Presidents Cup 2024: Final grades for all 24 players, from an A++ for Xander Schauffele to a (surprising?) A for Tom Kim

MONTREAL — Judging the performance of a player at an event like the Presidents Cup can be slightly tricky, in part because it's such a small sample size, and in part because results often depend so much on both playing partners and opponents. Still, in the era of strokes gained, we can isolate personal performance better than ever. Those stats make up one of three ingredients—the others being points won and play in critical moments—we'll use to measure the strength of each player. Here, at the conclusion of Sunday's matches, with he U.S. securing its 10th straight victory with an 18½-11½ trouncing of the Internationals, let's go team by team, in alphabetical order, and hand each player (and each captain) a grade on the A-F scale.

THE AMERICANS

Keegan Bradley (2-1-0)

As far as 2-1 records go, this was a pretty solid outing for Bradley, who was slated to be an assistant captain (and maybe learn a thing or two about leading a team) before playing well enough down the stretch to earn a captain's pick. Furyk decided to use him in four-ball only for pairs, and on Thursday, he was the best putter by strokes gained in the entire session and buried one of the more dramatic putts of the whole event to clinch a victory on 18. He was pretty good on Saturday too, but Wyndham Clark couldn't bring the heat and they ran into the Kim/Kim juggernaut. But then, facing arguably the Internationals' best player in Sunday singles, he not only survived a shaky ending to close out Si Woo Kim, but managed to get the Cup-clinching point. Overall, the man did his job and then some, and finished with the second-best strokes gained number of any American. Grade: A-

Sam Burns (3-0-1)

Funny enough, Burns was the only undefeated American player at 3-0-1, but he actually lost strokes to the field over those three matches. He had the good humor to admit in his post-match presser Saturday that a lot of his good fortune came from his partners, Cantlay and Morikawa, and he got an off-form Tom Kim in a singles match he halved. Nevertheless, he did his job at every step, and they weren't cakewalks—each match went at least to the 17th hole. And as you saw, he was more than up for playing in the face of a hostile crowd. That's the kind of energy the whole team can feed off, and even if he wasn't quite as sharp as some of his teammates, he was equal to the moment, and you can't argue with 3½ points. Grade: B

Patrick Cantlay (4-1-0)

You'd almost be tempted to give Cantlay the highest possible grade just for the putt on 18 in the Saturday twilight to close out the Kims. It will be the enduring memory of this Presidents Cup, and it essentially—in my mind—ended the event. But this week, there was plenty more where that came from. Cantlay finished with the second-most strokes gained of any player (just percentage points behind Schauffele), he compiled a 4-1 record, and the only guy who putted better than him was Tom Kim, who seemed to be dropping 25-foot daggers every 15 minutes. He was so good that even though Pendrith kept their singles match close for a time, you had no doubt watching him that he was going to find a way to win, which he did with a great close-out tee shot on 17 in what would have been the Cup-clinching match if Bradley hadn't missed a bunny a moment earlier. This was a consummate performance from a guy whose reputation as a match play giant just got burnished a little more—watching him sink that final putt felt just like the Saturday finale of the Ryder Cup. When you need Patrick Cantlay, he's there. Grade: A+

Wyndham Clark (1-2-1)

The thing is, Clark's stats weren't that bad. He ended up with average strokes gained numbers (just below 0), and he got a leadoff win with Bradley in four-ball. But the fact is that he rolled over on Friday and Saturday, losing twice by wide margins. I want to forgive him somewhat for the bad luck of the draw, facing Hughes/Conners in alt shot first and then Kim/Kim in Saturday four-ball, but he was the worst partner in both matches and just never got any juice going. He needed a good showing in singles to get into the B- range, but instead he lost a 1-up lead to Min Woo Lee and posted an uninspiring half in what was statistically his worst session of the weekend. Right to the end, it was just very mediocre stuff from Clark. Grade: C

Tony Finau (2-2-0)

Finau got two wins, to his credit, but he was heavily riding Xander Schauffele's coattails in his Saturday four-ball win against an all-Canadian team in Hughes and Conners that picked that exact moment to play dreadful golf. He lost to that same team Friday when they were playing out of their minds. He got his other win Thursday with some admittedly good play in the middle holes, but yet again it was Xander balling him out at the end. Finally, facing Conners again in singles, he was blown out in the worse loss of the day for the Americans. Finau finished as one of the worst U.S. players by the stats, and only got his wins by being in the right place at the right time with the right partner in four-ball. It was a truly rough weekend for a guy with some good team match play in his past. Grade: D+

