Canada’s Taylor, Conners help International team sweep Team USA, go up 7-3 at the Presidents Cup

MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) — Nick Taylor got his team into a mess with a bad drive and there was only one way to get out of it. The Canadian took stock of the wind and his adrenaline, took a little off a 9-iron from 151 yards and delivered a clutch shot a foot from the hole that led to a full point Friday in the Presidents Cup.

Not far behind him at Medinah, British Open champion Ryan Fox wasted no time — he never does — in making three big putts on the last four holes for another close win, another full point.

It was like that all afternoon, and the result was familiar but no less stunning.

The Internationals swept the foursomes session for the second straight time, taking a 7-3 lead and putting the Americans in a hole they haven’t seen in the Presidents Cup since 1998. That also happened to be the only time the International team won this competition.

Adam Scott, who set a Presidents Cup record Friday by playing in his 56th match, recalls the sweep at Royal Montreal in 2024 and what followed — the Americans won six of the eight matches on Saturday and rolled to another victory.

“If we take something from Canada, it’s not to celebrate too hard at this point,” Scott said.

But there was a confidence about this International team the Australian found inspiring going into the double session of fourballs and foursomes on Saturday.

“From where I sit, if any of the guys were lacking belief, they should have it now,” Scott said.

Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout never trailed in a 3-and-2 victory over Justin Thomas and Cameron Young. Hideki Matsuyama holed two big putts as he and Sungjae Im beat Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman by the same margin. The fifth match was the first point of the day for the Internationals, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim beating Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, 4 and 3.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker kept reminding everyone there were 20 points still on the table and if it were a football game, it wouldn’t even be halftime. He also recognized his Americans have never faced a deficit this large in the Presidents Cup.

“We’re not going to be able to get it back in one session. We’re not going to be able to get it back in one match. It’s going to be a slow, steady process to try to turn this thing around,” Snedeker said. “From where we are right now, we need to do it session by session, point by point.”

Taylor, in his first Presidents Cup at age 38, showed his clutch gene. This is the Canadian who chipped in for eagle to set up a playoff win at the Sony Open, who won a playoff in the Phoenix Open, and who most famously holed 72-foot eagle putt in a playoff at the Canadian Open.

The Abbotsford, B.C., native and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., were 1 up against Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns going down the 18th, where Taylor pushed his drive right into the rough and was blocked by trees. Conners could only get it back to the fairway, still farther away from the second shot for Scheffler.

“I wasn’t sure if I could hit that close, to be honest,” Taylor said. “But it came out perfect. It was a nice feeling walking up that it was a kick-in.”

Burns had a chance to make birdie and halve the match, and he dropped to his knees when the putt rimmed around the cup.

Fox and Min Woo Lee were in an equally tight match, with the Americans taking their first lead on the 12th hole. Fox holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th to square the match, and he made a birdie putt from 20 feet on the par-3 16th to go 1 up. They halved the last two holes, with Fox making a 4-footer for par on the 18th.

“I’ve holed a couple of good putts this year, I think,” Fox said with a smile. “I felt it pretty early today with the putter.”

The other matches weren’t close. Neither was the entire session.

“We obviously had a great day. Didn’t expect that to happen, but I guess we’ve got experience from 2024 having a Friday like that,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “It’s obviously enjoyable to have a day like that on the golf course, but we reset tomorrow and start again.”

Saturday is pivotal in this format. After two days of one session each, there are four matches of fourballs in the morning and four matches of foursomes in the afternoon, and 12 singles to decide it on Sunday.

“There’s no scenario where you ever want to get swept,” Thomas said. “But if we’re going to do it, I would say Friday sounds a little bit better than any of the rounds tomorrow.”

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