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Chronicle and results of the first round of the Canada tournament

United States’ table-thumping start to the Presidents

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Henley y Scheffler, en la Presidents © PGA Tour
Henley y Scheffler, en la Presidents © PGA Tour

A lot will have to change from now until Sunday for the international team to end a losing streak in the Presidents Cup that has lasted for over a quarter of a century. The Royal Montreal Golf in Canada was the stage this Thursday, on the first day of the tournament, for a real thrashing by the United States team captained by Mike Weir. A 5-0 from which it will be difficult to recover.

Two years ago, a similar situation was experienced when the stars and stripes dominated the five Thursday duels by 4-1. This time the result has been even worse for the international team, which has not been able to score even half a point and will have to stage an almost impossible comeback if it wants to reach Sunday’s individual matches with any chance. Tomorrow’s five foursomes are key after today’s fourball debacle.

The first pair to score a point for Jim Furyk‘s team was the one formed by the world’s Number One, Scottie Scheffler, and Russell Henley. The one from Georgia made birdies to put USA ahead from the start; Scottie contributed by tying holes in which Sungjae Im and Tom Kim succeeded in trying to cut distances; and again Henley was decisive at the end to finish signing a 3&2 victory. It was the first of the series that brings the Americans closer to their 14th Presidents.

Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele had more trouble defeating Byeong Hun An and Jason Day. The international pair went one up on the first hole. The Americans tied in the second. And not until the eighth, did they manage to take the lead for the first time. They were two up, but a birdie from An on the 15th and a par from Day on the 16th levelled the match. Then Schauffele emerged, with two consecutive birdies, to put USA ahead and keep it on the 18th to win by one.

Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala also had to work for their victory over Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott. They won the first hole, lost the fourth, lost the sixth, won the seventh and lost again on the eighth. Not until the 12th did they manage to tie the match again. And a birdie from Morikawa on the 14th, to put Furyk‘s team one up, and another from Theegala on the 18th, to maintain the advantage by cancelling out Adam Scott‘s final attempt, served to score the third point for USA.

The fourth point for USA was scored by Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay against Corey Conners and Hideki Matsuyama. Furyk‘s team started one down from the first hole, tied the match on the fifth, went up on the sixth, were tied again on the seventh and from the eighth, painted the scoreboard red until the end. Conners and Matsuyama had putts for birdie on the 17th to force one more hole in search of half a point, but they missed and ended up falling by 2&1.

And to finish, one of the putts of the day, from none other than the future captain of the United States in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, Keegan Bradley. After dominating most of the time their match with Wyndham Clark (they were only tied for two holes), they arrived at the 18th at the limit, with only a one-shot lead and the possibility of giving up half a point. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Taylor Pendrith tried until the end. But Bradley didn’t give them a chance to play their birdie putts by sinking his from more than six meters to blow up the Presidents from the first day.

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