The U.S. Presidents Cup team walked into Medinah Country Club in their crisp white polos today, only to get absolutely white-washed by the Internationals in Friday’s foursomes. Seriously, they swept the session, taking a mind-blowing 7-3 lead heading into the weekend. This isn’t just a sweep, folks; it’s a historic gut punch, matching the Internationals’ largest lead ever at this point in the Cup.
A Historic Beatdown and What It Means
This isn’t the first time the Internationals have pulled off a Friday foursomes sweep; they did it two years ago at Royal Montreal, a 5-0 run. But here’s the kicker: that only tied the score then, and they still ended up losing by seven points overall. This time, their four-point lead through two frames is a totally different beast. The only other time they entered Saturday with a four-point advantage was way back in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. Guess what happened that Sunday? The Internationals captured their only Presidents Cup, winning by nine points. Yeah, the stakes for the U.S. team are feeling incredibly high after this performance just outside Chicago.
Match 6: The Upset Heard Around Medinah
The tone for the day was set in Match 6, where Corey Conners and Nick Taylor from the International squad pulled off a massive upset, beating Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 1 up. Data Golf had Scheffler and Burns with nearly a 60% chance to win, the highest probability of all five matches! But paper means nothing out on Medinah’s No. 3 Course. The U.S. duo stumbled early, failing to birdie either front-nine par-5s, with Burns even yanking a shot out of bounds on the par-5 third. The Internationals jumped ahead through six holes and never trailed. Nick Taylor was the man, sinking crucial 4-footers on 16 and 17 to keep them ahead. Then, on the par-4 18th, after fanning his drive right, Taylor responded with an unbelievable 148-yard wedge shot to gimme range. Burns’ 18-foot birdie try lipped out, sealing the deal for the Canadians. That shot from Taylor was electric! Scheffler and Burns are now a dismal 1-4-1 as a duo in Cup play. Conners said it perfectly: “We just tried to be relentless out there… Nick made some key putts there towards the end… It was unbelievable.”
The Relentless Roll Continues
The momentum kept rolling. In Match 7, Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama took down Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman 3 and 2. While the Americans fought back to 1 down through 11, Matsuyama slammed the door shut with a clutch 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 12th, pushing their lead back to 2 up. The Internationals are just locked in, especially with their putting game. They are relentless, just like Conners said, and the U.S. team is facing a huge uphill battle.
This is not good, Emerald City. The U.S. team has a massive challenge ahead of them. This International squad is playing with fire, and they’ve got history on their side with that incredible 1998 precedent. What goes down Saturday at Medinah is going to be absolutely critical. The U.S. needs to dig deep, or this Cup could be over faster than we think.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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