27 Sep 2024 | Professional golf |

PresCup: US team flex their muscles on day one

by Patrick Taylor

Scott-Lee-PresCup-1_image
Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee fell agonisingly short in their day one match.

The star-studded United States team have asserted their dominance on day one of the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal overnight, completing a clean-sweep in the Thursday four-ball matches to march to a 5-0 lead over the International team.

"It obviously didn't go our way at all today. We're now in a really tough spot, but thankfully there's tomorrow," said veteran Australian Adam Scott.

Playing with President's Cup debutant Min Woo Lee today, Scott and Lee fought hard in their match against Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.

Battling back from an early loss on the first hole, Lee and Scott managed to grab a 1-up lead on the sixth, courtesy on a Lee birdie, and managed to hold that lead until the 11th.

Two Morikawa birdies on 12 and 14 however, swung the 1-up lead in the opposite direction, and the Australian pair found themselves 1-down heading up the 18th.

Scott made a fighting birdie on the last, however it was matched by Theegala, the Internationals losing the match by the narrowest of margins.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed. I think Min Woo and I could have won that match today. It's disappointing that we didn't do just a little bit better," said Scott.

"I have a feeling the matches were closer than what the score indicates. Our guys are just going to have to lift a little bit. We're going to have to find another gear to beat a tough American team."

Playing in the group ahead of Scott and Lee, Jason Day and his partner Byeong Hun An endured an equally close affair in their match against Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.

An early 1-up lead to the Internationals was quickly snatched back by Finau and Schauffele, the Americans dominating much of the back-nine.

An made a clutch birdie on 15 however, and when Day was the only player to manage a par on 16, the match was suddenly all-square with two holes to play.

Schauffele's birdie on the par-3 17th restored the American lead however, and as An and Schauffele traded birdies on the final hole, it was another agonisingly close-call for the Internationals.

"Yeah, it was close," said Day. "Obviously we got lucky with 16, both of those guys three-putting there. Then Benny, the putt just needed to stay a little bit higher, and he would have holed it on 17 for birdie.

"That would have potentially flipped because obviously coming off the back end of a win on 16 and you're looking for that momentum going into 18, but unfortunately, we just didn't quite get it.

"The best players in the world had to birdie the last hole to beat us. That's why grinding it out is important. We've just got to kind of regroup and think about tomorrow."

Both Scott and Day will be out for redemption in the Friday foursomes matches, while Lee will sit the Friday out in preparation for a big weekend.

Full scoring.

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