Internationals remain positive despite stumble at Presidents Cup

If you’re an International team pessimist, you can point to the scoreboard after the first day of play at the Presidents Cup and realize you lost all five matches and are already well behind after just one round of play.

If you’re an optimist, you can point to that same scoreboard and say you were in almost every match until the end and that the score doesn’t reflect how close play was.

If you’re Mike Weir, you have to get your team to believe this is a long way from over.

The opening day’s play at Royal Montreal was a clean sweep for the Americans, giving them a 5-0 lead. The last time one team won every match in any round was back in 2007 at this same course when the U.S. did it in foursomes.

“Reality is it wasn't a great day,” admitted Weir. “But it's like the first period of a hockey game the way I look at it. You're down, but there's a long way to go. Still significant sessions left. That's the way we're looking at it.”

What may have added to the frustration for Weir and his team was that the matches were close. Three ended up 1 up while one more was 2 & 1. The lone match that went no farther than the 16th hole was a 3 & 2 win by Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley over Sungjae Im and Tom Kim.

It was also the only match where there was any edge between the two teams. After Scheffler drained a long putt on the seventh hole, he growled at Kim, a demonstrative player who isn’t afraid to stir up the fans. The South Korean responded by rolling in a long bomb of his own and snarling back at the world’s No. 1 player, punctuating it with a fist pump.

“From my perspective, looked like he poked the bear,” said Scheffler, partly in jest.

“My emotions and my love towards this team doesn't change,” said Kim. “I'm fighting for not only myself -- it may look like I'm just a kid throwing fist pumps, but it's not, it's me throwing fist pumps for my team.”

Aside from that brief back-and-forth, the energy on the course felt more as if there was a funeral taking place than a golf event. The crowd, which was loud and proud on the first tee, seemed to have been sedated on every other hole and the International team didn’t give them much to cheer about. Now they find themselves in a deep hole, looking for a ray of positivity.

“We've got some work to do the next few days,” said Taylor Pendrith, who made six birdies and was easily the best player for the Internationals, “and the leaderboard doesn't look great, so we've got to peck away and see what we can do.”

“The best news is there's tomorrow for us, said Adam Scott, the veteran Australian. It's not over. We're going to have to come out, fight really hard, find that gear, win a session and get going in the right direction.”

Winning a session won’t be easy. On Friday the two sides will play foursomes, also known as alternate shot. It’s the format where the Americans have dominated, winning 79 matches compared to 42 for their opponents.

All three Canadians will play with Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners teaming up. Pendrith will play with Scott. Tom Kim will sit, which raised a few eyebrows.

“We have a plan for four-ball, and we have a plan for foursomes,” said Weir. “Tom wasn't in the plans for (Friday), but doesn't mean he might not be down the road. We're sticking with the plan.”

Friday’s matches will be: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele taking on Im and Hideki Matsuyama; Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa against Scott and Pendrith; Max Homa and Brian Harman against Jason Day and Christiaan Besuidenhout; Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau versus Conners and Hughes; Scheffler and Henley against Si Woo Kim and Ben An.