The United States retained the Presidents Cup with a 17-13 victory over the Internationals at Medinah, overturning a three-point deficit through a commanding final-day singles display.
The hosts began the concluding 12 matches trailing 10.5-7.5 but won nine singles ties to claim an 11th successive Presidents Cup. Their overall record in the biennial contest improved to 14 wins, one defeat and one draw, according to the Guardian.
Jacob Bridgeman delivered the point that confirmed the result, making a short par putt on the 18th hole to beat Australia’s Min Woo Lee by one hole. The match provided the decisive finish to a day in which the US converted its depth into the points required to retain the trophy.
Singles turnaround decides contest
The scale of the American recovery was defined by the singles results. After the Internationals had built their 10.5-7.5 advantage before the final session, the US won nine of the 12 available matches.
Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Chris Gotterup, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jackson Koivun were also among the American singles winners. With Bridgeman’s win over Lee, those results shifted a contest that had been closely balanced at the start of the day.
The US included eight of the world’s top 11 players, fell behind before singles and then won nine of the 12 final matches.
The PGA Tour recorded a 9.5-2.5 American advantage in Sunday singles. Nine US players won their matches and Russell Henley shared a half-point with Canada’s Nick Taylor. Tom Kim and Sungjae Im supplied the Internationals’ only full points. Those numbers show why a three-point overnight lead was not enough for the visitors.
The PGA Tour said Cameron Young collected the first US point of the session against Ryo Hisatsune, while Xander Schauffele won the closing match against Ryan Fox. Scottie Scheffler beat Nico Echavarria on the 17th after building a four-hole lead through 10. Those results were part of the wider singles swing, rather than one isolated late turnaround.
Bridgeman’s match against Min Woo Lee remained level going to the 18th, according to the PGA Tour’s session recap. Lee’s approach finished to the right of the green before Bridgeman made par to win one up. His result delivered the point that confirmed the American victory, while the final Schauffele point took the overall score to 17-13.
Snedeker said the players had not lost faith after the US fell behind. He said he had reminded them the previous evening that Medinah had a record of unusual reversals, and said their final-session effort reflected a collective commitment to their team and country.
Medinah provides another comeback setting
The result came at the same venue where Europe recovered to win the Ryder Cup in 2012. Snedeker had been a member of the US team beaten in that event, adding a personal reference point to his comments about the course’s capacity for dramatic swings.
For the Internationals, the defeat extended a long wait for another victory in the competition. The Guardian reported that they had been seeking to end a 28-year win drought and had entered the final singles session in position to do so.
International captain Geoff Ogilvy said the US had started strongly, as his side expected. He described the day as finely balanced and suggested that several matches which were one down could have altered the broader momentum had they instead moved one up.
That assessment reflected the narrow margins within individual contests despite the eventual four-point overall gap. The Internationals had created a credible route to victory by taking the pre-singles lead, but the Americans’ nine wins in the final session left too little room for a late response.