For the second successive Presidents Cup, the Internationals won Friday’s foursomes 5-0, except this time rather than repair the damage of Thursday, doing so propelled them into a 7-3 lead. From 13/2 before a ball was struck, Geoff Ogilvy’s side are now narrow favourites to win for the first time since 1998, the first time ever on US soil. Not since 2003 has the outcome of this been anything but red, white and blue.
Brandt Snedeker’s response was predictable: they putted better, my team are strong and will bounce back. That isn’t to say he was wrong. Captains often absolve themselves and their players of any responsibility when they throw out the putting line, which is often reductive. On Friday, however, the Internationals had nine of the 11 best putters; the USA had eight of the nine worst.
Foursomes though remains a problem for the United States whatever the data behind the scoreline and that means Saturday’s opening fourballs could be seismic. If the Internationals can avoid losing the session, even lose it narrowly, they will feel they can go and kick on into a wide-margin lead during the afternoon foursomes which follow. The USA meanwhile may be glad there are only four of them this time.
Given that everybody, myself included, seemed to feel the Internationals would struggle to reach even 10 of the 14.5 points they require to win this thing, it’s very difficult to recalibrate and make an assessment from here. They were superb on Friday. On Thursday, we saw good and bad: a strong core but weakness around the edges. I do though feel the draw is a big runner from here and have to expect the United States to close the gap.
Thomas/Koivun vs Lee/Im (1302 BST)
Had this match taken place on the heels of Thursday’s fourballs, the outcome would’ve appeared inevitable. Thomas had played his avuncular role to perfection, guiding Koivun through a tough first few holes and producing the best golf of the lot. Koivun had begun to look comfortable, dangerous even, and you’d have been forgiven for looking ahead to the Ryder Cup already.
Lee and Im had surrendered a massive chance to beat the top US pairing, meekly handing it to them in the end, and some uncomfortable questions followed: is this why Im hasn’t won often on the PGA Tour since his rookie season seven years ago? Is this why Lee hasn’t fulfilled the potential which had him marked down as a potential major champion from the first swings of his professional career?
Then, on Friday, as Thomas went from best to worst US performer, Lee and Im ranked first and second among the Internationals. Min Woo was imperious off the tee and good elsewhere too. Im’s short-game dazzled in the way it has for much of the season. Both were the stars of their respective pairings with major champions, deeply impressive given the way they’d folded a day earlier.
So what gives? To be frank, I’m not sure, but Thomas will have to play a lot better. He’s 7-0-0 in Presidents Cup fourballs now so let’s not rule that out, but never before does he head into one on the back of such a miserable performance in foursomes. Koivun might well be the second coming but if Thomas plays as he did on Friday, he will need to be. Perhaps one of the finest players of his generation will respond accordingly.
Verdict: USA 2&1
Morikawa/Clark vs Kim/Kim (1320 BST)
Despite being among the worst drivers at times, Clark has been the undoubted star of the US side to this point. He’s been deeply impressive on the greens, seemingly making every important putt, and his iron play has been excellent, too. He and Morikawa are out for the third session and while they did suffer a narrow defeat on Friday, they were five-under in foursomes and played very well.
Indeed they’ve been the best US pairing so far and they meet the best Internationals pairing in the blockbuster match of the third session. Kim and Kim have been very well drawn in both matches but they’ve also been superb and are now 4-1-0 together, leading after 27 of 31 holes played so far this week. Si Woo’s imperious ball-striking has worked beautifully with Tom’s rekindled short-game and they will surely play all four sessions.
Like the market, I give the narrowest of edges to the USA in this format, but I don’t know as anyone should be in a rush to oppose these two Koreans, who are going to be vital as the Internationals seek to end their losing run.
Verdict: USA 1up
Gotterup/Young vs Taylor/Conners (1338 BST)
Young has been a tad unfortunate so far, paired with two players who struggled badly, never looked like making a putt, and ultimately let him down. He wasn’t particularly good himself in the foursomes, but it makes perfect sense to give him another chance under a format he ought to prefer. He’s now in with a rookie in Gotterup who will be itching for another go having played poorly on Thursday, but at least shown a bit of fight. More of that will be needed.
Nobody will be surprised that Nico Echavarria is left out of the Internationals line-up and he’d be a very short price to next play in match 10, 11 or 12 in Sunday’s singles. In his place comes Taylor, who produced the most memorable shot so far to pave the way for Friday’s whitewash by edging the top match. Taylor has always looked like he might just take to this and so he proved at the first opportunity.
Between him and his fellow Canadian we’ve two shorter drivers whose iron play has been dialled in versus two powerhouse Americans, a fascinating dynamic which could see two International approach shots struck before an opposition one is. If Conners and Taylor remain sharp in that department then their opponents will be under the gun, and while I’d have to make the USA narrow favourites, team Canada looks overpriced.
Verdict: Internationals 1up
Scheffler/Burns vs Matsuyama/Hisatsune (1356 BST)
It’s going to be fascinating to see whether Scheffler plays foursomes after another defeat in that format, and whether he does so alongside Burns, but before then they’re unsurprisingly given another go in this preferred format. Statistically they rank second and third respectively in US strokes-gained, so they’ve not done a lot wrong in either match, both of which went down the last hole.
Matsuyama struggled on Friday, something rather obscured by Im’s performance and the outcome of their match. But he was superb when paired with a compatriot for the first time on Thursday and has a slightly better fourballs record. He also looks a fundamentally good player for a golf course like this and I think him and Hisatsune are probably the right duo to be taking on these top-class Americans.
That said, Scheffler and Burns in this format ought to be hard to beat. They did play well for much of the equivalent session on day one and that would set the bar high. Chastened by a narrow defeat and Burns’ lip-out which confirmed it, they can find the right response. I’d rate them comfortably the most solid favourites of a difficult session to call.
Verdict: USA 3&2
Posted at 07:30 BST on 26/09/26
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