You'd think, watching the U.S. Presidents Cup squad sprint for the 18th green, they'd suddenly remembered a burning desire for a brisk walk after sitting for too long. Nope. Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and the rest of the gang were actually trying to outrun a potential train wreck at Medinah Country Club.
Turns out, they didn't need to break a sweat. When Xander Schauffele’s putt on the 16th green decided to take a scenic detour, the Americans’ collective panic, thick enough to choke a horse, hadn't quite peaked. But then Jacob Bridgeman showed up on the 18th, with his own shot at clinching the whole darn thing, making all that earlier scrambling rather pointless. The home team, staring down a deficit heading into the final day's showdowns, managed to dig themselves out for a 17-13 win, keeping their annoyingly consistent streak of owning this gentleman's argument going.
Scottie Scheffler, who’s no stranger to the emotional rollercoaster of team golf, showed impressive grit. Especially after some enthusiastic fan decided to yell encouragement right as he was about to putt. His response, conceding a long putt and giving the guy a stern, but polite, talking-to, was a small, surprisingly civilized moment. Despite a foursomes record that made you wince, Scheffler snagged a crucial point and a bit of grace, proving that even when the pressure cooker is on, a little bit of manners can go a long way.
The U.S. rookies, bless their hearts, seemed to arrive with a mission statement. Chris Gotterup, Jacob Bridgeman, and Jackson Koivun all walked off with singles wins. Bridgeman, especially, delivered the knockout punch, nabbing his first-ever competition win by taking down Min Woo Lee. Gotterup and Koivun, meanwhile, wrapped up their debut campaigns with a solid collective record, suggesting these young guns might just be more than temporary placeholders.
Cameron Young, if you look at the numbers, was practically a one-man wrecking crew. He gained more strokes on his opponents than anyone else and finished his singles match with a flourish. Young, it seems, had a very specific objective for his trip to Illinois. He even turned a halved match into a U.S. point, which is the kind of momentum-building that makes you feel good about your chances, and sealed the Americans’ eleventh straight victory.
While Si Woo Kim gave the International squad a good run for their money, the story, as it always seems to do in this bi-annual tug-of-war, ended up with a familiar cast of characters in stars and stripes. The Americans, after flirting with a truly embarrassing loss, managed a comeback that, while not quite a Shakespearean epic, was definitely dramatic enough for a solid drawing-room farce.