Scottie Scheffler and Team USA dominate opening matches of Presidents Cup

MONTREAL — The Presidents Cup games were close. It wasn’t the score after the opening session.

The Americans held on at 1-up through all five games on Thursday, racking up shot after shot after shot until this already lopsided series became familiar.

United States 5, International 0.

The Americans are through the first day of four-ball games at Royal Montreal. feisty Scottie SchefflerThe latest heroics of Xander Schauffele and plenty of help from the struggling International squad.

This was the third time they had excluded the Internationals on the first day and the first time since 2000. The Americans cruised to an 11-point victory that year.

“We’re excited about the start – high-fives, celebration – and we’ll keep the pressure on,” U.S. captain Jim Furyk said.

International captain Mike Weir had a two-day plan for the opener and saw nothing that would make any changes to the field for Friday’s foursome. Adam Scott had never been on a winning team since his debut in 2003, and he wasn’t about to give up hope.

“The best news for us is tomorrow. “It’s not over yet,” Scott said. “We’re going to have to show up, fight hard, find that equipment, win a session and go in the right direction. The score line looks rough. But I don’t think there is much of a difference today.”

Three matches reached the 18th green. One ended in 17th place. The shortest match was when Scheffler and Russell Henley had the final say in a 3-way win over Tom Kim and Sungjae Im.

Scheffler and Henley never trailed in the most exciting match of an otherwise straight day; The Canadian crowd remained mostly silent after Mackenzie Hughes sat out the first session. I drank a beer on the opening kick to get them going.

Scheffler and Kim are good friends who play high-money games in Dallas. On the par-3 seventh hole, 22-year-old Kim hit a putt from 30 feet inside and spun around the green, chanting “Let’s Go!” he shouted.

Scheffler matched the birdie by about the same length and turned to Kim, the world No. 1, and asked, “What was that?” he shouted.

Things got tough when Kim made another long birdie on the next hole, celebrated wildly, and then she and I walked toward the ninth tee without even watching Scheffler putt.

“It’s the same thing I would have done at home if he had batted… and that’s how he celebrated. So it’s all in good fun. “We enjoy competing against each other,” Scheffler said. “That’s the situation here. It’s a lot of fun to compete, it’s a lot of fun to represent our country, and at the end of the match you take off your hat and shake hands.

“I guess we’re friends after, but not friends during.”

The Internationals never looked like they were going to win the session. They didn’t expect a shutdown either.

Taylor Pendrith, one of two Canadians on the roster, made birdie in the 12th round as Christiaan Bezuidenhout competed against Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark.

Schauffele and Tony Finau missed 10-foot putts on the 16th, and their opening match against Jason Day and Byeong Hun An was all square.

It could have gone either way. But for the Internationals the situation got worse.

Bezuidenhout missed three 7-foot putts in a four-hole span that prevented his side from squaring the match. Scott missed a pair of putts from 12 feet.

The Americans delivered the goods.

Schauffele atoned for his short miss by hitting his tee shot on the par-3 17th to the back pin to 7 feet for a birdie, and then hit his approach to 10 feet on the 18th to close out the match.

“Tony got the party started on the front nine and had my back all day,” Schauffele said. “I thought it was time to watch his back.”

Bradley, next year’s Ryder Cup captain, making it 10 years since his last cup competition, hit a 35-foot putt in the 13th and a 10-foot putt to take a 1-up lead over Scott and Min Woo Lee. Emotions were flowing from him.

“It was 10 years of pent-up energy from not playing those things,” Bradley said. “I had such an explosion there today.”

Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala recovered by 1 point in 11 holes, with Morikawa birthing the 12th and 14th holes. Theegala secured it by closing in just 10 feet inside. He took the golf ball out of the cup and hit it for the first time all day.

In the anchor match, Patrick Cantlay was ruthless as always and Sam Burns made a 10-foot birdie on the 13th hole to put them 2 ahead, and Corey Conners and Hideki Matsuyama never took the lead.

The Americans put the opening session in 1994 behind them. This was the eighth time in the last nine Presidents Cups that they had taken the lead after the first day.

There are five four-way matches on Friday. Furyk keeps two teams together, including Scheffler and Henley; Cantlay and Schauffele want to improve their four-piece record.

“The last few away games have been close,” Cantlay said. “I think that’s a huge statement. I think we need to build on that tomorrow.”

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