Tom Kim helps International team rally but still trails 11-7
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
The Americans have a juggernaut in Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas that moved them closer to another victory in the Presidents Cup on Saturday.
The International team has a spark plug in 20year-old Tom Kim, who delivered the emotion and big putts that made it clear the Americans will have to work for it.
The day started with the Americans having a mathematical chance to clinch the cup. It ended with them holding an 11-7 lead, with 12 singles matches left on Sunday.
Spieth and Thomas became only the second U.S. partnership to win all four team matches in the Presidents Cup, handily winning their foursomes match in the morning and their fourballs match in the afternoon.
The Internationals split the morning matches, and the way this Presidents Cup has gone for them, not losing ground felt like a win.
And then it got better. They rallied over the final hour in two matches to turn deficits into 1-up wins, taking the afternoon session by winning three of the four matches.
The star was Kim, the youngest player at Quail Hollow and perhaps the biggest personality. He started the comeback with a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-4 11th hole against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
They were all square going to the last, Si Woo Kim already out of the hole, and Tom Kim facing a 10-foot birdie putt for the win. He took a few steps back as the ball neared the hole, dropped his putter and slammed his cap to the ground in a raucous celebration.
Moments later, Adam Scott and Cameron Davis rallied from 1 down with three holes remaining when Davis made a 12foot eagle putt on the 16th and a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to go 1 up.
On the final hole, Sam Burns hit his approach to 4 feet that gave him and Billy Horschel a chance to earn a halve. And then Davis made a 10-foot birdie for another point.
Every point is big for the International team, already depleted from four players who left the PGA Tour for Saudi-funded
LIV, and already dealing with eight straight cup losses.
The Americans are still very much in control, needing only four wins and a halve from the 12 singles matches in the final session.
Spieth and Thomas have led the way. The only other U.S. tandem in a Presidents Cup to go 4-0 was Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker at Harding Park in 2009. The Internationals had Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace do the same in South Korea in 2015.
Thomas and Spieth have been close friends for 15 years, dating to junior golf and international outings. This is the first time in a Presidents Cup that they have been paired together, and both are on their games. It a lethal combination.
Kim won both his matches Saturday, teaming with K.H. Lee in morning foursomes to beat Burns and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, 2 and 1.
Scott is playing on his 10th team — eight losses and one tie — and was shut out until he and Hideki Matsuyama took down Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young in the morning, and Scott and Davis proved to be a great Australian duo in the afternoon.