MEDINAH — Outplayed for three days in team play at Medinah, the Americans delivered the biggest Sunday rout in Presidents Cup history to rally from a three-point deficit and beat the Internationals 17-13 for their 11th straight victory.
President Donald Trump, the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup, was on the first tee for the start of 12 singles matches and kept his speech short. "It's going to be a very interesting game of golf," he said. That it was, even if the outcome was familiar. The Americans won nine of the 12 singles and halved the final match after the Cup was decided. Trump stuck around for the trophy presentation, just as he did after the American victory at Liberty National in 2017 during his first term.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker went from blaming himself for the deficit to watching two key back-nine flips — one from two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, the other from 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun — spark a rush of red on the board. The home crowd was loud all day and over the top on one occasion when someone yelled in Nico Echavarria's backswing, causing him to drop the driver as his ball sailed right. Scottie Scheffler barked at the fan and, after missing a birdie putt, conceded a 30-foot par to the Colombian in a show of sportsmanship. Scheffler went on to win, as did Cameron Young, Justin Thomas and Chris Gotterup as the deficit vanished. "I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah has a history of funny things happening," said Snedeker, who was on the losing 2012 Ryder Cup team at Medinah when Europe stormed from 10-6 down to win. "Sure enough, they went out and played their (tails) off today. I'm so damn proud of those guys."
Koivun provided the defining rookie moment. Just over a year removed from the winning Walker Cup team and four months after helping Auburn to an NCAA title, he was 2 down through 10 holes to the Internationals' top performer this week, Si Woo Kim, when he won three straight holes to flip the board. He drilled his tee shot on the 18th and twirled his iron when he knew the approach was pure to secure a 2-up victory. "The kid is special. He's different," Snedeker said. "You saw that for a 21-year-old kid to stand up there and hit those last two balls like he did. Not many people like that." Patrick Cantlay added another signature moment, holing a birdie putt from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against Adam Scott. The clinching point came from Jacob Bridgeman, who was 1 down with three to play and rolled in a 3-foot par putt for a 1-up victory over Min Woo Lee to give the Americans the 15 1/2 points they needed.
"It was sort of on a knife's edge all day," Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy said. "Some of those 1-downs that we had out there, if they'd flipped to 1-up, the numbers look really good, and who knows what momentum can give. But look, it's a very difficult thing to beat the U.S. in singles in the U.S," he said. "They're great players, and the crowd came out for them. They get a bit of red on the board, and the noise gets loud. They started the day with a lot to do and they all played great." The Internationals will regroup for another try at Kingston Heath in Australia in two years. Their only victory remains at Royal Melbourne in 1998, with a tie in South Africa in 2003.