U.S. pulls ahead in Presidents Cup despite Tom Kim’s Saturday morning show

“It’s nice to be able to make some putts for the team,” Kim said. “Definitely there was a few moments where momentum definitely could have shifted, but hung tight and did really well.”

But that was those were the only bright spots in the morning for the Internationals as the Americans took the other three matches, taking a narrow 8-6 lead as they begin the afternoon foursome session.

In the first match, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took a while to get going as he and Collin Morikawa tied eight consecutive holes against Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith and their match was tied as they got to the 16th hole. But the seven-time winner this season showed up late, making birdies on both 16 and 17, his first two of the day, to pull ahead for a 2 and 1 win.

Scheffler credited the seven-foot par putt Morikawa made on the 15th, after Scheffler had already made bogey, for giving him the boost he needed.

“I was getting a little bit impatient out there and I’m standing there on 15 green thinking to myself, what am I doing, and just hoping Collin can knock that putt in, and that was huge for our team there,” Scheffler said. “I was able to make a couple birdies when my partner needed me because he was a bit alone out there for a while today, so I was proud to step up when I needed to.”

In the second match, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau methodically pulled away from Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners with three birdies on the back nine to win 3 and 2.

The last match took the longest to finish as Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns took a 2 Up lead with six to play over Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im with an eagle by Cantlay. But Im drew out the match as long as he could, matching Cantlay with three straight birdies on 14, 15 and 16 before the Americans finally took the 2 and 1 win with a tie on 17.

Four more matches headed right back out upon the conclusion of Cantlay and Burns’ win as the fourth session switches to foursomes for the afternoon.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.