Presidents Cup 2022 Leaderboard: Team USA Extends Lead to 6 Points on Friday
Team USA remains in control through two days of the 2022 Presidents Cup from Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After winning four of five matches in Thursday's foursomes, the Americans picked up four more points on Friday in four-ball matches. They will take an 8-2 lead over the international squad into the weekend and need just 7.5 points to win outright and retain the Cup for the ninth consecutive Presidents Cup.
2022 Presidents Cup Results - Four-Ball
Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas (USA) def. Adam Scott/Cam Davis (International), 2 & 1
Scottie Scheffler/Sam Burns (USA) tied Sungjae Im/Sebastián Muñoz (International)
Mito Pereira/Christiaan Bezuidenhout (International) tied Kevin Kisner/Cameron Young (USA)
Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (USA) def. Hideki Matsuyama/Tom Kim (International), 3 & 2
Billy Horschel/Max Homa (USA) def. Corey Conners/Taylor Pendrith (International), 1 up
The team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele continued their domination of the Presidents Cup. After a 6 and 5 win over Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama on Day 1, they made quick work of Matsuyama and Tom Kim in four-ball.
Cantlay and Schauffele won four consecutive holes on the front nine to open up a five-hole lead. They finished three under par overall on the front nine, with all three birdies courtesy of Schauffele.
Kim and Matsuyama made a late run to claw their way back into the match. Kim made back-to-back birdies on No. 14 and 15 to cut the deficit to three with three holes to play.
The opening match of the day saw Jordan Spieth and four-ball expert Justin Thomas score a full point for the U.S. team with a 2 and 1 victory over Adam Scott and Cam Davis.
Thomas' birdie putt on No. 4 gave his team an early lead that would last for the rest of the match. They extended their advantage to three up at two different points, including a birdie from Thomas on No. 14 that was inches away from being an ace.
While the vibes were very good for Spieth and Thomas, the same could not be said for Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.
Burns did have one of the highlights of the day with an 80-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole.
Burns and Scheffler were two up after 12 holes before Sungjae Im and Sebastián Muñoz made a run to even things up. Muñoz's birdie on No. 17 squared the match and both teams made par on the final hole to split the point.
Scheffler's first two days at the Presidents Cup did earn him a spot in the record books, though it's probably not something he will want to remember.
Scheffler and Burns were the only American team to lose their match on Thursday.
Kevin Kisner and Cameron Young were able to salvage a tie from their match with Mito Pereira and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. The international duo held a one-hole advantage for four holes to start the back nine thanks to Pereira's birdie on No. 10.
Young squared the match on No. 14 with a birdie. The two teams traded pars for the final four holes.
Wrapping up the day was a thrilling contest between Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith taking on Max Homa and Billy Horschel. The Americans were two up through 10 holes, with Conners really struggling to find his way on the course.
Things turned around for Conners quickly, as he made birdies on Nos. 11 and 13 to tie the match. The two teams made par for the next three holes going onto No. 17.
Homa was the only one of the four players whose tee shot on the 17th hole didn't land in the bunker on the left fairway. He took advantage of the opening with a birdie that put the Americans up by one.
The 18th hole saw Homa put the exclamation point on the win. He hit a perfect tee shot that landed on the left side of the fairway and his second shot stopped on the green, 13 feet from the hole.
Pendrith made par, giving Homa two putts for the win. The 31-year-old only needed one, making his third birdie of the day to give the U.S. an 8-2 advantage in the overall standings.
The Americans have a chance to wrap up the Presidents Cup on Saturday. The action will begin at 7 a.m. ET with a morning foursome session and continue in the afternoon with four-ball.
There's a chance the U.S. could post the largest margin of victory in the history of this event. The current record was set in 2000 when Team USA beat the international squad by a score of 21.5 to 10.5.
