Team USA edged out the international team on day one, getting off to a dominant start in its bid to win its 10th consecutive Presidents Cup.

For the third time in the 15th edition of the biennial team competition, the U.S. scored a clean sweep in the first round, securing a commanding 5-0 lead in the foursomes ahead of Friday’s foursomes match.

It’s a dream start to US captain Jim Furyk’s bid to retain the title at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club and already sets Mike Weir’s international team with the tall task of turning the game around over the next three days.

Despite Thursday’s lopsided overall result, three of the five four-ball games came down to the 18th hole and the international team was left to rue a number of missed opportunities and spot-on birdie putts on the back nine.

Xander Schauffele and debutant Tony Finau – who delivered a brilliant shot from the edge in the 14th minute for one of the standout throws of the round – paired up in the opening game and, despite a late wobble against the first, gave the USA its first point Jason Day and Byeong Hun An set the decisive tone.

“Afterwards we are friends, during this time we are no longer friends” – Scheffler and Kim’s focal point

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and his playing partner Russell Henley scored the day’s most comprehensive victory, defeating South Korean pair Tom Kim and Sungjae Im 3-2, but the match still contained the most important point of the round.

Kim and Scheffler are known to be good friends off the course, but things briefly seemed heated between them on the seventh and eighth holes.

It was already two minutes into the seventh when Kim jubilantly shouted, “Let’s go!” after making a 21-foot birdie putt, before Scheffler then yelled, “What was that?” in response he shot at his friend moments later after sinking his own similar putt to halve the hole.

Then Kim cheered loudly again as he sank an even longer putt for birdie on the eighth shot, before he and I controversially left the hole to head to the neighboring ninth tee before Scheffler had completed his own birdie attempt.

Scheffler then missed his putt and gave the international team the hole victory, so that their deficit at the time was only one again. Kim and Im failed to win another hole after that as the international pair’s challenge faded and a half on the 16th finally confirmed the US pair’s comfortable win.

Here’s to Kim and I leave the eighth hole early, Sky Sports Golf Paul McGinley said: “This borders on bad behavior. In my opinion this is disrespectful. I know there is competition out there, but it definitely shows that there is a fundamental advantage here. It’s not all fun and games.”

After completing the round, Scheffler downplayed the tension with Kim.

“That was a bit of fun,” said the American.

“It was the same thing I would have done at home if he made a putt and we played ‘Wolf’ and he celebrated like that. So it’s all fun, we enjoy competing against each other and that’s how it is out here.

“It’s fun to compete against each other and represent our country. At the end of the game you take off your hat and shake hands. After that we’re friends, during that time we’re probably not friends anymore!”

Scheffler’s point was his first in the Presidents Cup after suffering three losses and a draw in his tournament debut at Quail Hollow Club in 2022.

Can the international side turn things around?

Thursday marked the first time since 2007 – coincidentally the only other occasion the Presidents Cup was played in Montreal – that a team lost all its games in a single session.

Weir’s 2024 team now face a crucial Friday in the foursome if they are to have realistic ambitions of claiming their first international triumph in the competition since 1998.

“Today it’s just a hammering,” he said Sky Sports Golf Wayne Riley.

“It’s closer (in terms of the score in each game), but no matter, it’s still 5-0.”

“It’s not pretty, but not everything is done yet. (Friday) is huge though and the international team has to come back and win every game.”

Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA champion, added: “I don’t understand how the US team did it. It didn’t look like they were going to win by that much of a margin. At the beginning of the games it looked a little tighter, but everything.” Suddenly America kept applying pressure and the internationals couldn’t react.

Who will win the Presidents Cup? Live coverage continues on Sky Sports Golf from 6pm on Friday. Stream the Presidents Cup and more with NOW.

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