Team USA has Cup all but locked up before final day
Pity Nick Price. The International captain at the Presidents Cup watched his team fall farther and farther behind Team USA on the leaderboard as hard winds blew Saturday afternoon. No matter the effort, the home team was more efficient.
“It doesn’t look like we’re trying, but we’re trying very hard,” he said around noon. “It’s tough.”
No mercy rule was ever issued. The Americans continued to rough up the Internationals at Liberty National Golf Club, holing putts and chipping one shot in from 65 feet en route to a 14.5-3.5 score following three days of competition.
“We’ve just come up against a juggernaut of an American team that hasn’t putt a foot long in a few days,” Price said. “They’ve had all the momentum and we’ve had nothing.”
The U.S. needs one more point to finalize the victory. Already 9-1-1 in the cup’s history, the U.S. is set to claim another championship. Play will begin at noon; all matches will be completed even if the Americans clinch early. The Americans have not lost the biennial event since 1998, and the future is filled with young stars.
“We recognize that this is a very similar team to what we can see for the next five to 20 years potentially,” American Jordan Spieth said.
Aside from looking to the promising meetings in later years, only a rules violation offered intrigue. Charley Hoffman’s 65-foot chip on the 17th hole sent the greatest charge through the crowd. Still, the International pairing of Si Woo Kim and Anirban Lahiri staved off the Americans to win 1-up in the final match of the day.
There were fiery displays down the stretch. Justin Thomas, the reigning PGA Champion, dropped in a 42-foot putt for birdie on the 14th hole to go 2 up on Hideki Matsuyama and Jhonattan Vegas in the afternoon’s four-ball match. Compatriot Daniel Berger ran up toward the hole as the ball rolled in. Thomas, in sweater and wool hat as the temperature dropped to 63 degrees, shouted, “That’s what I’m f---ing talking about!” It was the pairing’s second birdie in three holes on the back nine. Thomas and Berger won, 3 & 2.
There was a rules issue on the par-4 12th hole during four-ball play. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed were squaring with Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen. The match was tied at that point. Day pitched his second shot to tap-in range, with the Americans conceding the birdie. Oosthuizen, just off the back, attempted his eagle shot, only to watch it speed past the cup. The Internationals were already in the hole with three, so Spieth picked up Oosthuizen’s ball as it continued to roll. The official for the match disqualified the Americans from the hole because disrupting the path of a moving ball is against the rules. The ruling gave the Internationals a 1-up lead, and it was the first time the Internationals won the 12th hole in three days of play. There were calls for a Common Sense Committee to overrule the official on course.
“It’s just a sh---y rule,” Price said. “He meant no malice by it.”
Spieth and Reed recovered and went on to win, 2 & 1. Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka followed suit with a 3 & 2 victory.
Day after day, Price has lamented his team’s inability to close the door on Americans. By dusk Saturday, there was no reason for Price or any of his players to wring their hands any longer. The Americans slammed the door for good.
USA TODAY SPORTS, GETTY