Group USA continues dominance at Presidents Cup, downs Worldwide crew once more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jordan Spieth capped an ideal week on the Presidents Cup and the Individuals made it 9 straight victories towards an Worldwide crew depleted by defections to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

The Internationals confirmed loads of battle. They only haven’t got a cup to point out for it.

That stays squarely within the arms of an American crew that was coming off a document romp over Europe within the Ryder Cup final yr.

Xander Schauffele delivered the clinching level when he made a 6-foot par putt on the 18th gap for a 1-up victory over Corey Conners. That gave the Individuals 15½ factors with 5 matches nonetheless on the course.

Conners and Taylor Pendrith, the one Canadians on the crew, had been the one gamers who did not contribute a degree. Conners three-putted from 25 ft on the seventeenth with an opportunity to sq. the match, and he hit right into a bunker from the green on the 18th.

Spieth made putts from throughout Quail Hole for a 4-and-3 win over Cameron Davis that stored the Internationals — in want of their best Sunday singles efficiency — from gaining any early momentum.

Spieth grew to become solely the sixth participant to win all 5 matches within the Presidents Cup, successful all 4 of his crew matches with Justin Thomas.

Spieth, a three-time main champion and former No. 1 participant on the earth, first certified for U.S. groups when he was 20. However he had by no means gained a singles match — 0-3 within the Presidents Cup, 0-3-1 within the Ryder Cup.

After which he fell 2 down after two holes earlier than turning it round in an enormous manner.

“I used to be extra nervous than I ought to have been as a result of I needed to get that monkey off my again,” Spieth mentioned. “If you get off early on a Sunday, they’re searching for purple on the board. And it feels good to offer it.”

Thomas was making an attempt to hitch him, however he misplaced to Si Woo Kim in a match that got here right down to 10-foot birdie putts on the final gap.

Regardless of. When Patrick Cantlay whipped Adam Scott, and Tony Finau rallied from 2 right down to beat Pendrith, the end result was as inevitable because it normally is.

The Individuals improved to 12-1-1 in a collection that started in 1994. Their solely loss was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, and there was a tie in South Africa in 2003.

The Internationals fell behind 8-2 after the opening two days with a crew that featured eight rookies, half of them changing gamers similar to British Open champion Cameron Smith and Louis Oosthuizen who weren’t eligible after the PGA Tour suspended them for signing with the profitable rival tour.

A kind of rookies, Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, took out world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and went unbeaten for the week at 2-0-1. One other was 20-year-old Tom Kim, the contemporary face of those matches, who gave the Internationals hope on Saturday night time with a efficiency as huge as his character.

Over 4 days, the Individuals had been too robust and too deep.