Brian Harman (0-3-0)

There's not much to say here—his tee-to-green game was really rough in both rounds, his putting was slightly better but still bad, and he went 0-3. By the stats, by the naked eye, and by basically every other measure, he was the worst player on either team, and the only real puzzle is why Furyk put him out a second time on Saturday. On Sunday, he got matched against the worst International player to that point, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and lost ugly match. Harman's a tough match-play golfer, but clearly this Presidents Cup found him in bad form, and he couldn't do much but lose to better golfers. Grade: F

Russell Henley (3-1-0)

Henley seemed to have one really important job in this Presidents Cup—pair up with Scottie Scheffler. That seems like a sweet gig, until you realize that Scheffler had gone 0-4-2 in pairs sessions in Rome and Charlotte. Suddenly, it looks like a pressure-packed task, much like playing with Tiger back in the day in Ryder Cups. Henley fit the role phenomenally; he was steady, sixth best overall in strokes gained among all players, and played well under pressure in what ended up being three close matches. Two of them turned into wins, and another looked like a half until Si Woo Kim hit his long putt on Friday. That's everything you could ask for in a very specific, high stakes role. Then, facing one of the Internationals' best in Sungjae Im in an important No. 4 singles match, he got hot with the putter and beat him 3 and 2. Henley did absolutely everything Furyk asked of him, and a little extra to boot—what a week for someone you didn't necessarily expect it from. Grade: A

Max Homa (1-2-0)

You're going to read this and think the grade is inflated, but in fact it may end up being one of the harsher grades in the slate. Homa has cause to be really frustrated with his weekend; he played twice in pairs, both times in alternate shot, and both times he finished with positive strokes gained. But both times, he was paired with Brian Harman, who had an indescribably rough week, and both times he lost matches that went to the 18th green against opponents who seemed eager to throw it away. The one criticism is that he never quite made the huge putt in the crucial moments, including a chance to convert what would have been a devastating par on 18 on Saturday. By and large, though, Homa has an argument that his 1-2 record is mainly down to his partner and his captain. Predictably, he came out in Sunday singles and showed what he's made of, waxing Mackenzie Hughes in the final match to salvage a win. Comically, he finished with the third-best strokes gained number in the entire event, trailing only Schauffele and Cantlay. Furyk should have used him better. Grade: B

Collin Morikawa (4-1-0)

Yet again, Morikawa found a way to be sneaky valuable for the Americans. The sneaky part is likely because his putter wasn't particularly hot—in fact, he lost strokes there when all was said and done—but his tee to green game was solid throughout, and he ended up filling a number of important roles for Furyk en route to a 4-1 showing. On Thursday, he carried a struggling Sahith Theegala to a 1-up win, and after a Friday thrashing, he booked two more close wins on Saturday, including an important turnaround in the afternoon when he and Sam Burns flipped what looked like a loss against the Canadian team of Conners and Hughes into a big win. He played all five sessions and was almost a chameleon in the different roles he embodies—big brother to Theegala, support crew for Scheffler, new partner for Burns. And in each, he did his job. It ended with a win over Adam Scott in singles that was meaningless for the final outcome, but further proof that this guy keeps finding ways to post points. Grade: A

Xander Schauffele (4-1-0)

There are truly not enough superlatives for Schauffele, who played every session, went 4-1, finished at the top of the strokes gained list, just edging out his buddy Cantlay, and ground out two incredibly tough victories in the pairs session. His one loss was a doozy, a 7-and-6 thrashing at the hands of Matsuyama and Im, but it's easy to write that one off as running into an absurd juggernaut—the Internationals made a whopping eight birdies in 12 holes, which has to be one of the greatest performances in alternate shot history. Otherwise, he made huge putts, struck great irons, and was tremendous off the tee. On top of that, plenty of his teammates pointed to him emerging as a team leader, which only makes sense after the breakthrough year he had. You could see that leadership on Sunday, when he was chosen to play in the important first spot, and waxed Jason Day. In all ways, X stepped up as the face of his team, and earns the best grade of any player at Royal Montreal. Grade: A++

Scottie Scheffler (3-2-0)

