The International team had its way with the United States, sweeping all five foursomes matches to surge into the lead at the Presidents Cup on Friday outside Chicago.
The International team is up 7-3 with two days to go.
The U.S. pairings didn’t gain much traction during the alternate-shot setup at Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course.
South Korea’s Sungjae Im and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama finished first, topping Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman, 3 and 2.
The Canadian duo of Corey Conners and Nick Taylor defeated Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 1 up in the No. 1 match.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Australia’s Min Woo Lee knocked off Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 1 up.
Australia’s Adam Scott and South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout were mostly in control against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, winning 3 and 2.
Finally, South Korea’s Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim handled Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, 4 and 3.
The Conners/Taylor vs. Scheffler/Burns match was even through 11 holes before Taylor rolled in a 6-foot birdie putt.
Morikawa/Clark led through 14 holes, but Fox/Lee had birdies on the next two holes to snatch the lead.
Thomas/Young bogeyed the first hole and never had a birdie until the par-3 16th — and that marked the end of the match anyway, as Bezuidenhout holed a 31-footer for birdie for the International team.
Bezuidenhout/Scott had birdies on the first two par-3 chances. Scott rolled in a 44-footer on No. 7. On the ninth hole, Bezuidenhout put his tee shot inside of 4 feet of the cup for an easy birdie conversion for Scott.
Henley/Bridgeman’s birdie on the second hole marked the duo’s only birdie until No. 16, which Im/Matsuyama also birdied to clinch the point.
Saturday is the only day of the competition to feature two sessions, with four-ball in the morning and foursomes in the afternoon. The competition concludes with singles on Sunday.
