Keegan Bradley got the Presidents Cup for the United States when he picked up a point in his match against Si-woo Kim of the international team, which allowed his team to reach the target of 15.5 points needed to retain the trophy in Montreal.
It was the 10th consecutive Presidents Cup triumph for the Americans, who boast an all-time record of 13-1-1 at the biennial event in match play against a selection of non-European international players.
And it seemed fitting that Bradley – who made no secret his desperation to play team golf again for his country, who had not played since 2014 until this week – was the man who got the winning point. The fact the, 38 years old, will be captain the United States Ryder Cup Bethpage Black’s team next year as they attempt to reclaim the trophy in Europe also made it a fitting finale.
“They made the captain’s job really easy and these guys played hard this week, and they played really well on the back nine,” the U.S. captain said. Jim Furyk.
The United States needed just 4.5 points in 12 singles matches and victories from Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay along with a half-point from Sam Burns paved the way for Bradley, who defeated Kim 1-up with five more matches on the course.
Bradley, who had not competed in a team event since the 2014 Ryder Cup, missed putts to win the Presidents Cup over the final two holes, but earned the deciding point when Kim missed a birdie putt of eight feet at the par four 18th.
“It’s a fairy tale; it’s almost a movie,” Bradley said. “I just can’t believe it. You just have to work as hard as you can and good things will happen.
While the Internationals swept Friday’s session to equalize at 5-5, the Americans built an 11-7 lead On Saturday, their opponents needed 8.5 of the remaining 12 points to win the cup, a feat no team has achieved in the history of the event.
The United States, a dominant team of golfers all in the top 25 in the world rankings, including five in the top 10, took control early and never wavered, although the Internationals made a late surge in a certain number of matches.
Furyk sent out Schauffele in the opening match and the world number 2 made five birdies on the front nine in his comfortable 4&3 victory over Australian Jason Day for the first American point of the day.
“My goal was just to set the tone, to get red on that board as soon as possible, and I was able to do that,” Schauffele said.
Burns and South Korean Tom Kim followed with the first draw of the week before Henley scored a 3&2 victory over Sung-jae Im in a match the American never followed.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama scored the first full international point of the session by birdieing three of his final five holes to secure a par-1 victory over world number 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Although Canadian Corey Conners added another point with a 5&3 victory over Tony Finau, it was too little, too late as Cantlay, a 3&1 winner over Taylor Pendrith, and Bradley already had the upper hand in the matches they closed .
Reuters
