In a world the place defending the integrity of 1 group competitors might be a key consequence from golf’s civil struggle, one other appears to be like set to be collateral harm.
For simply the fourth time in Presidents Cup historical past there was a 5 nil whitewash within the opening session and it went in favour of the USA.
Wealthy Beem broke out the dance strikes in studio and it was an indictment of the place this competitors goes. As golf’s panorama faces an unsure future, the Presidents Cup continues to journey down a path of irrelevance.
Jim Furyk’s USA made the quick journey north of the border to the noisy neighbours in Montreal and after 5 fourball matches on Thursday, they give the impression of being set for a tenth successive triumph and a thirteenth in fifteen editions.
The Worldwide facet have gained simply as soon as in 1998 and their hopes of delivering a win which might drag this contest from the life help machine upon which it clings to look over already.
Furyk confronted questions as to why he didn’t choose formidable pairing Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay significantly on condition that Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth aren’t a part of the group.
He needn’t have apprehensive.
There have been shut matches within the 5 performed with the People successful three of them on the 18th however the hole on the scoreline is seismic.
Schauffele/Finau edged An/Day on the final whereas Morikawa/Theegala and Clark/Bradley celebrated an identical scoreline over Scott/Woo Lee and Pendrith/Bezuidenhout.
Within the backside match Cantlay and Burns beat Matsuyama and Conners 2&1 earlier than Clark and Bradley secured the clear sweep.
There are solely two males who can rattle Scottie Scheffler. A Louisville police officer and Tom Kim, however the world primary can’t be stopped and he and Henley dished out a 3&2 win over Kim and Im in a fiery contest.
They’re presupposed to be good mates, however issues acquired a bit of tense between Scheffler and Kim throughout their fourball on the seventh and eighth.
Kim delivered two boisterous responses to birdie putts on 7 and eight and to Scheffler’s credit score he awoke a passionate character that lies inside which we by no means see as he replied with a birdie of his personal on 7.
He wasn’t in a position to repeat the feat on the eighth however this time round, Kim and Im had been already 60 yards away on the ninth tee field earlier than Scheffler had the possibility to putt out.
Camillo Villegas and Kevin Kisner rolled again the years to the Keegan Bradley, Miguel Angel Jimenez spat of 2015 and because it stands, if the Internationals are to get again into this contest they may want a full on brawl and hope the US can’t proceed.
“It’s loads of enjoyable being out right here and competing. It’s all in good enjoyable, I believe. That’s all I’ve acquired to say. It’s good enjoyable,” mentioned Scheffler.
“We’re out right here competing, doing our greatest. Like Russell mentioned, Tom clearly loves this stage, however Russell and I had been a very good match at present and we did some good things on the market.
“Russell did some good pictures early within the match and hit some key pictures late. Actually glad to have this man on my group.”
Initially of the week, many questioned the relevance of this competitors because of the Worldwide facet being unable to arrest the American wave regardless of some shut contests in recent times.
In reality, this competitors is the Leinster Championship of golf and the Dublin-esque People appear to be they may sail off into the sundown with out breaking sweat.
LIV golfers aren’t eligible for Presidents Cup choice and there’s no doubt that it has restricted the depth of pool for Worldwide skipper Mike Weir to select from.
The absence of prime class expertise in Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann has been felt whereas steely competitor Abraham Ancer gained three out of 5 matches on his solely outing in 2019.
The USA have began to change into a behemoth of group golf with solely the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup offering competitions the place they’re actually examined, though Nice Britain and Eire did safe a primary Curtis Cup victory since 2016.