Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, left, and Im Sung-jae of the International Team celebrate on the tenth green during Friday's Foursomes on day two of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Sept. 27, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. AFP-Yonhap
A day after getting swept out of the gate, the International Team has stormed back to draw even with the United States in the Presidents Cup, with the Korean star Im Sung-jae posting a record-tying victory in Canada.
Im teamed up with Japanese veteran Hideki Matsuyama to hammer Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 7 & 6 in their foursome match at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, Friday (local time), tying the Presidents Cup record for the biggest victory in the event's 30-year history. The Korean-Japanese team dispatched the Americans on the 12th hole in a format where players took turns playing one ball per team.
The Presidents Cup is a biennial match-play event pitting the U.S. against a team of non-European international players. The Americans have won 12 out of 14 Presidents Cups so far, with the Internationals eking out a win and a tie.
On Thursday, the U.S. won all five fourball matches — where players each played their own ball — and appeared poised for another Presidents Cup victory. But with Im and Matsuyama setting the tone early, the Internationals returned the favor by sweeping the foursomes Friday.
It's the first time in Presidents Cup history the first two rounds of play have both been sweeps.
The day's last pairing for the International Team featured two Korean veterans, Kim Si-woo and An Byeong-hun, and they defeated world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and his partner Russell Henley 1 up.
The fourth Korean on the International Team, Tom Kim, sat out the foursome session. He and Im had lost to Scheffler and Henley in the fourball match Thursday.
Cantlay and Schauffele lost the first hole with a three-putt and didn't win a single hole against Matsuyama and Im, who set up a six-foot birdie for his partner on the second hole.
The International duo then ended the match with seven consecutive birdies, starting on the sixth hole, with both players throwing darts with their approach shots and draining birdie putts.
On the par-5 sixth hole, Im found the green with a 250-yard second shot and set up a nine-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh with a fine tee shot. Im sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the ninth after Matsuyama hit a 140-yard approach to about 10 feet.
On the par-5 12th, Matsuyama put a greenside bunker shot to three feet, and Im made the putt to close out the match.
"Today from the beginning, our vibe was vibing, and we were trying to win the match," Im was quoted as saying on PGA Tour.com. "With Hideki, our teamwork was amazing. When I would hit the shot, he would finish with the putt, so it was a great job."
Im Sung-jae and the International Team celebrates on the fourth green during Friday's Foursome matches on day two of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Sept. 27, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. AFP-Yonhap
The Internationals won all the remaining matches Friday: Adam Scott of Australia and Taylor Pendrith of Canada over Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa 5 & 4; Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa and Jason Day of Australia beating Max Homa and Brian Harman 1 up; Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes routing Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau 6 & 5; and Kim and An over Scheffler and Henley 1 up.
The final match was the only truly tight contest Friday. The two teams were tied through 12 holes, before Kim set up an easy birdie for An with an accurate tee shot on the par-3 13th, putting the Internationals up by a hole.
The teams traded birdies on the 15th, with Kim draining a clutch 12-foot putt to maintain his side's lead.
Kim then sealed the International win by sinking a pressure-packed 15-footer for par on the 18th green.
On Saturday, teams will play four fourball matches in the morning and four foursome matches in the afternoon.
The morning matchups will be: Scott and Pendrith against Scheffler and Collin Morikawa; Conners and Hughes against Finau and Schauffele; Kim Si-woo and Tom Kim against Keegan Bradley and Clark; and Im and Matsuyama against Sam Burns and Cantlay. (Yonhap)