Team USA's hopes of an 11th consecutive Presidents Cup win suffered a major setback after the Internationals produced a stunning foursomes session sweep to build a shock 7-3 lead. The United States have never been beaten on home soil in the biennial contest and have won 13 of the previous 15 editions, although now find themselves behind after an impressive Friday performance from Geoff Ogilvy's International Team at Medinah. Canadian duo Corey Conners and Nick Taylor held off world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns to claim a 1up win in the top match, having already seen Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im despatch Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman 3&2.
Open champion Ryan Fox partnered Min Woo Lee to a final-hole win over Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark, before Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Scott wrapped up a 3&2 win over Justin Thomas and Wyndham Clark. Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim then claimed their second win as many days with a 4&3 win over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, the second successive Presidents Cup that the International Team have swept the Friday foursomes. The dramatic turnaround sees the Internationals bounce back from losing Thursday's fourballs session 3-2 and gives them a four-point advantage heading into the weekend, leaving them needing 8.5 points from the 20 left on offer to claim a first win since 1998.
Scheffler has now lost eight of his nine foursomes matches for Team USA in Presidents Cups or Ryder Cups, despite giving him and Burns the early lead after a sensational approach into the second set up a birdie. Burns went out of bounds to lose the next hole before the Internationals responded to losing the fourth hole by winning the next two, with Conners and Taylor never relinquishing control to keep the pair one up with one to play. Conners had to pitch out from thick rough before Taylor fired a stunning approach from the fairway to a foot, securing the par, with Burns lipping out with his 20-foot birdie try to tie the match.
"We just tried to be relentless out there," Conners said. "Both hit a lot of quality shots and Nick [Taylor] made some key putts there towards the end to keep us in the position. His approach shot into the last here was unbelievable!" Matsuyama partnered Ryo Hisatsune to victory on the opening day but formed a formidable partnership with Im, as the pair won four consecutive holes from the third to race into a 3up lead against Henley and Bridgeman.
The American won successive holes from the 10th but Matsuyama nailed a 20-foot birdie to win the 12th and Im won the 15th, before the Internationals closed out the point when Matsuyama rattled an unlikely par at the par-three 16th. Hopes of a session sweep increased when Fox posted successive birdies from the 15th to flip his and Lee's match, with Morikawa missing a five-foot putt to level at the 17th and allowing the Internationals to close out another point with a par at the last. Thomas and Young never led during their match against Scott - playing in a record-breaking 56th Presidents Cup match - and Bezuidenhout, who wrapped up an impressive win with a 30-foot birdie on the 16th.
"There's a lot of golf left," Scott insisted. I think we had a similar situation two years ago in Canada [2024 Presidents Cup]. Hopefully we learned from that and we can back a great day up tomorrow." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Kim and Kim also had control in the bottom match, posting six birdies in alternate shot, with Team USA's pointless session confirmed when Schauffele missed from three feet to extend that match at the 15th.
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