Patrick Cantlay’s master stroke gives U.S. four-point lead at Presidents Cup

MONTREAL – The sun having set over Royal Montreal, the headlights from golf carts were the main source of illumination on the day’s final hole. The Presidents Cup was in a race against daylight after a lengthy delay at the inception of a long day, and all means were necessary.

The competition had been a confusing back-and-forth, as each team excelled in the format that usually gives it fits, but now the United States’ historic strength in this competition was starting to show. At most tournaments, play would have been suspended due to this lack of light, but it was important to bring Saturday’s session to its scheduled end.

The final score would influence important decisions about the following day’s Singles matches. Not finishing on time would have thrown schedules off kilter, required an earlier arrival to play just a few shots and delayed the setting of Singles lineups until just a couple hours before the final round was scheduled to start.

Saturday’s final match was tied as it played out in dark, and the final shots allowed the United States to establish an advantage that makes Sunday’s task much easier. A late rally, punctuated by Patrick Cantlay’s 17-foot birdie putt on 18, gives the United States a four-point lead with the 12 Singles matches remaining.

“It was a really nice way to finish the day,” said Cantlay’s partner Xander Schauffele, winner of two majors this year. “I'm glad Pat made that putt. It's probably the most fired up I've been maybe in my career.”

It was comparable to a birdie putt Cantlay sank in the final match of the final team session in last year’s Ryder Cup, a 40-footer for birdie to give his team a 1-up win.

“Very similar. Very similar one with the team around and the sun going down,” Cantlay said. “But the work's not done for this week. That's going to be the message for tonight. The work's not done. We've got to come out tomorrow firing. I know they will. There's still 12 points up for grabs. There's another day left.”

It would take a record collapse for the U.S. to not win the Presidents Cup yet again. No team in Presidents Cup history has overcome more than a two-point deficit in Singles.

The teams had started Saturday in a tie after exchanging sweeps, and the U.S. won the fog-delayed morning session, 3-1. The Internationals established early advantages when they returned to the course in the afternoon, though. They held at least a 2-up lead at some point in three of the four afternoon matches, and were tied on the back nine in the other.

But the United States somehow won the afternoon session by the same two-point margin as in the morning. The U.S. overcame the spirited play of Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, the steady execution of Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im and the local favorites, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, in the afternoon.

“Looking up at that board, it was looking kind of not that great early on,” Schauffele said. “It was extremely motivating for P.C. and I to see some of these matches start to pancake, or as Sahith says, Mongolian. It was extremely motivating.”

The International Team relied on the same eight players in Saturday’s two rounds, and they were unable to meet the Americans’ challenge in the day’s final moments.

Taylor Pendrith and Adam Scott won the 18th hole for a 2-up win over Max Homa and Brian Harman that pulled the Internationals within one. They didn’t win another point Saturday despite being tied on the back nine of the day’s remaining three matches.

Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley were 3-down through six holes of their match and still 1-down through 11 holes, but they won four of the next five holes to beat Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im, 3 and 2. It is the largest comeback this week. Scheffler is now 3-1 this week after going winless in the 2022 Presidents Cup and last year’s Ryder Cup.

Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns were 2-down through four in their match but 1-up at the turn. After Hughes tied the match by holing a bunker shot for eagle on 12 and again with an 11-footer for birdie four holes later, Morikawa and Burns escaped with a 1-up win after the Canadians bogeyed the 18th hole. Burns is 3-0 this week, the only undefeated player on either side.

That set the stage for Cantlay and Schauffele, the Americans’ stalwart Foursomes team. They’ve now teamed together nine times in the Presidents Cup, the most in the event’s history. Their match with Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim was tied through 12 holes, but the U.S. took a 1-up lead with a par at 13.

Si Woo Kim holed a 7-foot birdie putt at the next hole to tie the match, but Schauffele responded with a 33-foot birdie putt at 15 to regain the lead. One hole later, Si Woo Kim executed the shot that would have been the highlight of the session if not for Cantlay’s closing birdie. The ball was laying in the rough on a steep bank atop a bunker, but Kim popped it up in the air and watched it roll in the hole. He mimicked Steph Curry’s “Night, night” celebration from the Olympics as he sprinted around the green.

Both teams parred 17 and were tied as they stepped to the 18th tee. There was a two-point difference in potential outcomes. The International Team could pull within two points by winning the hole. The U.S. would lead by four if it won.

Si Woo Kim drove into a fairway bunker, while Cantlay’s tee shot flirted with the water on the left before carrying into the fairway. Both teams found the green with their approach shot. Cantlay, using the light from the scoreboard to help read his putt, holed the 17-footer. Si Woo Kim missed from slightly closer, giving the U.S. a 1-up lead.

“I can tell you one thing, I'm never going to play him in the dark or at night,” Schauffele said of his partner. “I'll just wait for the morning.”