It was a funny week for Scheffler, who appropriately finished in the middle of the in strokes gained, -0.30 total, but whose statistically "even" performance was actually composed of some pretty wild peaks and valleys. His Saturday foursomes match was a great example—he started off missing some egregiously short putts, and suddenly got it together on the back nine to bury some clutch putts and drop some approaches on a dime. He was similarly average for most of Saturday morning, but then imposed his will late to secure an important U.S. victory in four-ball. Ironically enough, his best round statistically came in his only loss, on Friday, when it took a Si Woo Kim to prevent him and Russell Henley from stealing a half point. For the most part, though he wasn't his usual superlative self, Scheffler stepped up in the huge moments and played like the No. 1 golfer in the world when it mattered. At least until Sunday singles, when he played one of his worst rounds and got beat at the finish line by Hideki Matsuayma, playing far better than he had previously. That ended up not mattering, but it could have, so we have to ding him there just slightly. Grade: B

Sahith Theegala (1-1-1)

You have to feel bad for Theegala; he was iffy to rough in Thursday four-ball while picking up a win with Morikawa against an abysmal Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, and in a perfect world maybe he would have been rested on foursomes. Instead, the fact that they won led Furyk to run them out again Friday, and in alternate shot Sahith was bad enough in a blowout loss to Scott and Pendrith that Furyk benched him all day on Saturday. You can't fault the benching, but you can fault Furyk for putting Sahith in a position to fail in a format that doesn't suit him on a good day, and is particularly bad when he's struggling in most facets of his game. It was a rough rookie campaign for the promising young American. Grade: C-

THE INTERNATIONALS

Ben An (1-1-1)

An was one of four players who rode the pine all day on Saturday, telegraphing that captain Mike Weir didn't feel he could risk running him out again in a suddenly close Cup. It was a tough but fair call—An played just OK in a narrow Thursday loss, then had to be dragged around Royal Montreal by a red-hot Si Woo Kim on Friday. The fact that they barely hung on to beat Scheffler and Henley was almost totally down to Kim, right up to the excellent last putt. An himself left a lot to be desired, and paid for it by riding the pine on Saturday. He was slightly better in a singles duel with Sahith Theegala, but wound up halving that one in the end too. He'll be remembered more for his Twitter attack on Wyndham Clark than his actual play. Grade: C-

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (2-1-0)

He was the worst player in Thursday four-ball, and a few missed putts toward the end of a close match—particularly on 17, when to make it would have given his team a great chance at a half point in a drubbing of a session—cost the Internationals dearly. In what felt like a puzzling move, Weir went with him again in Friday foursomes, where he made a few putts but was gruesome tee to green, and needed a brilliant Day chip (after an awful short iron into the green) to seal a tight victory on 18. A session too late, Weir opted to sit him out Saturday morning, and again Saturday afternoon, after which he did enough to beat a near-helpless Brian Harman. Even with that win, though, Bez finished as the worst player on his team other than Min Woo Lee, and will want to erase this one from the memory banks pretty quickly. Grade: D+

Corey Conners (2-3-0)

I won't lie—this is harsh. By the raw stats, Conners deserves better than this, having finished in the positive figures in strokes gained. But his inability to make a big putt under pressure in the pairs sessions really, really hurt the International team. This is someone who actually won more holes than he lost this week, but finished at 2-3 simply because his performance under the gun was what we've come to expect after his 0-4 performance in Charlotte. He's a classic example of how you can succeed in stroke play, and even win some tournaments, with superb ball striking, but how weak pressure putting will bury you in the more volatile form of match play. Now, he did win two matches, putting on an absolute clinic with Hughes in Friday foursomes that ended with a stellar iron on 13, and then blowing out an abysmal Tony Finau in singles. And in some of his losses, particularly Saturday morning, he got no help from his partner Hughes. But again and again, Conners couldn't capitalize on solid ball-striking, and in front of his home fans he didn't rise to the occasion. The loss to Morikawa and Burns was particularly dispiriting late in the day Saturday. Grade: B-

Jason Day (1-2-0)

