Even though they only lifted the trophy once in history, spirits were high for Mike Weir’s international team as they competed in the Presidents Cup in Quebec this weekend.

And while that meant they fell by the wayside in almost every game on Thursday afternoon at the Royal Montreal, the international team is once again in a deep hole.

Scottie Scheffler and the United States prevailed by four balls in each of the five opening games of the Presidents Cup on Thursday, earning a rare first-round victory in the biennial event. The US team went into the second matchday with a score of 5-0.

This is now only the third time in history that a team has won the first round games of the Presidents Cup. The United States has achieved this twice before, first in 1994 and again in 2000. By comparison, the United States only won one four-ball session at the 1984 Ryder Cup. It is also the 38th time in the last 42 sessions that the Americans have maintained the lead.

Although there is still a long way to go, the Americans took the first step this weekend toward winning the Presidents Cup for the 10th consecutive year.

Scheffler set the tone for the Americans early on and, together with his playing partner Russell Henley, took the biggest win of the day. The world’s top-ranked golfer, in the midst of a tear the sport hasn’t seen since Tiger Woods’ heyday, erupted in Tom Kim’s face after responding early with a huge putt to keep the match level , before finally grabbing the 3&2 win. That was the largest margin of victory in the opening round.

Scheffler and Henley didn’t have many problems, but the rest of the U.S. team mostly let their opponents hang on longer than necessary. Just look at Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau, who almost missed the match. They lost two holes in a row and suddenly found themselves tied with Ben An and Jason Day with two holes to go after missing both putts within 5 feet on the 16th hole.

Day and An were by far the closest to victory among the International Team pairs. Day narrowly made a deep birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole that would have clinched the game in his favor heading into the final hole. Instead, Schauffele rallied with a birdie putt to put them in control and ultimately give them the win.

Keegan Bradley also helped save his match with Wyndham Clark with a deep birdie putt from the green on the back nine. That putt, which came after they had lost two holes to Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Taylor Pendrith to leave the door open, finally propelled them to the 1UP victory. Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala defeated Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott with 1UP in their match. After falling behind a hole early, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns battled to a 2-1 win to complete the victory.

The two teams return to a five-match series on Friday. If the international team wants to stick around, it will have to try to make up at least some ground on the Friday before the weekend begins. Otherwise, even though Thursday’s five games were close, the Americans will be able to win the Presidents Cup again.