U.S. regains lead over International team at Presidents Cup

The U.S. team won three of four matches in four-ball to regain the lead in the Presidents Cup on Saturday at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The U.S. led 8-6 on the International team going into afternoon foursomes.

This is the first day of multiple sessions, with four foursome matches set for the afternoon. However, it’s uncertain if those will be completed before darkness given that play Saturday was behind schedule due to a weather-related delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes. After the first group completed the first hole and the next group teed off, there was an extended break at 7:23 a.m. because of fog.

Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa assured the U.S. would go back ahead by winning 3 & 2 against Australia’s Adam Scott and Canada’s Taylor Pendrith. Scheffler’s birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 sealed the point.

That helped offset a strong stretch for South Koreans Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, who won 4 & 3 against Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Tom Kim had a strong outing when the International duo claimed three of four holes to lead 5-2 through 10 holes. Si Woo Kim’s 16-foot birdie putt on No. 15 clinched the point.

Earlier, Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele collected momentum for the U.S. side with a 3 & 2 triumph on Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners.

Just as they did Thursday, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns wrapped up the final point of four-ball by winning 2 & 1, this time against Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea’s Sungjae Im. Cantlay had one of the highlights with a chip-in eagle on the par-5 12th, putting the U.S. ahead 4-2, and the sides halved the rest of the holes.

The first two days were marked by sweeps. The U.S. went up 5-0 with Thursday’s four-ball matches before the International team pulled even with Friday’s domination in foursomes.

–Field Level Media