U.S. quashes International comeback to win Presidents Cup

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – When it was finally over, the enduring emotion was … relief.

Quail Hollow’s ninth hole – used as No. 18 in the re-routed layout for the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow – had already seen its share of emotional finishes this week. Chest bumps, fist pumps and thrown hats after players had holed the important putts that are inherent to international team competition.

Xander Schauffele did none of those things when he holed the 4-foot par putt Sunday that ensured the 15.5 points the U.S. Team needed to clinch the Cup. He didn’t make a sound or express any emotion as he picked his ball out of the hole and shook Corey Conners’ hand. Schauffele simply exhaled as he walked toward his U.S. teammates, shifting his weight from side to side as he ambled in their direction, illustrating how laborious it was just to take a few more steps.

The Americans were relatively subdued as they high-fived and hugged after quashing an International rally and rolling to another victory. Between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, the United States has now won six of its last seven international competitions, including five in a row at home. The team’s confounding lack of success around the turn of the century now feels long forgotten.

The Internationals made this one more difficult than many expected. Those predictions rankled International Team captain Trevor Immelman, but they were not unfounded. It was hard to forget the last Presidents Cup on U.S. soil – which the home team nearly clinched on that Saturday in the shadow of New York City – and the United States’ record-setting Ryder Cup rout a year ago. Combine that with the International Team’s loss of some of its top players, and a redux of 2017 seemed possible.

The United States’ 8-2 lead after two days only added merit to those predictions. Then things turned. The International Team outscored the U.S. on Saturday to pull within four points, frustrating the favorites so badly that their captain, Davis Love III, consulted with his stats team to produce numbers that could soothe his angry team. Then, as always happens during the Singles session, a pathway to a comeback started to emerge. In seven of the final eight matches, the International Team either led or was tied at some point on the back nine.

It was all moot after Schauffele saved par from 80 yards on the final hole. The final margin of this competition may have been five points, 17.5-12.5, but there was a time late Sunday when the final outcome was in question.

“It's always hard to win,” Schauffele said. “It was close. It was stressful. And what you saw there was a big sigh of relief.”

This win continued the United States’ dominance at home. This was its fifth consecutive win on home soil in either the Presidents or Ryder Cup, and those victories have been by a combined 32 points. The five-point margin of victory this week actually was the smallest by a U.S. Team at home in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup since the U.S. won by three in the 2013 Presidents Cup. That’s an illustration not only of how well they’ve played but at the challenge the Internationals provided.

A new generation of players has led to this success, and its core was key this week. Jordan Spieth, the longest-tenured member of the U.S. Team, went 5-0-0. He and Justin Thomas won all four of their matches as a pair. Schauffele and Cantlay both went 3-1-0, as did Tony Finau. Those five players combined to go 18-4-0 this week, while Max Homa went 4-0-0 in his U.S. debut.

Love has noticed the difference in the team room, always one of the highlights of these weeks because of the camaraderie it promotes. But it was emptier than usual as players opted for the gym or the massage table. The ice baths have become more popular than the ping-pong tables. Even as the heavy favorites, Spieth said he watched players prepare for each round the same way they would for the Masters.

“We would sit in the team room at 8:00 at night and go, where is everybody?” Love said. Kevin Kisner put it more simply.

“I’ve never seen a better collection of golfers, but a worst collection of partiers.”

The U.S. has outscored its opponents by 24 points in the last six Cups, the lone blemish being a loss in the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. The U.S. will return to Europe next year as it seeks to win its first Ryder Cup on the road since 1993. That remains the last obstacle for this group to conquer. Not everyone at Quail Hollow will be on the roster next year but the U.S. core has become strong enough to give hope for prolonged success.

It starts with Spieth, who hasn’t turned 30 yet but has been on these teams for nearly a decade. Love remembers him bouncing around the team room in 2013 as a 20-year-old rookie in a T-shirt and shorts.

“My wife Robin said, ‘Who is that kid?’” Love recalled this week. “I go, ‘That’s the future of our team right there.’”

He was right. The U.S. roster has completely turned over in just a few years. Before leading this year’s Presidents Cup team, Love was a Ryder Cup captain in 2012 and 2016. No members of that team from a decade ago were on this year’s team, and Spieth was the only member of the 2016 squad who played at Quail Hollow.

Spieth, Thomas, Cantlay and Schauffele have made upcoming captain’s job easier, provided two teams that are as reliable as a sunrise. Spieth and Thomas first represented the United States in France when they were teenagers, shortly after they first met in a junior tournament in Texas. They had to wait more than a decade to do it again as professionals. They’re now 8-2-0 as a pairing over two Ryder Cups and a Presidents Cup. Cantlay and Schauffele first met in college but it was being paired at the 2019 Presidents Cup that galvanized the bond. They’re now 6-3-0 together, including 5-0-0 in Foursomes, and earned 2.5 points as a pair this week. They also won this year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the TOUR’s lone team event.

“We all respect each other's games,” said Thomas. “I think that's when we get in a situation and an atmosphere like this, we have belief in one another.”

That’s most important when things get stressful, as they do whenever trying to clinch a Cup.

The United States needed to win just 4.5 points Sunday to win the Presidents Cup for the 12th time in 14 playings. Si Woo Kim beat Justin Thomas in the first match but the U.S. crept toward its goal after Spieth beat Cam Davis, 4 and 3. Spieth lost the first two holes but collected his first Singles win in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup after winning four straight holes on the back nine. Cantlay beat Adam Scott, 3 and 2, before Hideki Matsuyama nearly chipped in on 18 for a win over Sam Burns. His ball hit the flagstick and bounced out. The U.S. was still five ahead after that halve, needing two more points to win.

Sebastian Munoz beat Scheffler, who went winless as the world No. 1, to pull the International Team within four. Finau was 1-down in his match after 11 but won four of the last six holes to beat Taylor Pendrith, 3 and 1. That put Schauffele in the position to clinch, but he hit his tee shot on the par-3 14th – normally Quail Hollow’s 17th – into the water to fall into a tie with Corey Conners.

Schauffele drove into the water on the next hole, as well, but after taking a drop, hit his 220-yard third shot to 10 feet and made par to win the hole. They halved the next hole with birdies but then Schauffele drove into a bunker and seemed to shank his second shot, the ball falling well right and short of the green. Conners three-putted from 30 feet, however, to match Schauffele’s bogey. Schauffele missed his drive left on the last hole, as well, and had to lay up from the trees, well short of the green on the par-4 closing hole. It secured a win that many had expected but didn’t come easily.

“There were a lot of different reasons to have pressure,” Love said. “But being the big, big, big favorite carries a little bit of weight. I'm glad they ignored it and just played great.”

The United States rolls on. The next stop? Rome.