CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The idea was for two of America’s most loyal teams to square off in the Presidents Cup on Thursday, and the result was predictable.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay made short work of Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama in the opener. They went 6-and-5 and improved their four-game record to 5-0 in the President’s Cup and Ryder Cup.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, best friends since they were 14, had a clutch shot to make up for their mistakes and beat Sungjae Im and Corey Conners, 2 and 1.
Another strong American team played top-to-bottom on a hot day at Quail Hollow, winning 4-1 after the first period.
“I told the guys last night that we had to set the tone — us and the JT and Jordan matchup — and we did,” Shakufel said. “To play this format on a day like today and not make any bogeys, that’s exactly what we want.”
In those matches, the already underdog international team left the PGA Tour for Saudi-funded LIV Golf, with players including Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann suffering more than the Americans.
It was Si Woo Kim and Cameron Davis who kept the international side from shutting down. They were 2 down in four holes to play against Masters champion Scotty Scheffler and Sam Burns as they caught American mistakes and cruised to a 2-over victory.
Taylor Pendrith and Mito Perera, two of the eight starters for the international team, almost got another point. They were all square heading into the tough par-4 closing hole when Pereira hit a wild tee shot, Penderitt could only manage the right bunker and made bogey. Tony Finau and Max Homa went 1-on-1 with a point.
“We did what we had to do,” Finau said.
The other US points came from Colin Morikawa and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Cameron Young, who spoiled the area at Quail Hollow in front of a full house and created his own winning time.
They were in a tight match against 20-year-olds Tom Kim and KH Lee, all with six holes to play. At that point, the last three matches could have gone either way. As easy as Canteli and Schuffele did in the opening match, it was just one point.
The Americans regained the lead when Morikawa filled a 2-foot wedge for birdie on the downwind 14th hole. The lead remained at 1 heading into the 18th when Young birdied the 17th with a 25-foot birdie putt to end the match.
“That’s all I could ask for at that point,” Young said. “Of course, it’s the first day, but every point we get is important. And this is the feeling I’ve been waiting to have for a long time.”
Cantley and Schuffele met for the first time on the long flight to Australia for the 2019 Presidents Cup, the first team to match both. They have become fast friends off the course and are becoming a formidable team to beat in the ropes.
They got plenty of help from Scott and Matsuyama — two of the most experienced players on the international team — who either won on the road or missed several putts that would have halved holes. Matsuyama missed from 4 feet on the third hole, and the Americans ran away with the lead.
He won three straight holes through the par-5 seventh to build a 4-over lead, and parried the final three holes.
In the year Thomas, winner of the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, had a bad day. He chipped a 9-iron badly on the par-3 fourth and got 40 yards off the green. He hit a shank from a bunker on the par-5 16th. Neither he nor Spieth missed a hole.
On the 15th — normally the 18th at Quail Hollow for a stroke-play tournament — when Spieth’s driver landed left of the creek, Thomas made good to get to the back of the green, and Spieth ran down the slope. 25 feet from the well.
Connors and Im were within 7 feet of winning the hole and squared the match. Thomas ends the point, Conners escapes and the Americans go up 2 and head for another point.
“You win when you take your partner and he did that,” Spieth said. “That switch we had on the 15th wasn’t real there. When we looked to go and instead left that green 2 up. It was the difference in the game.”
Then there were five matches in four overs on Friday and each point moved the Americans closer to their ninth straight win in these one-sided matches. Presidents Cup Since its inception in 1994, they have never lost at home.
The Americans need just 11 points from the remaining 25 matches to retain the title in this cup opener.
