Presidents Cup
Presidents Cup 2022: Americans turn back Internationals' comeback bid to win at Quail Hollow
Tony Finau celebrates his 3-and-1 win over Taylor Pendrith of Canada and the International Team during Sunday singles matches.
Jared C. Tilton
There was no miracle comeback on Sunday at the 14th Presidents Cup, though the International team did not go down without a fight against the victorious Americans.
Going into the 12 singles matches at Quail Hollow Club with a four-point lead, the United States and captain Davis Love III sent out the most formidable match-play veterans early, but with mixed results that gave the Internationals hope.
South Korea's Si Woo Kim made a birdie on 18 to beat the new “Captain America,” Justin Thomas, 1 up in Match No. 2, and Colombia's Sebastian Munoz downed World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler 2 and 1 in Match 5.
Those were impressive wins, but the deep American squad answered with enough stellar play by its stars to stave off a comeback and upset that would have been arguaby the biggest in professional team match play.
Nearly 5½ hours after play began, Xander Schauffele closed out his 1-up victory over Canada's Corey Connors with a par, and the Americans had the 15½ points they needed to secure their 12th victory in the biennial competition that was first played in 1994. The U.S. ultimately won 17½-12½ for their ninth straight victory in the competition.
“It feels really good to win. It got close there for a little bit,” Schaufelle said.
The Americans won the singles session 6½-5½, and in addition to Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Collin Morikawa and Max Homa scored victories. The other International winners were Sunjae Im, K.H. Lee and Christian Bezuidenhout. Sam Burns tied former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.
Spieth was clearly the hero of the week for the U.S. The Texan came from 2 down early in the opening match by winning six of the last seven holes to thump Australia's Cam Davis, 4 and 3. Spieth, who won all of his team matches with Thomas, became the sixth player in Presidents Cup history to go 5-0-0, and he won his first singles match in either this competiton or the Ryder Cup.
“I was more nervous than I should have been. I wanted that monkey off my back,” Spieth said.
Patrick Cantlay, who went 3-1 for the week, dominated Aussie veteran Adam Scott, 3 and 2, in Match No. 4, and Tony Finau defeated Canada's Taylor Pendrith, 3 and 1, in the sixth pairing. Sam Burns grinded to halve with former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.
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