Frustrated and disappointed Thursday evening, Adam Scott was not laughing after the discomfiture of his team at the curtain-raiser of the Presidents Cup. At the end of the day on Friday, the Australian dean was smiling and in good spirits. For good reason, he and his international teammates had an explosive day, sweeping the Americans in turn to create a 5-5 tie.
“Incredible, it’s an incredible day for us,” said the man who recorded a resounding 5&4 victory at the 14th Royal Montreal pennant alongside Canadian Taylor Pendrith.
“Coming from behind like this shows what this team is capable of after a very difficult day the day before. It’s just incredible. We still have some very big days left, especially Sunday,” he noted.
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Scott has been part of the international team since 2003. It was during this first appearance that he experienced the euphoria of sweeping the honors of a session. The only one in the history of this formation since 1994. It happened on a Saturday morning in South Africa. For the rest of the story, the Internationals then slowed down so that the Americans finally held a draw.
Almost total domination
In this second session, everything clicked in the international pairs. Matsuyama and Im planted the dangerous duo of Cantlay and Schauffele from the 12th flag. A beating like few in history. Less than 0.5% of matches end there. Scott and Pendrith added a layer by winning in the 14th while Conners and Hughes washed away Clark and Finau in the 13th.
These were the first career point scored at the Presidents Cup in the six matches in which Conners and Pendrith participated. Which also earned a sigh of relief.
The other two international victories materialized in the 18th, notably that of Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An who disposed of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley thanks to an important 14-foot putt. By calling it, they prevented the Americans from scoring half a point by jumping for joy, immediately invaded by the entire team.
Si Woo Kim reacts to the 12-foot putt made on the green of the 18th hole at Royal Montreal to beat the pair of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.
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Speeches
What happened for captain Mike Weir’s team to turn things around? In the morning on Friday, it was said behind the scenes that Mackenzie Hughes had given a vibrant speech the day before.
“I spoke, but others did too,” confirmed the Canadian. The main message was to keep your head high and continue to believe.
“We are such a fun group. We laughed and sang the whole bus ride. And on the road in the morning, the atmosphere was good. We knew there was still a lot of golf ahead of us. We held our heads high and got the job done.”
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Best support
Despite the score on the board, the spectators responded and got the party going better than the day before. The performances of the Internationals greatly contributed to improving the atmosphere. (read other text)
“The 5-0 score on the board at the start of the day was terrible,” added Scott. We played for our pride and hearing this encouragement for our team throughout the course gave us motivation.
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Mines were low in the American clan where nothing worked.
“We are back to square one with the tie and 20 games to play. It will be a dog fight, underlined Tony Finau. I like my 11 teammates in this kind of fight over the next three sessions.
Hostilities will resume Saturday morning, at 7:02 a.m., in the 4-ball format. Eight matches are scheduled for Saturday.
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