Team USA (above) has jumped out to an early two-point lead in the Bridges Cup.
Ois Keniry
During the first three days of the game in Bridge Cup 2024, The USA team of 12 elite amateurs finds itself in a familiar position: atop the leaderboard, with a 6-4 advantage over the international team.
With 10 games – and 10 points – in the competition Hesley Nine Bridges in Korea on the opening day, the Americans, who dominated the first two editions of the event, won five of six matches in the morning four-ball sessions before the internationals recovered in the afternoon four-ball sessions, winning three of the four points available .
The Internationals’ Lukas Michel and Jacob Austin won the opening four-ball match of the morning, but the USA dominated the rest of the session. The remaining five matches went the American’s way, with each tied before the 18th hole. By the time the teams broke for lunch, the USA held a commanding 5-1 lead.
“Team USA definitely had more strength this morning,” said Simon Holmes, a golf pro and Bridges Cup commentator who is on the ground this week in Korea. “They just ran forward and won their games convincingly.”
In the same way as Internationals in last month’s Presidents Cup, this International team showed a lot of skill in the second session. After a pep talk from captain Simon Holt, they returned for the afternoon session four with a renewed sense of urgency.
“We’ve really thrown the kitchen sink at it,” Holt said. “But we have a team full of leaders and four pairings that are playing well with each other … All we can (do) is see what happens this afternoon.”
Once again, the team of Michel and Austin came out in the first game of the session and defeated their opponents, winning 4 and 3. But this time, the rest of the team capitalized on the positive momentum as the internationals won three out of four. afternoon games to pull within two points of the USA by the end of the day.
“The internationals had a good chat and showed some guts in the afternoon,” Holmes said. “Team USA was too comfortable with the fast start, but the internationals showed their talent by the end of the day.”
Day 2 of the Bridges Cup will feature six four-ball matches, followed by 12 singles matches on Day 3. With 30 points up for grabs, the USA needs 15 points to retain the Cup, while the Internationals need 15.5 points to win it.
For full results and live goals from the Bridges Cup 2024, click here. Below are the full results from the first two sessions:
DAY 1 FOOTBALL RESULTS:
DAY 1 FOURSOMES RESULTS:
