Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau held the ball in Thursday's Presidents Cup four-ball opener.
Schauffele even called his 1-up win over Byung-hoon Ahn and Jason Day a “party” as he closed out the match with a spectacular birdie on the 18th hole.
“We knew what to do,” Schauffele said.
“Tony started the party on the front nine, held it close, and then we started to take the lead. He had my back all day, and now it was my turn to have his back.” I thought so.”
Schauffele made a great birdie on the previous hole, the par-3 17th, so the American held a 1-up lead on the 18th tee. But for a moment, things turned dangerous for the Americans. Schauffele hit the fairway and Finau roped the ball into the left side of the penalty area, giving the national team a glimmer of hope. The match was also 2-1. but Schauffele bent the clutch gene Immediately after hitting his second shot to about 5 feet, Anne nailed his approach to less than 3 feet for a great look that put him in the match.
“They closed the gap after 16 points. [Xander] I have a good grip here,” Finau said of his playing partner.
“That's it. There's a reason why he's a major champion, and I definitely understood that reason today… He's a dream partner. He has my back, so I'm going to give him my back, too.” We did that well today. We deserved to win. I feel like we played much better than them. That's the beauty of match play. Momentum is crazy and by the last few holes they were able to turn the momentum on us. You have a guy like Xander on the door in the 17th and 18th. Close. It's fun to be in a game like this, but it's especially fun to win.”
Schauffele and Finau's 2-up lead completely disappeared thanks to Ann's birdie on the 15th and Day's par on the 16th. The Americans missed two par putts from within 4 feet on the 16th green, a shocking turn of events that gave the internationals hope. But Schauffele halted the momentum with birdies on the 17th and 18th, giving the red, white and blue team their first points.
The Americans went on to win their next four games and now hold a commanding 5-0 lead, but this is a far cry from how last year's Ryder Cup started. The Americans know how the internationals are feeling right now, as the Europeans led 4-0 after last year's opening session. But at least the Americans didn't face a huge deficit at home, unlike in this year's international competition. The Internationals needed a strong start at Royal Montreal to put pressure on the overwhelmingly favored Americans. But that mission failed, thanks in part to the Americans' superiority as a team and in part to Schauffele's clutch genes.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