Day's strokes gained numbers were neutral to slightly below average, but it will be hard to forget the tremendous match-winning chip/flop from off the green on 18 on Friday. Not only was it brilliantly executed, but it came at a huge time for the Internationals as they were desperately trying to erase an 0-5 deficit and get as close to the Americans as possible. As it happened, they got all five points back in that session, and Day's shot was massive enough to elevate a grade that should otherwise have been a bit lower. And to be fair to Day, he had to do some heavy lifting long before the 18th hole to win that match, since his partner Bezuidenhout was not at his best. He sat all day on Saturday—a dumbfounding decision by Weir which was not, as originally though, due to injury—and lost badly to a red-hot Schauffele in singles, but it felt like he actually cared about the Presidents Cup for the first time in a long time and mostly delivered when called upon.Grade: B-

Mackenzie Hughes (1-3-0)

Hughes had his moment on Friday, thanks in large part to the ball striking of Conners, but beyond that memorable victory, his ball striking was just poor. He seemed to be out of far too many holes in his Saturday four-ball match, and in the afternoon, on 18, he followed up a poor drive with an even worse chip to hand the match to the Americans. As we said in the Conners section, that was a dagger for the Internationals, and basically assured that any hope of a comeback was dashed. Looking at the singles match-ups Saturday night, it seemed like there was no way he could possibly hope to beat Max Homa, and ... he couldn't, losing on 17 in a match that felt like it could have been over even earlier. You hate to pile on the Canadians, but they just didn't bring it on their home turf. Grade: C-

Sungjae Im (1-4-0)

If this grade looks high, know that Im was a victim of some unhelpful partnerships late in the weekend. He himself got off to a difficult start on Thursday, leaving Tom Kim with no support in their loss to Scheffler and Henley. But he picked it up on Friday in his dynamic match with Matsuyama—again, the best any team performed all weekend—and he was very good in both matches Saturday. It was his bad luck that his partner for both matches, Matsuyama, had an awful showing. At the start of the week, you'd have taken what Sungjae gave you, even with the odd stumble, like his drive into the water late in the match with Scheffler and Henley. His timing was just off, and unfortunately for him a combination of fatigue and a tough opponent (Henley) dealt him another loss in Sunday singles and a 1-4 record that was uglier than it should been. Even a B- feels harsh here; his actual play might deserve a little better. Grade: B-

Si Woo Kim (2-2-0)

This was, frankly, an inspiring performance from Kim for most of the weekend. We'll always remember the hole-out on 16, followed by the hilariously out-of-context "go to sleep" celebration, but long before that he was dropping bombs left and right, striping the ball off the tee, and bringing massive infusions of energy to his team. In hindsight, it looks like a huge mistake by Weir to have sat him in the opening session on Thursday. Even on Sunday, though he lost to Bradley and played his worst golf of the weekend, he had enough heart to make an incredible late run, going from 3 down to 1 down and hitting a great approach on 18 to give himself a chance to halve the match. He missed the putt, but it proved yet again that the guy had so much fight in him. The final tally for Kim was +5.85 strokes gained, the best performance by anyone on his team and third-best overall; it's a shame he lost the plot late in the day on Saturday and wasn't able to finish the job, but his play throughout the weekend was so superlative that you can't possibly hold that against him. Grade: A

Tom Kim (1-2-1)

It's wild to think Tom Kim ended up 1-2-1 on the weekend and only took a single point from the pairs sessions, because the man was a dynamo. He brought fire to the Internationals in a brutal day on Thursday, cheered for them all day Friday when he was unconscionably benched, came back for a big win Saturday morning, and then teamed with Si Woo Kim yet again in the match of the event, only succumbing to Schauffele and Cantlay late after burying long putt after long putt. In the singles session, he kept up the fight against Sam Burns despite what must have been something close to exhaustion, and though he didn't have his best stuff, he eked out a half point. He was tremendous, and this is one time where we're very fortunate to have statistical analysis that shows just how good he was: through the four pairs sessions, he finished third in strokes gained among all players, trailing only Si Woo Kim and Patrick Cantlay. Combine that sharp performance with the energy he brought to this team, and you can forget the record—this is a second great Presidents Cup for a very exciting young talent. Grade: A

Min Woo Lee (0-1-1)

You have to feel terrible for Lee. He's the only player who played only one of the first four sessions, and while he was pretty rough on Thursday, he wasn't the only player who was rough, for either team. But he was the only one who never played again on Friday and Saturday, and he deserves a lot of credit for fighting hard against Wyndham Clark and earning a half point with a terrific approach shot on 18 for a conceded birdie. Doing that after what had to be a deflating opening two days, when he clearly didn't have the faith of his captain, shows heart. The harsh fact is, though, that he really didn't play well even in singles, finishing as the second-worst player in that session. His inexperience was on full display, but he silver lining is that he'll have more bites at this apple. Grade: D+

