After the U.S. swept Thursday’s four-ball matches to take a 5-0 lead at the Presidents Cup, it was a completely different story Friday. The International Team swept the foursome session 5-0. It felt all day like the International Team saw the cup as the size of a lake. However, the U.S. saw the cup the size of the golf ball.
That momentum was crucial for the International Team to get back heading into the weekend.
Here are 10 winners and losers from Friday’s second round at the Presidents Cup in Canada.
Winner: International Team steps UP
All day, the momentum went in favor of the International Team as they recorded a 5-0 sweep Friday after the Americans did so Thursday. Si Woo Kim capped off the International Team sweep with a 14-foot putt to win 1 up with Byeong An in the final match of the day. The last time the International Team won a foursome session in the Presidents Cup was 19 years ago in 2005 when they won 3.5 to 2.5. This is also the first occurrence of back-to-back session sweeps in Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup history.
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Winner: Hideki Matsuyama & Sungjae Im
In previous Presidents Cup match, Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama were never paired together. That experience did not matter as they were 3 up through five with just one birdie. That is when the duo turned it to another gear, making seven consecutive birdies to win their match 7 and 6 against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. That tied the largest margin of victory in Presidents Cup history. In addition, the victory ties the biggest win in Presidents Cup history. Adam Scott and K.J. Choi won 7 and 6 over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in Thursday foursomes in 2011. David Frost defeated Kenny Perry in Sunday’s singles 7 and 6 in 1996.
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Loser: Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay
Winner: The Canadian momentum
When International Team captain Mike Weir announced that there would be three Canadians competing this week, the task was on to pair them up. Between Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith, would Weir pair one of them together? Or have them all play in separate matches to create the home crowd momentum across three matches? Weir had Conners and Hughes paired together Friday and represented Canada strongly, defeating Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau 6 and 5.
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Loser: Tony Finau & Wydham Clark
Just like the other matches, the momentum was unable to swing in the Americans’ favor in this matchup. Finau and Clark were 3 down after five holes following a bogey. After a birdie on the sixth, Finau and Clark were unable to make a birdie on the ensuing five holes, to extend the deficit to 6 down through 11 holes.
Winner: Adam Scott
Winner: Taylor Pendrith
Loser: Collin Morikawa & Sahith Theegala
Like Clark and Finau, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala struggled Friday in their loss to Scott and Pendrith. They both could not make putts. Morikawa was -1.63 strokes gained putting. In addition, Theegala was -2.39 strokes gained tee to green and -1.27 strokes gained approach. Morikawa and Theegala won just one hole, which came on a par on the seventh hole.
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Winner: Jason Day
Jason Day was playing in his first Presidents Cup in seven years. On Friday, the Aussie delivered when they needed it the most. Day, who had been 0-5-3 in foursomes, wanted to get that first win Friday. The story of that first point got better when his partner, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, went into the water on the 17th hole, leading to conceding the hole to shorten the lead down to 1 up. That is when Day responded. After Bezuidenhout was unable to reach the green in regulation on the last hole, Day stepped up by getting his shot in tap-in range from off the green to seal a 1 up win and his first win in foursomes.
Loser: Brian Harman
Brian Harman did not have the best of performances Friday after not playing Thursday. Harman and Max Homa went up against Day and Bezuidenhout. Like most of his U.S. teammates, Harman could not even buy a putt. He went -1.91 strokes gained putting and -1.95 strokes gained tee to green. It was not the best of days as Harman and the Americans look to turn things around on a crucial Saturday.
Also read: Presidents Cup: Ranking all 12 players for Team USA, including Brian Harman
