Scheffler slams ‘ridiculous’ fan behaviour before President’s Cup comeback
Team USA has delivered an epic comeback display to secure their 11th consecutive Presidents Cup victory against the international team on Monday morning (AEST).
US captain Brandt Snedeker went from being disappointed by “all his mistakes” as team captain to 24 hours later celebrating the success of Collin Morikawa and rookie Jackson Koivun on the back nine, which paved way for his team’s victory.
Sam Burns, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler celebrate victory. Getty Images
The Americans were outplayed over three days in team matches, but leaned on their strength in singles to make up a three-point deficit.
US President Donald Trump was on the first tee for the start of 12 singles matches, and he kept his speech short.
“It’s going to be a very interesting game of golf,” he said.
That it was, even if the outcome was all too familiar.
Cameron Young and Justin Thomas set the tone early when facing Japan’s Ryo Histasune, before Scottie Scheffler stepped up to play.
Scheffler took down Nico Echavarria after a show of pure sportsmanship, when a spectator disrupted the Colombian’s swing.
“It’s just ridiculous, somebody yelling in his swing off the tee,” Scheffler said.
“There’s absolutely no place for that. You should get 30 seconds to a minute when you’re over the ball or getting ready to hit your shot where there’s some silence.”
Patrick Cantlay, 34, had another moment, as he always seems to do in this competition, holing a birdie putt from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against hard-luck Adam Scott.
Five matches remained on the course — the Americans were 1 up in three of them, the other two were all square. All the Internationals had to do was find three points from them, but the Americans simply refused to budge.
Koivun was 2 down through 10 holes to the Internationals’ top performer this week, Si Woo Kim, when he won three straight holes to flip the colour to American red on the board.
Australia’s Min Woo Lee was in action on Monday. Getty Images
He drilled his tee shot on the 18th, and twirled his iron when he knew the approach was pure. He wound up with a two-up victory, and then it was a matter of time.
The clinching point came from Jacob Bridgeman, who rolled in a 3-foot par putt on the 18th green for a 1-up victory over Min Woo lee, assuring the Americans the 15.5 points they needed.
Snedeker was not short of praise for his team after they sealed victory.
“I saw a bunch of guys who didn’t want to quit on each other today ... I’m just so damn proud,” he told the Golf Channel.
“I was really down last night because I felt like I let these guys down, but they went out there today and made up for all the mistakes I had made.
“They played for each other – it was such a special round of golf.”
