CHARLOTTE, NC – The international team battled to a draw Saturday morning at the Presidents Cup. The way he went this week, he felt like a winner.
Korea’s Tom Kim and KH Lee won two late holes to hold off Masters champion Scotty Scheffler and Sam Burns at the 17th hole to finish the morning’s four-hour session at 2-2.
It was the first time the Americans had not won at Quail Hollow.
But it didn’t change the bigger picture.
This U.S. team is so strong and deep that an off day felt like losing no ground. He still led 10-4 after four balls in the afternoon and needed just five and a half points from the remaining 16 points to win the trophy.
Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama finally got at least the expected first point of the week. They won the next five holes and were 2 down after eight holes until Cameron Young and Colin Morikawa went 3 and 2.
“Any win against Team USA is going to be really hard fought,” Scott said. “So this feels good.”
The other two matches were easily in America’s hands.
Max Homa is still having the week of his life. After last night’s heroics, he shared the bright spots for the international team this week with Tony Finau going 4-and-3 against Si Woo Kim and Cameron Davies.
Homa is now 3-0 in the Cup.
And this week, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas won their third match against Sungjae Im and Corey Conners 4-and-3.
Im International had given his team an early lead, but Connors’ game was marred by a right-footed miss that he was unable to resolve. The international missed three holes on the front nine by making bogey, and Spieth made a big birdie at the turn to take a 2-over lead.
The match started with the Americans due to a mistake made by the international team.
Spieth missed a short birdie on the par-5 12th that would have put the Americans 3-up. On the next hole, Im had a 15-foot birdie putt to cut the lead to 1. He missed the high side and rolled 7 feet, and Connors missed the par putt.
Suddenly, the Americans were 3 up and closing in on them on the 15th, when Spieth putted left into the fairway, only to follow it with a shot in the water. The Americans won with a bogey and the match was over.
Spieth moved to 7-0 with four partners and is undefeated in four matches at the Presidents Cup. As a partnership, Spieth and Thomas are 7-2 in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
In the year They headed into the afternoon trying to become the first American partner to win all four games at the Presidents Cup since Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker at Harding Park in 2009.
