International roundup: Powerful USA maintain dominance in Presidents Cup

In the end, the Presidents Cup results went along entirely expected lines. A full-strength USA with all 12 members in the top 25 of the world rankings were simply too strong for a scratch International Team and ran out comfortable winners at Quail Hollow in North Carolina by a 17.5 to 12.5 points margin.

Decimated by LIV Golf signings and subsequent bans on those “crossing over”, the Internationals led by South Africa’s Trevor Immelmann fought bravely against both the odds and rankings but over four days were simply no match for the home team. Had the Internationals been anywhere near full strength with world number three Cameron Smith of Australia and Chile’s ninth-ranked Joaquim Neimann in the ranks, not to mention the likes of Major winners Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, and Henrik Stenson in the mix, it may well have seen a different outcome.

Yet there were some others ready to pick up the reins and take the fight to the Americans.

Young Korean Joohyung Kim, nicknamed Tom for his childhood fondness of the comic book character Thomas the Tank Engine was one of the rookie heroes for the Internationals, winning not just matches but the hearts of the crowd with his boundless energy and fist-pumping that had even the partisan American crowds rooting for him. Fellow Koreans Si Woo Kim and K.H. Lee won vital points too but in the end, the depth of the host team proved to be too much of a handicap to overcome.

Team USA opened an early lead in the first two rounds of Foursomes and Fourballs with successive 4-1 score-lines and were never caught thereafter even though the Internationals began to overcome their early nerves to start racking up the points, The third round of Foursomes was drawn at two points apiece from the four matches before the Internationals won their first and only round of fourballs by a 3-1 score.

Going into the final day the US Team led by four points (11 to 7) and though the Internationals fought till the very last, the gap was too big to surmount. The Americans won six matches and drew a seventh leaving them winners by five points to maintain their recent clean slate in the biennial competition. The Internationals’ best showing in 14 editions of the Presidents Cup came at Melbourne in 1998 when Peter Thomson’s team got the better of the Jack Nicklaus-led USA by a whopping nine points at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Presidents Cup 2022 Results

• Overall Score: United States 17½, International 12½
• R1 (Foursomes): United States 4, International 1
• R2 (Four-ball): United States 4, International 1
• R3 (Foursomes): United States 2, International 2
• R4 (Four-ball): International 3, United States 1
• R5 (Singles): United States 6½, International 5½

Round Five (Sunday) – Singles

• Match 19: Si Woo Kim (INT) def. Justin Thomas (U.S.), 1-up
• Match 20: Jordan Spieth (U.S.) def. Cam Davis (INT), 4&3
• Match 21: Sam Burns (U.S.) tied Hideki Matsuyama (INT)
• Match 22: Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) def. Adam Scott (INT), 3&2
• Match 23: Sebastian Munoz (INT) def. Scottie Scheffler (U.S.), 2&1
• Match 24: Tony Finau (U.S.) def. Taylor Pendrith (INT), 3&1
• Match 25: Xander Schauffele (U.S.) def. Corey Conners (INT), 1-up
• Match 26: Sungjae Im (INT) def. Cameron Young (U.S.), 1-up  
• Match 27: K.H. Lee (INT) def. Billy Horschel (U.S.), 3&1
• Match 28: Max Homa (U.S.) def. Tom Kim (INT), 1-up
• Match 29: Collin Morikawa (U.S.) def. Mito Pereira (INT), 3&2
• Match 30: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (INT) def. Kevin Kisner (U.S.), 2&1

Men’s golf

Earlier, Californian Max Homa won the final PGA Tour event going into the Presidents Cup, the $8 million Fortinet Championship in his home state, and is the early leader in the Order of Merit as it was the opening event of the 2022-2023 season. In the FedEx Cup standings, it is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy who leads the points table ahead of Korea’s Sungjae Im and world number one Scottie Scheffler of the United States.

On the DP World (European) Tour, Italy’s Guido Migliozzi topped the table at the 3 million Euro French Open immediately ahead of the Presidents Cup with Scotsman Robert McIntyre topping the field at the 3 million Euro Italian Open. The big winner of the month, however, was Irishman Shane Lowry at the $8 million BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, England who edged out McIlroy and Spain’s former world number one Jon Rahm by one shot for the $1.3 million winner’s cheque.

As he does on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings, McIlroy heads the DP World Tour’s rankings with 3899.6 points from two second-place finishes and as many thirds so far in the 2022 season. He is followed by England’s 2022 US Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick (3097), Viktor Hovland of Norway (2711.4), American Will Zalatoris (2661.5) and Thomas Pieters of Belgium (2528.1).

Women’s golf

On the flagship LPGA, Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul won the most recent $2.3 million Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G in Arizona in end-September with Andrea Lee of the US, fellow-American Ally Ewing and Spain’s Gaby Lopez topping the $1.5 million Portland Classic, the $1.75 million KROGER Queen City Championship and the $1.75 million Dana Open respectively.

In the Race to CME Globe Season Order of Merit, Thitikul is third with total earnings of $2.246 million behind Canadian Brooke M. Henderson ($2.472 million) and New Zealand’s soon-to-be-married Lydia Ko ($2.312 million).
Across the Atlantic, Klara Spilkova won the Irish Open, the most recent Ladies European Tour event with India’s Vani Kapoor taking shared 29th place at Dromoland Castle with a solid 6-under par showing.

The previous event saw 2019 South African Women’s Open champion Diksha Dagar take third place in the French Open at Deauville, which was won by rookie professional Ines Laklalech of Morocco who made history by becoming the first from her country and indeed the first Arab woman to win a Ladies European Tour title.