(Reuters) – The United States’ hopes of securing a 10th consecutive Presidents Cup got off to a dream start as they led the International Team 5-0 after the opening day’s fourball session in Montreal on Thursday.
U.S. captain Jim Furyk’s team, who need to reach 15-1/2 points at Royal Montreal Golf Club this weekend to retain the trophy, dominated the scoreboard but a spirited effort from Mike Weir’s Internationals at least kept the bulk of matches close.
The biennial matchplay event that pits a 12-man U.S. team against a lineup of international players from outside Europe resumes on Friday with five foursomes matches.
World number two Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau put the first U.S. point on the board with a 1-up win over Australian Jason Day and South Korean An Byeong-hun.
The American duo were cruising along at 2-up but quickly saw their lead vanish after they both missed short putts at the 16th hole before Schauffele restored order with two birdies.
“Maybe we lost a little focus there on 16. That was a really tough pin,” Schauffele said. “But it was nice to be able to have my teammate’s back here because he had mine all day.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley added to the U.S. lead with a 3&2 win over South Korean duo Im Sung-jae and Tom Kim in a match that delivered theatrics.
Scheffler showed emotion at the par-three seventh when, after Kim holed a long putt and screamed “let’s go!”, he drained a 27-foot birdie to maintain a 2-up lead before directing a good-natured “what was that?” shout at his friend.
At the eighth hole, Kim, who made birdie, and Im walked to the ninth tee before their competitors finished on the green, prompting an exchange between International assistant captain Camilo Villegas and U.S. counterpart Kevin Kisner.
“To be fair to them walking off, I did like scream at them on the (previous) hole,” Scheffler said through laughter. “I’m not going to say it was their fault, you know what I mean.”
The Americans kept their foot on the gas as Collin Morikawa made birdie at the 14th to put him and Sahith Theegala up for good in their 1-up win over Australians Adam Scott Min Woo Lee.
Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns secured a 2&1 win over Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Canada’s Corey Conners moments before Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark earned a 1-up win over Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Bradley, who was slated to be one of Furyk’s assistants this week but ultimately earned a captain’s pick, birdied the last hole to complete the opening-day sweep.
The U.S. boast an all-time Presidents Cup record of 12-1-1, having lost in 1998 and settled for a tie in 2003.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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