Team USA delivered a drubbing of the international squad on day one, making a dominant start to their bid to win a 10th consecutive Presidents Cup.

For the third time in the 15th edition of the biennial team competition, the United States produced a clean sweep in the first round, creating a commanding 5-0 lead in the fourballs heading into Friday’s foursomes.

It marks a dream start for US captain Jim Furyk’s bid to retain the title at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club and already leaves Mike Weir’s international team with a huge task to turn the match around over the next three days.

Despite Thursday’s one-sided overall score, three of the five fourball matches went to the 18th hole, with the international side dealing with a series of missed chances and gilded birdie putts on the back nine.

Xander Schauffele and debutant Tony Finau – who brilliantly scored one of the standout shots of the round from 14th – were linked in the opening match to give the US their first point to set the winning tone, despite a late wiggle against Jason Day and Byeong Hun An.

“We’re friends after, we’re not friends during” – Scheffler and Kim’s flashpoint

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and playing partner Russell Henley secured the most comprehensive victory of the day, beating South Korean duo Tom Kim and Sungjae Im 3&2, but the match still contained the main intriguing point of the round.

Kim and Scheffler are known to be good friends off the course, but their match seemed to get briefly heated on the seventh and eighth holes.

Already two behind in the seventh, a jubilant Kim shouted with joy ‘let’s go!’ after rolling in a 6-foot birdie putt before Scheffler then bellowed “what was that?” in response to his friend, moments later after sinking his own similar well to halve the hole.

Kim then celebrated vigorously again when he sank an even longer putt to birdie the eighth, before controversially he and I left the hole to head to the adjacent ninth tee box before Scheffler had his own birdie attempt completed.

Scheffler then missed his putt to give the international team the hole victory, reducing their deficit to just one at that point. Kim and Im subsequently failed to win another hole as the international pair’s challenge faded, with a half on the 16th finally confirming the American duo’s comfortable victory.

About Kim and I leaving the eighth hole early: Sky Sports Golf’s Paul McGinley said: “That borders on bad behaviour. That’s disrespectful in my opinion. I know it’s competitive out there, but it certainly shows there’s an underlying advantage here. It’s not all fun and games.”

Scheffler downplayed the tension with Kim after completing the round.

“That was a bit of fun,” said the American.

“It was the same thing I would have done at home if he made a putt and we played ‘wolf’ and he celebrated like that. So it’s all in good fun, we enjoy competing against each other, and that’s the way it is. out here.

“It’s fun to compete and fun to represent our country, and at the end of the game you take off your hat and shake hands. We’re friends after, we’re not friends during, I guess!”

Scheffler’s point was his first in the Presidents Cup after suffering three losses and one draw in his tournament debut at the Quail Hollow Club in 2022.

Can the international side turn the tide?

Thursday marked the first time since 2007 – coincidentally the only other time the Presidents Cup has been held in Montreal – that a team had lost all its matches in a single session.

Weir’s 2024 team now face a crucial Friday in the foursome if they are to still harbor realistic ambitions of claiming a first international win in the competition since 1998.

“It’s just a hammer blow today,” he said Sky Sports Golf’s Wayne Riley.

“It’s closer (in terms of the score in each match), but that doesn’t matter, it’s still 5-0.

“It’s not pretty, but it’s not over yet. However, (Friday) is huge and the international team has to come back and win every game.”

Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA Champion, added: “I don’t understand how the American side did it. It didn’t look like they were going to come away with that much of a win. It seemed like something early in the matches closer, but all of a sudden America continued to exert all kinds of pressure and the Internationals could not respond.”

Who will win the Presidents Cup? The live coverage continues on Sky Sports Golf on Friday from 6pm. Stream the Presidents Cup and more with NOW.

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