A day after sitting out a historic International rally on Presidents Cup Friday, Tom Kim’s efforts were delayed again on Saturday.
Dense fog shrowded Royal Montreal at the beginning of a marathon, 36-hole Presidents Cup Saturday, suspending play for more than an hour during the morning four-ball matches. Kim’s match was the third to go off, but his return to the Cup on Saturday morning needed to wait an extra hour and 37 minutes.
But then, finally, Tom Kim’s round began — and goodness, it was worth the wait.
On the 1st, Tom’s partner, Si Woo Kim, walked in his birdie putt to immediately take a 1 Up lead over Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Tom Kim turned back to the Canadian faithful, pumping his fist before completing a spin and high-fiving his partner.
On the 2nd, it was Tom’s turn as he drained a 12-foot birdie from the edge of the green and immediately turned back toward the crowd and pumped both fists in the air.
That set the tone for the match, which ended as a 4 and 3 victory for the International side.
“It’s nice to be able to make some putts for the team,” Tom Kim said later. “Definitely there was a few moments where momentum definitely could have shifted, but hung tight and did really well.”
But that was the only bright spot for the Internationals in the morning session. The Americans took the other three matches, taking a narrow 8-6 lead heading into the afternoon’s alternate shot session.
In the first match, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took a while to get going as he and Collin Morikawa tied eight consecutive holes against Adam Scott and Taylor Pendrith. But the World No. 1 showed up late, making birdies on both 16 and 17, his first two of the day, to pull ahead for a 2 and 1 win.
Scheffler credited the seven-foot par putt Morikawa made on the 15th, after Scheffler had already made bogey, for giving him the boost he needed.
“I was getting a little bit impatient out there and I’m standing there on 15 green thinking to myself, what am I doing, and just hoping Collin can knock that putt in, and that was huge for our team there,” Scheffler said. “I was able to make a couple birdies when my partner needed me because he was a bit alone out there for a while today, so I was proud to step up when I needed to.”
In the second match, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau methodically pulled away from Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners with three birdies on the back nine to win 3 and 2.
