2024 Presidents Cup standings, scores, results: United States sweeps Round 1 opening near-insurmountable lead

At one point late Thursday, during the opening matches of the 2024 President’s Cup, broadcaster Paul McGinley inadvertently summed up the entire event in six words: “The Internationals are trying hard, but …” Indeed, try as they might, the International contingent was no match for the United States, which swept Round 1 of the proceedings to open a nearly insurmountable 5-0 lead with three days remaining before almost certainly claiming a 10th consecutive victory at the biennial event.

The problems for the International team are myriad beyond its 5-0 deficit. Most notable is that four-ball was supposed to be the underdogs’ better format, yet they were unable to achieve a single point against a young and relatively inexperienced American squad.

The United States is far out in front at Royal Montreal holding five of the required 15 points to claim victory. With 25 matches remaining, the Americans only need to win 40% of the remaining face-offs to hoist a 10th straight Presidents Cup.

Thursday marked just the fifth time in Presidents Cup history that one team swept an entire session. The last time it occurred was 2007 when the U.S. took every point in foursomes during the third day of competition. In four-ball this year, the International team only led on 10 of 87 holes played across the five matches (11.5%).

Let’s take a look at results from each of the matches from Round 1.

Presidents Cup: Schedule, viewer’s guide | Format, scoring, rules

2024 Presidents Cup standings, results: Round 1 (four-ball)

Score: United States 5 | Internationals 0

Tony Finau & Xander Schauffele (United States) 1 UP over Ben An & Jason Day (International): After a tepid start by both teams, Finau & Schauffele ham-and-egged them on the back nine, and Schauffele delivered a nasty 2-3 birdie knockout blow on the last two holes of the day. The International team had actually tied the match up after a bad 16th hole by the Americans, but Schauffle hit two tremendous iron shots on No. 17 and 18 to seal the deal.

Collin Morikawa & Sahith Theegala (United States) 1 UP over Min Woo Lee & Adam Scott (International): This was a bit of a pillow fight as there was only eight birdies combined between the two teams. After not making any birdies in the first 17 holes, Theegala hit a clutch approach shot on the 18th (that it turned out he needed) for birdie after Scott poured one in from distance to put at least a bit of pressure on the Americans for the full point. The bad news for the International team is that this represented about the most pressure the U.S. saw down the stretch of these five matches.

Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley (United States) 3 & 2 over Tom Kim & Sungjae Im (International): Certainly the most fun of the five matches as Kim dialed up his gregariousness and goaded the No. 1 player in the world, Scheffler, into responding to him early in the match. It definitely felt like a big brother-little brother “I’m going to put you in your place” type of thing (the two are Dallas pals and playing partners). The Americans never trailed. After stirring it up toward the end of the front nine, Kim & Im could not keep pace with four birdies from the U.S. on the back. Kim mostly did his part, but Im did not make a single birdie on the day.

Wyndham Clark & Keegan Bradley (United States) 1 UP over Christiaan Bezuidenhout & Taylor Pendrith (International): This one was actually fairly electric, albeit only from three of the players. Bradley, Clark and Pendrith combined for 16 birdies in the 18-hole match, Bezuidenhout added one. That was probably the difference as the International team was never more than 2 down on the day.

Sam Burns & Patrick Cantlay (United States) 2 & 1 over Corey Conners & Hideki Matsuyama (International): Conners birdied the first two holes … and then didn’t make a single birdie the rest of the way. This was emblematic of the International team throughout the day. One player would play great, the other would play terribly. On the other hand, the U.S. team had two guys play mostly well, and that’s going to be a difficult thing to overcome over the course of 18 holes.

Keep reading below for additional details and highlights from the 2024 Presidents Cup in Canada.