MONTREAL – After a rainy morning, a quiet opening ceremony and a silent Canadian crowd, the Presidents Cup finally came alive.
Tom Kim, the human spark plug, was up to his old antics. Long strokes. Fist pumps. Guttural screams. Just like in 2022 – anything and everything to raise the bar for himself, his partner and his team.
But now it’s even more exciting: Not only was Scottie Scheffler no match for Kim, he made a spectacular return of it to him — attacking him, looking him dead in the eyes, and barking, “What the heck?!” When his birdie birdie landed on the seventh green in the cup.
After Tom Kim birdied his seventh and was pumped, Scottie Scheffler did the same.
And so when Kim hit another birdie on the next green, unleashing another wild celebration in which he appeared to bend behind Scheffler’s chasing back, the intensity of the must-win Presidents Cup threatened to boil over. That’s why international assistant captain Camilo Villegas gathered Kim and Sungjae Im and sent them forward, onto the ninth green, as Scheffler prepared for his equalizing attempt.
Scheffler claims to have noticed few gaming skills. He was too busy reading his shot. But partner Russell Henley was well aware of what some saw as a disrespectful breach of etiquette.
“Yes, it bothered me a little bit,” Henley said.
Villegas said afterward that he was just trying to defuse the situation, but American assistant Kevin Kisner confronted him on the next hole about a move he believed was “jungle league.”
With the international deficit now reduced to one, Villegas quipped that Kisner was overreacting: “Why are you so sensitive?”
“Let’s play by the rules,” Kisner replied.
“I’m not breaking any rules,” Villegas responded.
“I thought they exaggerated some of the playing skills, crossed the line and lost some integrity,” Kisner said afterward, the memory still fresh. It should never be about the captain, and I try not to get involved in it. I thought it was pretty bush league. So I just told him: If this is the way they want to do it, stay in the game.
What happened next helps explain why Schaeffler was as competitive as he was — and why, in this event, the Americans enjoyed the dominance they did.
Scheffler and Henley combined for four more birdies and didn’t let the internationals win another hole en route to a 3-and-2 victory that set the tone for the American team’s first opening-day sweep in 24 years.
Follow the opening day events between the US and Worlds at Royal Montreal
As for the internationalists, this was another example of their failure to meet the challenge.
Instead of delving into the drama after the dust of the ninth hole, instead of proving themselves capable and unafraid, the international players seemed to have stalled. Intensity decreased. The tension faded. Momentum failed to decline. Kim may have claimed he was not “ashamed” of Scheffler, but over the final eight holes he did not look fit to fight. On the greens he acts shy around Schaeffler, a player he considers a big brother figure and mentor. When Kim hit a long ball at No. 10, he showed no emotion, perhaps reluctant to antagonize the world number one again.
It was clear that the moment had passed.
“It’s hard to play with someone who’s really close to you, but he’s part of the party,” Kim said. “I knew he was going to come out shooting. I played a lot of golf with him and I didn’t know what he was going to do.
Meanwhile, Kisner was watching inside the ropes, relishing the decisive turn in the situation.
“Oh, I loved it,” Kisner said. “If you can piss off the No. 1 player in the world, I’m all for it.”
Xander Schauffele didn’t find out until a few hours later, after he finished with his opening day win alongside Tony Finau.
“From my perspective, it looked like he poked the bear,” Schauffele said.
The rest of the home team also escaped.
The Americans were throwing darts and hitting the ball throughout Thursday’s four-ball session – and the international players were not.
Schauffele birdied the final two holes to take the first game.
Collin Morikawa stuffed a wedge in the 14th minutey hole and carry lead 1 home.
Keegan Bradley, in his return to team action for the first time in a decade, hit six shots over 10 feet, displaying the passion for playing with partners that made him such a revelation long ago.
And Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns, coming together for the first time, never blinked down the back nine to put the fifth and final point on the board.
Going into the week at Royal Montreal, it looked like international players thisClose To end two decades of misery. But this day, this beginning, was a complete disaster.
The Americans have never lost after winning the opening session, and now they are on the verge of going 5-0 up for the first time since 2000 and heading into a quadruple format they have historically dominated.
“Look, the truth is it wasn’t a great day, but it’s like the first period of a hockey game,” international captain Mike Weir said. “It’s down, but there’s a long way to go. There are still important sessions left. That’s how we look at it.”
Another way: With such a huge deficit already in place, moments of competitive tension may be rare in the future.
It would be wise to rely on them and take advantage of them.
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