Xander Schauffele holed the winning putt as the United States retained the Presidents Cup with a dominant 17½-12½ win over the International team at Quail Hollow Country Club in South Carolina.

The home side’s victory was its ninth in a row and gives the USA a 12-1 overall lead in the event, with one match tied.

“It feels good to win,” said Schauffele, whose form throughout the matches was somewhat scratchy. “It got really close there for a little bit. Winning is winning and there are no pictures on the scorecard.” 

US captain Davis Love added: “They played great. It was hard. They put in a lot of effort the last three weeks. They came in ready to go.”

Having lost his previous eight singles matches in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, Spieth was in superb form throughout the week at quail Hollow, producing a 100% record from his five matches, and he got the US team back on track with a 4&3 win against Australian Cameron Davis.

“I was extra nervous,” he said. “I wanted to get that monkey off my back. They are looking for red on the board and it feels really good to finally provide that. You can’t put a price on this. I did as much as I could this week.”

Burns tied his match with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, while Cantlay beat Australian Adam Scott 3&2.  Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz beat world number one Scottie Scheffler 2&1 to make it 13½-9½ and it started to get close with several International players up in their matches.

However, the US side’s superior putting was the difference between the teams and Finau’s 3&1 win against Canadian Taylor Pendrith moved the US one point from their target before Schauffele made sure of it with a solid par putt at the last.

There were contrasting fortunes for two South Koreans. Sungjae Im saw off Cameron Young, likely to be an American stalwart for years to come, by one hole while Tom Kim – hero of Saturday’s fightback – was edged out on the 18th by Max Homa. Another South Korean, KH Lee, was an impressive 3&1 winner against Billy Horschel as the International team played for pride after the match had been won.

In the final two matches, Chile’s Mito Pereira was comfortably beaten by Collin Morikakwa, but South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout finished off with a point for the Internationals against Kevin Kisner.

“We’re a little disappointed,” International captain Trevor Immelman said. “We believed in ourselves. We had an amazing week. They were fighting. These guys have massive hearts. I’ll go into battle with them any day.”

The result was all the more impressive from Immelman ‘s point of view given that the International team featured eight rookies and was missing many of its top players because of defections to LIV Golf. Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman were all absent due to the PGA TOUR, which manages the Presidents Cup, banning players who had signed for the Saudi-backed tour. The Americans were without Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, although the US side still contained 10 of the world’s top 16-ranked players. 

Zach Johnson will lead the US side when they attempt to retain the Ryder Cup against Europe at Marco Simone in Rome in a year’s time.

For the full scores, click here. 

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The United States tightened its already vice-like grip on the 2022 Presidents Cup after Davis Love III’s team won three of Friday’s five fourball matches to extend their lead over the International team to 8-2 on day two.

With a further 21 points on offer at Quail Hollow, the US need just 7½ points to win for a 12th time in 14 matches. The US have won the past eight editions of the event and lead the series 11-1, with one match tied.

“Our backs are up against the wall,” said International captain Trevor Immelman. “We’re going to have to dig deep. But it’s going to have to start with making some putts.”

The US could retain the trophy on Saturday with four foursomes (alternate shot) matches and four fourball matches to be played, before Sunday’s 12 concluding singles matches.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas won the first point of the second day by beating Australian pair Adam Scott and Cam Davis 2&1. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele defeated Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea’s Kim Joo-hyung 3&2, while Max Homa holed a birdie putt at the last to claim a 1up win with Billy Horschel over over Canadians Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith.

The International team picked up one point on Friday from two halved matches. Colombian Sebastian Munoz won the 18th with a par to ensure he and Sungjae Im earned a half-point against world number one Scottie Scheffler and his partner Sam Burns, while Chile’s Mito Pereira and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout also ground out a half-point against Cameron Young and Kevin Kisner.

Despite their six-point advantage, US captain Davis Love III said: “We’re not sitting there going, ‘OK, this is great.’ We’ve seen a lot of big leads lost. We’re going to try to be motivated and not really talk about the outcome till the end.”

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Team USA  opened a 4-1 lead over the International team on day one of the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” said International captain Trevor Immelman, whose team has been heavily depleted by the absence of players that have joined the LIV Golf Series who are banned from playing in the matches.  “Nobody here expects us to win. We’re up against maybe the strongest American team ever assembled on paper. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll keep going until they ring the bell.”

Immelman put two of his more experienced players out first in the alternate shot foursomes, but Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama were thrashed 6&5 by Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in a match that set the tone for the day.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were 2&1 winners over South Korea’s Sungjae Im and Canada’s Corey Conners, while Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa won by the same margin over South Korean pair Tom Kim and KH Lee.

