2022 Presidents Cup: Four Things We Learned After Day One

As expected, the United States Team more or less dominated the opening day of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow. There were some close calls, especially down the stretch, but in the end captain Davis Love III and his squad came out of the first Foursomes session with a 4-1 lead over Trevor Immelman’s International side.

The team wearing black and yellow has a massive hill to climb if they hope to get back in the mix on day two. But the good news for Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, and company, is that the Foursomes session is over, at least until Saturday.

The Internationals have been dominated by the stars and stripes in Foursomes sessions over the years, this includes back in 2019 when they were outplayed by a tally of 5-3 under the challenging format. After Thursday’s session, Trevor Immelman’s side have won just four of thirteen Foursomes matches in the last two Presidents Cups.

Both teams will play five Four-Ball matches on day two and the International Team will be hoping to replicate their first Four-Ball session from Australia when they beat the Americans 4-1.  But before focusing on Friday’s action let’s take a look at some of the headlines from Thursday’s opening session of the 2022 Presidents Cup in North Carolina.

2022 Presidents Cup: Four things we learned after day one

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele keep rolling- The locked and loaded American duo proved once again exactly why they are the perfect partnership. United States Team captain Davis Love III was more than happy to send out the pair against, at least what was on paper, the International Teams’ strongest partnership.

The 2022 Zurich Classic winners kept things interesting for a brief time early on before eventually throttling Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott by a 6&5 margin.

Another victory for Cantlay/Schauffele means that the dynamic duo has now won five of their last seven matches together for Team USA.

Jordan Spieth extends remarkable record- After missing out on the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia; Jordan Spieth was back in action for the United States this time around. Partnered with good friend Justin Thomas, the pair triumphed over Sungjae Im and Corey Conners 2&1 on Thursday.

Spieth and Thomas have now won four of their last six matches together for the United States. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth extended his impressive Foursomes record in Presidents Cups to 6-0-0 on Thursday as Justin Ray on Twitter alluded to.

International underdogs stun World Number One- Si Woo Kim and Cam Davis earned the International Team’s lone point on day one in stunning fashion. In what appeared to be one of the biggest mismatches on Thursday, South Korean Si Woo Kim and Australia’s Cam Davis toppled world number one, Scottie Scheffler, and Presidents Cup rookie, Sam Burns, by a 2UP margin.

Good friends Scheffler and Burns led throughout the majority of the match but were never able to create any real distance between themselves and the determined International pairing. After Sam Burns had success last season with Billy Horschel at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans it will be interesting to see if captain Love III elects to pair the duo at some point this week.

Sungjae Im and Corey Conners partnership fails to impress- South Korean and PGA Tour star Sungjae Im came into his second Presidents Cup competition on the back of an impressive showing in Australia three years ago where he went 3-1-1 as a rookie.

Im was partnered with 2022 Presidents Cup rookie Corey Conners on Thursday and the partnership never really clicked into gear as the International pairing was beaten by Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas 2&1.

The Sungjae/Corey tandem may have been a surprise to some when announced by Trevor Immelman on Wednesday and the International captain could look to switch things around in the coming days after a bit of a disappointing showing from the pair on day one.

Day two’s Four-Ball action from the Presidents Cup gets underway Friday morning at 11:35 am EST.