Tour Confidential: Who, or what, has been the biggest surprise of the Presidents Cup?

Check in each day of this week’s Presidents Cup for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topic at Quail Hollow Club, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com.

The Americans added to their lead by winning the second session of the Presidents Cup on Friday, and they now lead the Internationals 8-2 heading into the weekend. There are still 20 points up for grabs, but who, or what, has been the biggest surprise of the Presidents Cup so far?

James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): After watching the last two days of play, I think the biggest surprise is that the margin isn’t even bigger. The Internationals were in a precarious state from the moment the first balls went in the air on Thursday morning, and they’ve stayed there ever since. A lot’s been made of the talent advantage on the American side, but this isn’t about talent. The Internationals have plenty of firepower to at least keep this thing close. Rather, these matches are being decided by two things: birdies and self-inflicted mistakes. The International side has too few of the former, and far too many of the latter.

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): I guess you could look at it that way. The other way to see it is that those birdies and self-inflicted mistakes are just the percentages playing out and that this one is going pretty much on script. The Americans were huge favorites for a reason. Team USA is so stacked that Davis Love’s toughest decision so far has been to figure out which guys to sit. The NBC broadcast team has been doing its best to convince us that things have been closer than they appear on the scoreboard, but the lopsided tally so far is not the result of some fluky rubs of the green.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): That Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns haven’t scored a full point yet! I wrote that they’d be fantastic in the team format, but despite some strong play on Friday, Sungjae Im and Sebastian Muńoz kept them from securing the full point. Few things this week have been a huge surprise, but this one certainly qualifies.

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): Tom Kim! Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised, but this guy is an absolute ball of energy. I was standing by the edge of the 14th green when he made a putt for birdie to go from 5 down with five holes to play to 4 down with four to play. He fist-pumped. He screamed. Nobody could quite believe it, but everybody respected it. Tom Kim is a star despite sadly starting 0-2.

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