Tom Kim led an attack, but the American team won the battle.
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One day after landing a historic international rally Presidents Cup Friday, Tom Kim’s efforts were delayed again on Saturday.
Dense fog engulfed Royal Montreal at the start of a marathon, 36-hole Presidents Cup on Saturday, suspending play for more than an hour during morning four-ball matches. Kim’s match was the third to take place, but his return to the Cup on Saturday morning had to wait an extra hour and 37 minutes.
But finally, Tom Kim’s round began – and well, it was worth the wait.
On the 1st, Tom’s partner Si Woo Kim walked his birdie putt to take an immediate 1 up lead over Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Tom Kim returned to the Canadian faithful, pumping his fist before completing a spin and hitting his partner.
On the 2nd, it was Tom’s turn as he drained a 12-foot birdie putt from the edge of the green and immediately turned to the crowd and pumped both fists in the air.
This set the tone for the match, which ended in a 4 and 3 victory for the international team.
“It’s good to be able to hit some shots for the team,” Tom Kim said later. “There were definitely some moments where the momentum definitely could have changed, but it held strong and it did really well.”
But that was the only bright spot for the internationals in the morning session. The Americans took the next three games, taking a narrow 8-6 lead going into the afternoon’s alternate hitting session.
In the first match, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took a while to get going as he and Collin Morikawa rattled off eight straight holes against Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith. But the World No. 1 came up late, making birdies on 16 and 17, his first two of the day, to cruise to a 2-and-1 victory.
Scheffler credited the seven-foot par shot Morikawa made on the 15th, after Scheffler had already bogeyed, for giving him the push he needed.
“I was getting a little impatient out there and I’m standing there on the 15th green thinking to myself, what am I doing, and just hoping that Collin could hit that putt and that was huge for our team there,” Scheffler said. . “I was able to make some birdies when my partner needed me because he was a little bit on his own out there for a while today, so I was proud to step up when I needed to.”
In the second match, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau methodically pulled away from Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners with three birdies on the back nine to win 3 and 2.
The final tee shot took longer to complete – leading up to the 17th green. I tied the match as long as it could, matching Cantlay with three straight birdies at 14, 15 and 16 before the American finally won 2 and 1 with a draw at 17.
Four more matches were immediately returned on course Saturday afternoon. We’ll have updates throughout the afternoon on GOLF.com.
