The Americans twice filled the leaderboard with their red numbers and the Internationals never flinched Saturday, fighting back in the morning and afternoon to take a three-point lead in the Presidents Cup in Medinah, Ill.
It was only the fourth time since these matches began in 1994 that the Internationals — with only one victory in the Presidents Cup — have led going into the decisive 12 singles matches.
Min Woo Lee was part of both comebacks. He teamed with Sungjae Im in fourballs, going from 2 down against Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun to earn a halve in the morning. Lee and Ryan Fox overcame an early deficit to blow past Sam Burns and Wyndham Clark in afternoon foursomes.
The final stroke of a long, loud day at Medinah was Corey Conners holing a six-foot par putt on the 18th green with both teams gathered around. That was the final touch as Conners and fellow Canadian Nick Taylor rallied from 3 down after 10 holes for a 1-up victory over Jacob Bridgeman and Russell Henley.
Canadians Conners and Taylor rally to help International Team to 3-point Presidents Cup lead
Among was watching was Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world whom U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker chose to sit out in the afternoon. Scheffler had played all five matches in the last two team competitions.
“As I said at the beginning of the week, Scottie Scheffler is not going to go out there and win us 15 points, so we’ve got to go out there as a team and do this together,” Snedeker said. “I challenged the guys this afternoon to go out there and be that team that we need them to be.”
And that’s what he got — at least for a while.
The Americans were ahead in every match at one point on the front nine, just like they were in the morning, only for the plucky Internationals to fight their way back.
Even in fourballs in the morning, when the Americans wound up winning the session 2 1/2-1 1/2, it almost felt like a win for Geoff Ogilvy’s squad.
“Both sessions having all red on the board, down in every match, and to come back and get 1 1/2 points out of this morning we felt like was a little victory,” Ogilvy said. “The U.S. team played so well all day. They played some really high-level foursomes especially this afternoon. For the boys to somehow come back and pinch two points out of that and split the session was amazing.”
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The lead was the largest for the Internationals since 2003 in South Africa, the Presidents Cup that ended in a tie. They last led at Royal Melbourne in 2019 until the Americans rallied behind Tiger Woods, the playing captain that year.
Singles typically favors the Americans, and the Internationals have two players — Nico Echavarria and Christiaan Bezuidenhout — who sat out all of Saturday. Echavarria last hit a meaningful shot at Medinah on Thursday.
The Americans found their spark from the Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup — Young from New York, Gotterup from New Jersey — who were unstoppable. They won the first four holes in fourballs against Conners and Taylor in a 2-and-1 victory, and they were 5 up through seven holes in blowing out Im and Adam Scott, 6 and 4, the shortest match of the week.
Clark got the noise he wanted from Chicago fans, and Snedeker was on the seventh green raising his arms for even louder cheers when the Americans holed putts — and the Internationals missed.
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Lee made his Presidents Cup debut at Royal Montreal in 2024 and was asked how this experience was different.
“I guess the crowd is different, not getting cheers for holing putts. It’s a bit different than any tournament, really,” Lee said. “We just had to be there for each other. I think that was a big part.”
The crowd was so boisterous that a volunteer had to retrieve one fan’s dentures that had come out of his mouth from the upper deck of a hospitality tent on the 10th hole.
The Internationals have been at their best closing out matches. Now they have to find a way to close out a Presidents Cup the Americans have won the last 10 times.
“The goal at the start of the week is to be leading going into singles. That’s sort of what the first four days are all about,” Ogilvy said. “There’s still 12 points on the board, though, so we’ve seen in these team events all sorts of different things can happen.
“We’ve got to put our heads down and play for a big opportunity tomorrow.”
