International team earns needed split with US in Saturday foursomes at Presidents Cup
After two days of watching the U.S. team bolt out to leads in all five matches on the front nine, the International team figured it might want a better start to the third session of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club.
Buoyed by early success on the greens — something the International side has been searching for all week — Captain Trevor Immelman’s team stayed much closer to the Americans early in Session 3, and thanks to a pair of impressive performances from its middle pairings earned an important split in morning foursomes.
Through three of five sessions, the U.S. led the International team, 10-4.
Tom Kim was a catalyst for the International side. Playing with exuberance befitting his age, the 20-year-old’s guttural scream after sinking a 36-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole resonated around Quail Hollow’s back nine. As the putt dropped to give him and playing partner K.H. Lee a 1-up lead over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, Lee dropped his putter, pumped his first and walked away to the next tee.
“He’s got great energy,” Lee said of his playing partner. “Although he’s young, he brings a lot of positive vibe and he’s got leadership. So it was a lot of fun to play with Tom.”
Added Lee: “Tom’s like the Energizer bunny, just keeps going. Although he’s a star already, I think he’s going to be a superstar soon.”
Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, who got smoked in Thursday’s foursomes session as the first group out, losing 6-and-5, rebounded after a slower start Saturday, winning six of seven holes from Holes 7-13 to push ahead of Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa, eventually winning, 3-and-2.
“It was kind of story of the week,” Scott said. “Slow starts, at least for me, and they’ve been tough. But we played a few good holes, and they had a bit of a battle for a couple of holes, and we managed to hang on and we got on top of them and held on. Any time you get a win against the U.S. team is a really good feeling.”
Sungjae Im and Corey Connors made bogey on their first hole against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who also made bogey, and then won the second hole, taking a lead against one of the U.S. team’s most consistent groupings. Spieth and Thomas rebounded to win three of the next five holes, though, took a 2-up lead through the turn, and closed out a third win in as many days as a pairing, 4-and-3.
“We were down the first time this week in this match just through two holes, and then we got it right back on the third,” Spieth said. “So we didn’t quite have our best stuff, but, you know, we made some putts when we needed to and J.T. hit some great iron shots today and really picked me up on a few holes, and that’s what you need to do in this format.”
Si Woo Kim and Cam Davis played Tony Finau and Max Homa mostly even through the front, as well. The American duo, following Homa’s lead, charged ahead with three consecutive wins on Holes 8-9-10 and closed out the match on a Homa putt, 4-and-3, to earn a second point for the Americans in the morning.
“It’s easy where I hit from after Tony hits,” Homas said. “It’s easy. It’s a simple game. It’s been fun.”
In all, the International side won eight holes through 36 total played by the four groups in the morning session. The U.S. won 14 and led in all four morning matches at the turn, and while that may seem lopsided in favor of the Americans, the individual match gaps were far smaller than in either of the week’s first two sessions.
Likewise, the advantage the International team showed on the back nine through the first two days also dwindled Saturday morning, but again less significantly.
This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 12:43 PM.
