Presidents Cup: Saturday Foursomes Picks; Can Internationals Respond?
The United States Team held their nerve on day two of the 2022 Presidents Cup and were able to extend their lead over Trevor Immelman’s International squad despite some tightly fought contests during Friday’s Four-Ball session.
Captain Davis Love III and his team will take an 8 to 2 lead over the International Team into day three of the competition. The Americans need 7 1/2 points to claim the Presidents Cup outright for an unprecedented 12th time.
Day Three of the competition, or ‘Super Saturday’ if you will, features another Foursomes session in the morning followed by a second Four-Ball session to wrap up the day. Unlike the first two days, Saturday’s sessions will feature four matches aside in each format.
The Presidents Cup will conclude with singles matches on Sunday. Curiously, Trevor Immelman elected to name an unchanged side from Thursday’s group which went 1-4 in the opening Foursomes session.
Round 3 foursomes matchups @PresidentsCup #ForTheCup pic.twitter.com/0eTTXPtry4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 23, 2022
Captain Immelman’s side will be hoping for a better outcome this time around. The United States will send out three of the four winning teams from the opening day of the competition with Captain Love III electing to give the dynamic Cantlay/Schauffele team a rest during Saturday’s morning session.
Can the International Team close the gap on the Americans early on? Let’s take a look at each of Saturday’s Foursomes matchups and see if we can’t predict the outcomes.
2022 Presidents Cup: Saturday Foursomes Picks and Predictions
Match 1: Spieth/Thomas vs Im/Conners-
Spieth and Thomas defeated Im and Conners 2&1 in Thursday’s opening session of the 2022 Presidents Cup. The impressive American pairing went out together again during Friday’s Four-Balls and won again 2&1, this time against Adam Scott and Cam Davis.
JT and Spieth have now won five of their last seven matches together for the stars and stripes. Jordan will once again put his impressive Foursomes record of 6-0-0 in Presidents Cups on the line during Saturday’s early session.
Trevor Immelman will once again entrust Sungjae Im and Corey Conners in a Foursomes session and look for a better outcome against the same opponents the second time around. Im and partner Sebastian Munoz earned a 1/2 point in Friday’s Four-Ball session and the South Korean is now 0-1-1 at this year’s Presidents Cup after going 3-1-1 as a rookie in Australia in 2019.
Meanwhile, 2022 Presidents Cup rookie Corey Conners is still in search of his first-ever point in the competition heading into Saturday. The Canadian is 0-2-0 after two days of matches.
It will be tough for the International pair to put a halt to Spieth and JT’s momentum on home soil.
Pick: Spieth/Thomas
Match 2: Morikawa/Young vs Matsuyama/Scott-
After sitting out on Friday, Collin Morikawa returns to action for Saturday’s Foursomes session alongside day one partner Cameron Young. After Morikawa and Young’s victory on Thursday when they beat K.H. Lee and Tom Kim 2&1, the 2020 PGA Champion is now 4-0-0 in team competition for the U.S. since last year’s Ryder Cup debut.
Presidents Cup rookie Cameron Young followed up his day one point with a split during Friday’s Four-Ball session alongside partner Kevin Kisner.
After Matsuyama and Scott’s loss on Thursday; the partnership is now 1-4-1 when paired together at the Presidents Cup. Hideki and Adam were beaten by a significant 6&5 margin in the first Foursomes session, so it is a bit of a surprise to see them going back out together on Saturday.
Both players lost their Four-Ball matches on Friday and will each take an 0-2-0 record into day three.
Something about this partnership is just off and it is difficult to envision them picking anything up in this year’s final Foursome session.
Pick: Morikawa/Young
Match 3: Burns/Scheffler vs Lee/Kim-
It hasn’t been the best of starts for the Scheffler/Burns team at this year’s Presidents Cup. The American pairing let a lead slip on Thursday before falling to Si Woo Kim and Cam Davis. Things improved a bit during Friday’s Four-Balls, but once again the duo let a lead slip and this time had to settle for a tie. Together they are 0-1-1 at this year’s Presidents Cup so far.
International Team’s K.H. Lee returns to action on Saturday morning after sitting out on Friday. Lee will once again go out with Tom Kim after the pair suffered a loss together on Thursday when they fell to Young and Morikawa by a 2&1 margin.
Tom Kim was paired with Matsuyama during Friday’s Four-Balls. The duo, unfortunately, ran into the buzzsaw that is Cantlay/Schauffele and were soundly beaten by a 3&2 margin.
Things have been a bit off with the Scheffler/Burns partnership this week and K.H. Lee and Tom Kim are well positioned to take advantage of that on day three.
Pick: Lee/Kim
Match 4: Finau/Homa vs Davis/Kim-
Match 4 is an intriguing matchup that pairs together two teams that were victorious on Thursday. Tony Finau and Max Homa beat Pendrith and Pereira 1UP, and Cam Davis and Si Woo Kim pulled off the shock win against Scheffler and Burns by a 2UP margin.
Both Finau and Si Woo Kim were fairly or unfairly left out of Friday’s Four-Ball session. Meanwhile, Max Homa delivered two clutch putts towards the end of day two to earn himself and Billy Horschel a win over Canadian pairing Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith.
Cam Davis has impressed in his Presidents Cup debut and even though he and partner Scott lost in the Four-Balls session, the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic winner has looked fantastic all week.
This one could go down to the wire and another upset may be in the cards on Saturday morning.
Pick: Davis/Kim
Next. Long Arm of Greg Norman Reaches to Presidents Cup and Beyond. dark