Hideki Matsuyama (2-3-0)

Matsuyama might have played the best match of the entire event with Sungjae Im in Friday foursomes, and maybe, as mentioned in the American section, one of the best foursomes matches ever. Then, out of nowhere, he somehow beat World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in a tense singles match, giving his team a very brief, very faint hope of possibly overturning a huge deficit. Beyond those two, though, it was nothing but disappointment. When the dust settled Saturday on the pairs sessions, Matsuyama had the worst strokes gained stats of any International player, and he was notably bad on the greens. You didn't need any metrics to know that, though—he kept missing makable putts in his final match with Im en route to getting steamrolled on the back nine by Scheffler and Henley. He hit some good irons throughout the week, but by Saturday he was completely spent, and objectively one of the two or three worst players on the course. Even with the Scheffler win, Weir needed much more from his Japanese star. Grade: C-

Taylor Pendrith (2-3-0)

Give Pendrith some credit for bagging two wins, but man, he really flagged late under pressure, especially on Saturday evening as he seemed dead set on handing the Americans a win they wouldn't have deserved. Lucky for him, Adam Scott dragged him to the finish line, but his stats to end the week told an ugly story—he was fourth from last in strokes gained through the pairs sessions, dead last Saturday morning, and close to last Saturday afternoon. He got worse as the weekend went on, and absolutely should have been sitting for the foursomes in favor of Jason Day. That part's not his fault, but his iffy ball-striking and poor putting are. Finally, in singles, he completed the rough weekend with an uninspiring loss to Cantlay. Here again, we have to say that one of Weir's Canadian captain's picks couldn't turn it on in front of his home fans. Grade: C-

Adam Scott (2-3-0)

You have to give the veteran Scott a hand—when his team really needed him, before things went sideways he put Pendrith on his back and dragged him across the finish line to secure what looked like a critical point on Saturday night. That's more than any of his teammates could say, and despite playing his fourth straight match and being the oldest player on either team, he delivered the point. It wasn't all roses—his stats were average at best and he missed a few important putts, including a short one on 15 in Saturday foursomes that let the Americans crawl back into the match, but overall he filled his role admirably, particularly when Weir called on him to go all five sessions. He even came close to earning a half point on Thursday paired with a fellow Aussie in Min Woo Lee who gave him very little help. It was almost inevitable that he'd lose in Sunday singles to Morikawa—the man must have been beyond spent—but it didn't matter much by then, and in the big moments he did his job. Grade: B-

THE CAPTAINS

Jim Furyk, USA

Overall, you have to credit Furyk for sticking to his guns, resting most of his players at least once, and—especially—finding a successful partnership for Scottie Scheffler. The one mistake that sticks out to me is that despite taking Max Homa with a controversial captain's pick, he didn't set him up for success. By using him just twice, in alternate shot sessions, he failed to maximize a really good match play golfer, and even worse, he saddled him with a heavy weight in Brian Harman who clearly didn't have anything to offer. You could also ding him for somehow blowing a 5-0 lead in a single day, but none of his pairings Friday were egregious (minus the fact that Theegala shouldn't have been anywhere near that session), and sometimes crazy things happen. His pairings Saturday mostly worked, and fielding a fresher team on Sunday yielded dividends in a dominant first half that secured the Cup quickly. That's solid work by any measure. Grade: B+

Mike Weir, Internationals

On one hand, you can understand Weir wanting to keep what he thought were his best pairings on the course on Saturday afternoon, even if that meant benching four guys for the entire day. On the other, it worked out predictably—the last hour on Saturday was a disaster, and you can easily argue that it was because of fatigue, seeing as how literally all of them played two rounds on the day, and many of them were playing their fourth round in three days. And some of his players, including Matsuyama and Pendrith, were really struggling and clearly should have been rested in favor of someone like Jason Day or Min Woo Lee. So not only did he blow a chance to go into Sunday even when his team lost their mojo late on Saturday, but he left four players cold for singles, and the most important of those, Day, was left to be slaughtered in the No. 1 spot. Weir deserves heaps of credit for keeping his team's head in the games after falling behind 0-5, but he failed the exam pretty egregiously on Saturday, and by failing to manage the lineups well, he cost his team a chance to win. Grade: C-