A fourth point looked secure with world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 2up after 14 holes against Si Woo Kim of South Korea and Australia’s Cameron Davis However, Kim and Davis won the final four holes to win 2up.

In the final match, Tony Finau and Max Homa parred the 18th to narrowly defeat Mito Pereira of Chile and Taylor Pendrith of Canada 1up.

“We had some matches where we were rolling and the guys played great, and then some matches like this one with Tony and Max that they ground it out,” said US captain Davis Love III. “It’s a good start, but there is still a long way to go.”

Friday’s format will switch to five fourballs matches, with four fourball and four foursomes matches to follow on Saturday and 12 singles matches on Sunday. A total of 15½ points are needed to win the trophy.

For the latest scores, visit www.presidentscup.com/leaderboard

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The United States recorded back-to-back PGA Cup victories over the Great Britain & Ireland following a pulsating clash between the two nations at Foxhills Club & Resort in Surrey.

Led by PGA of America Honorary President Suzy Whaley, the United States overcame a brave fightback from David Russell’s GB & I team to capture the Llandudno International Trophy and claim their first away win since 2009.

Russell’s side knew they had it all to do heading into the Sunday singles. A weekend full of twists and turns saw them trailing by three points – 9.5-6.5 – knowing seven wins were needed to regain the Llandudno International Trophy.

GB&I captain had spoken about the importance of getting some blue on the board in the early stages of the match and Ashley Mansell did just that, racing out of blocks to go three up on Michael Block through after the opening nine holes.

Mansell, who is based at Clevedon GC, extended his lead to four with six to play and looked set to earn GB&I their first point of the day. But Block had other ideas, holing five birdies in the final six holes to complete a remarkable turnaround and ensure the first point on the board went to the Americans.

Matthew Cort (Beedles Lake) was next out for the home side and was looking to carry the form he showed yesterday on his birthday having won his two fourball and foursome matches. He trailed Ben Polland for much of the match, but a double bogey on the 15th allowed Cort to cut the deficit to just one with three to play. Another bogey by Polland at the 17th set up a tense finale, but both players made par and the match was halved.

James Ruth (China Fleet) headed into his contest with Larkin Gross having won one of his three matches so far this week. Having gone one up after the second, Gross reversed the scoreline and the American went to up heading into the back nine, but Ruth showed his quality to fight back and earn the GB&I another half-point.

The Americans added to their tally after Simon Thornton (Tulfarris) fell to a 4&3 defeat to Ryan Vermeer, but GB&I got some blue back on the board with Adam Keogh (Woodhall Spa) coming from behind to beat Frank Bensel Jr. It was a bittersweet victory for Keogh, who ended up on the losing team, but remained undefeated on is PGA Cup debut, claiming 3.5 points from four.

“I do feel disappointed,” said Keogh. “The boys gave everything and I’m disappointed to be on the wrong side of the result, but that’s golf. The game was played in the right spirit and congratulations to the opposition. For someone who works in the industry as we all do, it’s an incredible honour playing in this event. We have 8,000 Members so to be one of the 10 players here representing the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland, it’s a good achievement and I would encourage anyone to do the same thing.”

Daniel Whitby-Smith (Drayton Park) picked up his first full point of the weekend after beating Wyatt Worthington II 3&2 and Greig Hutcheon (Torphins GC) followed that up with another GB&I victory.

At this point in the match GB&I had important points on the board, but the scoreboard was not looking in their favour. Defeats for Simon Lilly (Wellingborough), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) and David Higgins (Waterville) followed, which led to joyous celebrations from the visiting team.

“We let ourselves down in the foursomes which made it difficult to come back in the singles,” said Russell. “The singles could have gone one way or the other really, at times we were on top but they’re quite a strong team.”

Despite the defeat, Russell feels his GB&I team, which contained no fewer than seven debutants, can leave Foxhills with their heads held high having given everything for the cause. Russell continued: “The team have been absolutely amazing. They’ve come together brilliantly, there’s been no individuals within the team. The ten of them have all got together and been brilliant. It really has been a wonderful experience.”

Reflecting on the whole PGA Cup experience, Russell added: “I can’t believe how much I have enjoyed it. It’s nice to bring my experience into fruition into something like this. It’s lovely to get the opportunity to do it.”

Whaley, the winning captain, who also led the US side to victory in 2019, said: “It started to get a little dicey out there. But in the end, we got it done. I have been lucky to have been able to do a lot of amazing things in my career, but this ranks right at the very top.”

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