Hideki Matsuyama mentioned his taking part in companion Sungjae Im started their foursomes match with the right tee shot off the primary gap on Friday. It break up the quick grass whereas their American counterparts pushed to their tee photographs proper and missed the green.
The match was all however over proper then and there.
Matsuyama and Im defeated Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 7 & 6 in Foursomes, which matches the most important margin of victory in Presidents Cup historical past.
The Internationals opened up a 3-up lead by way of the primary 5 holes. However Matsuyama and Im didn’t take their foot off the gasoline. Beginning on the par-5 sixth, they rattled off seven birdies in a row, with their final par-breaker being on the par-5 twelfth, the place they closed out the match.
“From the start, our vibe was vibing, and we had been making an attempt to win the match,” Im mentioned.
“With Hideki, our teamwork was superb. After I would hit the shot, he would end with the putt, so it was a fantastic job.”
Worldwide Captain Mike Weir despatched Matsuyama and Im out first on Friday, along with his crew going through a 5-0 deficit after Thursday’s Fourball matches. The People overwhelmed the Internationals on Day One, main many to ask about this competitors’s validity and future. The U.S. has received the Presidents Cup 9 consecutive occasions, relationship again to 2005. The Internationals, in the meantime, have solely received this occasion as soon as, doing so in 1998.
“We had a troublesome begin to the primary day,” Matsuyama mentioned.
“5 losses wasn’t the outcome we needed to have. However we knew that we may come again from this.”
Certainly, they did.
Matsuyama and Im acquired the ball rolling for the Internationals, dominating Cantlay and Schauffele from begin to end. It appeared they offered a wholesome dose of momentum to the opposite matches behind them. In match quantity two, Canadian Taylor Pendrith and Australian Adam Scott gave the Internationals their second level of the week, defeating Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa, 5 & 4. Then, the all-Canadian duo of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes defeated Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau 6 & 5 in match quantity 4, giving the Internationals a 3rd level.
However Matsuyama had tunnel imaginative and prescient, solely specializing in his match with Im. That’s the one technique you may make use of when going through a 5-0 deficit going into day two.
“We knew it was going to be a troublesome problem immediately,” Matsuyama mentioned.
“We had been simply actually targeted on our recreation. That was actually essential for us.”
But, Matsuyama and Im made issues look simple, waltzing their method round Royal Montreal with ease. They mixed to shoot 8-under, a powerful rating in Alternate Shot, whereas Cantlay and Schauffele may solely muster 2-under. No marvel why the Internationals received 7 & 6.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Make sure to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
