The Americans improved to 14-1-1 in the biennial rivalry after trailing 10.5-7.5 entering 12 concluding singles matches, the Internationals poised to end a 28-year win drought but failing.
Kiwi Ryan Fox was playing in the last match and struggled on the front nine making just one birdie to be 3-down early on against fellow Open Championship winner Xander Schauffele. Schauffele eventually won 2&1.
“It was on a knife edge all day,” Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy of Australia said. “It’s a very difficult thing to beat the US in singles in the US. They all played great.”
The Americans had nine wins and a draw on the final day.
“I don’t think I’d do anything differently,” Ogilvy said. “It sort of drifted the wrong way all day.”
The non-European side’s lone win was in 1998 at Australia with a shared trophy at South Africa in 2003.
The Americans, boasting eight of the world’s 11 top-ranked golfers, won on the same suburban Chicago layout where Europe took the 2012 Ryder Cup with the famed “Miracle at Medinah” fightback.
“These guys never lost faith,” Snedeker said. “I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah’s got a history of funny things happening, and sure enough, they went out there and played their asses off. I’m so damn proud of those guys.”
Drama built with every match and ended with Bridgeman, who won his second PGA Tour title last week, falling behind for the first time with a bogey at 15 only to win 16 and 18 with pars.
“It was the coolest moment,” he said. “I felt like I held in my emotions all day. To let it out on the last hole is pretty sweet.”
Cameron Young secured the first US point, beating Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune 3&2. He won holes 11-13 for his first lead and made a 32-foot birdie putt at 16 to win.
Justin Thomas, 0-3 in Cup singles, won the first four holes and never trailed in beating Canada’s Corey Conners 5&3, sinking a 15-foot birdie putt at 15 to win.
South Korea’s Tom Kim answered with a 3&2 victory over reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark.
“I was second off. I really felt it was a responsibility to put a point up,” said Kim, who will fly to Japan for the Asian Games.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, 3-1 this week, birdied five of the first 10 holes and never trailed in beating Colombian Nico Echavarria 2&1.
South Korean Im Sung-jae rattled in birdies on four of the last six holes to beat Sam Burns 3&1, while Chris Gotterup beat South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout 1-up.
The Americans seized a 13.5-12.5 lead when Patrick Cantlay edged Australian Adam Scott 2&1 and moments later Collin Morikawa beat Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama 1-up.
Cantlay was never behind but needed a 57-foot birdie putt at 16 and a seven-foot par putt at 17 to win.
Morikawa tied his match at 15 on a 30-foot birdie putt and won when Matsuyama missed a 15-foot par putt at 18.
“I’m happy about that closing point,” Morikawa said. “That was huge.”
Jackson Koivun, a 21-year-old rookie, beat South Korean 2-up.
Canada’s Nick Taylor tied Russell Henley and Schauffele edged Fox after the Cup was decided. – AFP
Ryan Fox is helping lead the charge as the International team look to end a 28-year winless run against the United States in the Presidents Cup this morning.
The Internationals led 10.5-7.5 after day three, needing to win five of today’s 12 singles matches to win the biennial golf tournament for just the second time in 16 attempts.
Fox tees off against world No 10 Xander Schauffele in the last singles match at 7.14am, with 11 of the 12 International players taking on higher-ranked opponents at Medinah.
This is only the fourth time the International team have been in front heading into the final day — and first on US soil. The Internationals last led ahead of the singles at Royal Melbourne in 2019 but gave up a 10-8 lead to lose 16-14.
Trailing 8-3 after day two, the US threatened to sweep both sessions yesterday, but Fox played a crucial role in the International fightback as he and Australian Min Woo Lee beat Sam Burns and Wyndham Clark 3 and 2 in the afternoon foursomes.
Fox, who sat out the morning fourball matches, and Lee got off to a slow start in their afternoon assignment. Dropping the first two holes to their American opponents, Fox and Lee drew level at the seventh hole, then took the lead with a par on the eighth.
Burns putted his team back level on the 11th, before Fox put a superb tee shot within two feet of the hole on the par-three 13th for Lee to put them back in front.
That sparked a run of three straight holes won by the transtasman duo, before splitting the 16th with a par saw them hold an unassailable lead with two holes to play, securing their second win together this tournament.
“It’s been brilliant,” Fox said of playing with Lee. “We’ve played a lot of golf together since he turned pro in, what, 2020, was it?
“[We’ve] travelled around the world together, and to get a chance to play together in foursomes, I think we might have been both surprised it was foursomes, but it’s obviously worked pretty well.
“We’ve had a lot of fun the last couple of days and hit a lot of good shots when it mattered. Playing with one of your best mates is brilliant and I felt like it showed the last couple of days.”
Lee was pleased to record another win with Fox, who is contesting his first Presidents Cup.
“It’s mine and his first time playing on away soil, so we have to be there for each other,” Lee said. “I felt like I started terribly, and he was right there, cheering me on, and we turned it around, which is awesome.”
Canada’s Corey Conners and Nick Taylor, three down after 10 holes, shocked Jacob Bridgeman and Russell Henley 1-up to earn the International team’s other afternoon win yesterday.
“No giving up. We knew it was going to be a battle,” Conners said. “We gave them a few holes early on, did a good job of just staying with them. It feels good to get it done.”
In yesterday’s two other afternoon foursomes, Americans Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup won their second match of the day, routing Australian Adam Scott and South Korean Im Sung-jae 6 and 4, while Patrick Cantlay and Schauffele also led from the front in handing a 2 and 1 loss to South Koreans Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo.
The Internationals swept all five foursomes matches on day two to grab a four-point lead and the US cut the gap by only a point after dominating early in both sessions yesterday. “Our guys battled hard. It was a tough day. I was proud of the way they hung in there,” US captain Brandt Snedeker said. “Stay the course. It’s going to be a long hard day [today].”
Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy of Australia was overjoyed at the fightback yesterday.
“Both sessions, having all red on the board, being down in every match, and to come back and get one-and-a-half points out of the morning, we felt like was a little victory because we were down everywhere,” Ogilvy said.
“And then this afternoon, same thing happened. The US team played so well all day. They played some really high-level foursomes, and for the boys to somehow come back and pinch two points out of that and split the session was amazing.”
The Americans, who lead the all-time rivalry 13-1-1, are seek an 11th consecutive victory, with each side needing 15.5 points to hoist the trophy.
US President Donald Trump, who attended the Americans’ Ryder Cup loss last year, is expected to watch today at the suburban Chicago layout where Europe rallied for an epic 2012 “Miracle at Medinah” Ryder Cup victory over the Americans.
The Internationals achieved their only victory in 1998 at Royal Melbourne and tied in 2003, losing the last 10 tournaments. They had been heavy underdogs this year, with the US team boasting eight of the world’s 11 top-ranked golfers.
Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s Deputy Head of Sport.