hole, requiring a historic comeback of 8½ of the 12 points up for grabs.
“When you consider that we were 8-2 down on Friday evening, this team is no joke, and I’m sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke,” International team captain Trevor Immelman said. “We love this event, and we love our team, and we cannot wait to run this back and have another shot.”
The International side featured eight rookies and had the youngest team in Presidents Cup history, including 20-year-old South Korean sensation Tom Kim, who won two big points on Saturday to lead a spirited charge as the International team outscored the Americans in a two-session day for the first time since 1998.
“This young kid has burst onto the scene in the last six months,” International team captain Trevor Immelman said. “He’s been such a tremendous gift to our sport. He has an ability to be a global superstar, this kid.”
In singles, Tom Kim blew a 3-up lead after 10 holes to Max Homa, who went 4-0, one of four rookies to go 4-0-0 or better all-time at the Presidents Cup.
The U.S. has won the Presidents Cup nine times in a row and 12 of 14 times, with one tie. The next match will be held in Montreal in 2024.
