National Sports
Americans Jackson Koivun, center, Collin Morikawa, left, and Scottie Scheffler celebrate after their win over the International team in the Presidents Cup final round at Medinah Country Club on Sunday in Medinah, Ill. (AP photo)
MEDINAH, Ill. — The deficit was larger than anything the Americans had ever experienced at home in the Presidents Cup. The celebration Sunday afternoon? That was all too familiar, even the part where President Donald Trump stuck around for the trophy presentation.
The U.S. players — from world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun — passed the gold cup down the line, which was only fitting.
Everyone had a hand in the latest comeback at Medinah, where the Americans delivered the most lopsided singles session in Presidents Cup history. They won nine of the 12 matches and halved another for a 17-13 victory, their 11th in a row against the hard-luck Internationals.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker went from blaming himself for the three-point deficit to choking back emotions as his team set the tone early and rode momentum and a raucous Chicago gallery late that left them believing again they can succeed in team golf.
The real proof comes a year from now in Ireland for the Ryder Cup. For now, the Americans redeemed themselves in a competition they have lost only once since these matches began in 1994.
“Is it a record in singles? That doesn’t happen unless you have a special group of guys, and we do,” Snedeker said. “I’m really proud of how they came together.”
It was a crushing blow to Geoff Ogilvy and his International team, which outplayed the Americans in team matches over three days, taking the lead for only the fourth time in the Presidents Cup, and the first time on American soil.
Five matches were on the course — the U.S. was 1-up in three, the other two were halved — and the Internationals needed to find three points to win the cup. The Americans simply didn’t budge.
“It just felt like it was sort of right on a knife edge for a massive part of the day,” Ogilvy said. “If you hole a couple of putts at the right time and get a bit more yellow on the board at the right time, the momentum, and the crowd sort of stays out of it a little bit.
“Just sort of started drifting away for us in the last few hours.”
The Americans, outplayed down the stretch all week on the No. 3 course at Medinah and Ogilvy’s architecture company redesign, flipped two key matches on the back nine. Collin Morikawa beat Hideki Matsuyama, and Koivun went from 2 down after 10 holes to a 2-up victory over Si Woo Kim.
Trump, the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup, was on the first tee for the start of the 12 singles matches and was there for the trophy presentation, as he was at Liberty National in 2017 during his first term.
Americans Jackson Koivun, center, Collin Morikawa, left, and Scottie Scheffler celebrate after their win over the International team in the Presidents Cup final round at Medinah Country Club on Sunday in Medinah, Ill. (AP photo)
Americans Jackson Koivun, center, Collin Morikawa, left, and Scottie Scheffler celebrate after their win over the International team in the Presidents Cup final round at Medinah Country Club on Sunday in Medinah, Ill. (AP photo)