Members of the victorious US team celebrate their 11th straight Presidents Cup win after Sunday’s singles matches at Medinah Country Club near Chicago on Sunday. Image courtesy Arab News.
By Rahul Banerji
A red wave swamped Medinah on Sunday, propelling America to a 17-13 Presidents Cup title defence over the Internationals and their 11th straight win in the competition.
The US won nine and shared one of the 12 singles matches to overturn the largest deficit in the event’s history and set up the weekend rout as the Internationals were swept away.
It was a miracle at Medinah all over again, but this time the Americans dished it out to the visiting team.
Asian Games-bound Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim and fellow-Korean Sungjae Im put the only wins on the board for Geoff Ogilvy’s Internationals while Scottie Scheffler led a dominant US performance in Chicago.
Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele book-ended the American effort with the lead-off and anchor matches which they won against Ryo Hisatsune and Ryan Fox respectively.
Eye-catching debut
Scheffler and Justin Thomas notched up comfortable victories and there was a notable debut by Jackson Koivun, who flipped a critical match against Si Woo Kim, as did Collin Morikawa over Hideki Matsuyama.
US President Donald Trump — honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup — saw off all 12 matches and remarked, “It’s going to be a very interesting game of golf.”
In the end, it was a cakewalk for the Americans.
Said relieved US captain Brandt Snedeker, a member of the losing 2012 Ryder Cup team,“I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah has a history of funny things happening.
“Sure enough, they went out and played their asses off today. I’m so damn proud of those guys.
“All these guys fought for each other, fought for this country, fought for this team.”
Added Ogilvy, “It was sort of on a knife’s edge all day. Some of those 1-downs that we had out there, if they’d flipped to 1-up, the numbers look really good, and who knows what momentum can give.
“But look, it’s a very difficult thing to beat the US in singles in the US,” he added.
Great players
“They’re great players, and the crowd came out for them. They get a bit of red on the board, and the noise gets loud. They started the day with a lot to do and they all played great.”
With eight of the world’s top 11 ranked players in the US ranks, it was always on the cards that the Internationals would have to dig deep to create history.
In the end, they were never given an opportunity as in match after match, the American combined grit, tenacity and great putting to cap their comeback and win an 11th successive Presidents Cup.
Controversial captain’s pick Jacob Bridgeman sealed the decisive point with a four-foot par putt at the 18th for a one-up win over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
Final score: USA 17, Internationals 13
Sunday singles: USA 9.5, Internationals 2.5
Match 19: Cameron Young (U.S.) def. Ryo Hisatsune (INT), 3 and 2
Match 20: Tom Kim (INT) def. Wyndham Clark (U.S.), 3 and 2
Match 21: Justin Thomas (U.S.) def. Corey Conners (INT), 5 and 3
Match 22: Scottie Scheffler (U.S.) def. Nico Echavarria (INT), 2 and 1
Match 23: Sungjae Im (INT) def. Sam Burns (U.S.), 3 and 1
Match 24: Chris Gotterup (U.S.) def. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (INT), 1-up
Match 25: Collin Morikawa (U.S.) def. Hideki Matsuyama (INT), 1-up
Match 26: Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) def. Adam Scott (INT), 2 and 1
Match 27: Jackson Koivun (U.S.) def. Si Woo Kim (INT), 2-up
Match 28: Jacob Bridgeman (U.S.) def. Min Woo Lee (INT), 1-up
Match 29: Nick Taylor (INT) and Russell Henley (U.S.), tied
Match 30: Xander Schauffele (U.S.) def. Ryan Fox (INT), 2 and 1
Also read: Feisty Internationals lead USA into Prez Cup Sunday singles
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