Geoff Ogilvy’s International Team trail the United States 3-2 after the first day of the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, with Australians Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee both on the losing side in Thursday’s four-ball matches (US time).
Scott and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox were beaten 3 and 2 by Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa. Lee, playing with Sungjae Im, went down 1 up to Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in the opening match.
The Internationals’ points came from Japan and Korea. Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune beat Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele 3 and 1, and Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim defeated Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay 3 and 2.
Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun gave the Americans their biggest win of the day, beating Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria 4 and 3.
The United States are chasing an 11th consecutive Presidents Cup win. The International Team has won the event only once, at Royal Melbourne in 1998, and has never won in America.
The opening day was quieter than home captain Brandt Snedeker had hoped. Before the tournament he urged Chicago fans: “Let’s be savages for everybody this week!”
The galleries did not follow through. “The first tee was loud, and then it just kind of dissipated as the day went on,” Snedeker said, pointing to a demanding course set-up and tough pin positions.
“I know what Chicago is built of. I know what kind of fans we’ve got here. They’ll come out tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve just got to go out and play good golf.”
Clark was blunter, describing the crowds as “kind of dead out there”.
The atmosphere drew comparisons with the hostile scenes at last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
Five foursomes matches are scheduled for the second day. Scheffler and Burns are paired again, this time against Conners and Nick Taylor, while Cantlay and Schauffele face the Kim pairing.
Thirty points are available across the four days, and the first team to 15.5 wins the cup.