(2nd LD) S. Koreans shut out on opening day of Presidents Cup

All three South Korean players in action for the International Team on the opening day of the Presidents Cup failed to pick up a point, as the heavily favored United States jumped out to a 5-0 lead in Canada.

The all-Korean tandem of Im Sung-jae and Tom Kim lost to Russell Henley and Scottie Scheffler 3 & 2 in the third fourball match of the day at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal on Thursday (local time). In the first match of the competition, South Korean An Byeong-hun teamed up with the Australian veteran Jason Day, but Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele beat them 1 up.

The Presidents Cup is a biennial match-play competition between the U.S. and a team of non-European international players. This is the 15th edition of the event, and the Americans have won 12 of the 14 so far, with one tie and one loss.

In fourball matches, players each play their own ball and the better score of the two players ends up as their team’s score on each hole.

Kim, the youngest player at this year’s competition at 22, had said Wednesday he wanted ”a revenge match” against Scheffler, world No. 1 and a close friend of Kim’s. In June, Kim lost to Scheffler in a playoff at the Travelers Championship.

Kim did his part, making four birdies and celebrating them with exaggerated fist pumps and shouts. But Im did not make any birdie, as the U.S. duo closed out the match on the 16th hole.

The match turned chippy on the seventh green, where Scheffler made a 27-foot birdie putt to match Kim’s birdie and, just before the ball found the cup, turned around in Kim’s direction and yelled, “What was that?”

Kim drained another long birdie putt on the eighth hole, and he and Im proceeded to walk to the next tee box before Scheffler stepped up to his birdie attempt. According to reports, U.S. assistant captain Kevin Kisner was bothered by the South Koreans’ action and raised the issue with his International Team counterpart Camilo Villegas.

Henley and Scheffler led 1 up through 13 holes, and then Henley birdied the 14th and 15th to put the match out of the South Koreans’ reach.

Kim said afterward he was disappointed to have come up short despite playing some great golf. He also said he enjoyed trading birdies with Scheffler.

“He was being himself, and that’s how we play back at home. I knew it was going to happen, and it’s all fun,” he said. “I made it on top of him, and he gave it to me, and I gave it to him back on the next hole. I don’t shy away from him. He’s a good friend, but this week, I don’t like him. I want to beat him so bad, and I’m sure he feels the same way.”

On his walk to the ninth tee after making that birdie on the eighth, Kim said he and Im “were focusing on our own game.”

“I made a putt, and whether he made it or not, it wasn’t going to make a difference, and there was no reason to stay there and look at him putt. That doesn’t help us at all,” Kim said. “And I wasn’t trying to be cheap or trying to do anything like that. I’m sorry that the answer is pretty boring, but literally, it was just I made a putt. Whatever happens happens.”

In the day’s first match, Day birdied the first hole to put the Internationals ahead, before Schauffele responded with a birdie on the next hole.

Down by two holes through 14, An’s birdie and Day’s par helped the International duo draw even. However, Schauffele’s birdie on the 17th gave the Americans a 1-up lead, and they won the match by that margin on the next hole.

The three other matches all went to the U.S. side. Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala beat Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott 1 up. Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark held off Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Taylor Pendrith 1 up. Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay then defeated Corey Conners and Hideki Matsuyama 2 & 1.

The Presidents Cup will continue with foursome matches Friday, with players taking turns playing one ball per team.

The fourth South Korean on the International Team, Kim Si-woo, will play in Friday’s foursome with An. They will be up against Scheffler and Henley.

Im will partner with Hideki Matsuyama of Japan against Cantlay and Schauffele. Tom Kim will be on the bench Friday.

In other foursome matchups, Scott and Pendrith will take on Theegala and Morikawa. Bezuidenhout and Day will face Max Homa and Brian Harman, neither of whom played in the fourball for the U.S.

The All-Canadian team of Conners and Mackenzie Hughes will play Clark and Finau.

The International Team has now been swept in the opening session for the third time. It has never previously overcome a 5-0 deficit.