The most compelling moments on Thursday at the Presidents Cup last month surely came in the match involving Tom Kim and Sungjae Im, and Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.
There was eventually a sense of inevitably in how dominant USA were on day one at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. It was surprising just how flat the crowd were, and Jim Furyk’s men went on to capitalise as they won all five matches.
Tom Kim certainly did his best to get the fans going. Kim had been the star of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, so it was no surprise to see him celebrate wildly on the seventh when he rolled in a long birdie putt. It looked highly likely to bring his match back to all square.
However, Scottie Scheffler had other ideas as he made a long birdie putt of his own. And incredibly, Scheffler produced an outburst of his own too, barking back at Kim: ‘what was that?’ Scheffler surprised his own father with his reaction.
Kim would then roll in another lengthy putt for a birdie on the eighth, with Scheffler handing him his ball as he prepared for his own putt. The South Korean was animated once again, but Scheffler did not even turn to face him.
Scottie Scheffler issues his verdict on Tom Kim’s antics at the Presidents Cup
There was some controversy as Kim and Im were then urged by International vice-captain Camilo Villegas to head to the ninth tee before the Americans putted out. Scheffler would however, not be able to halve the hole on that occasion.
There was plenty of debate over whether the Internationals’ actions crossed the line. US vice-captain Kevin Kisner hit out at Villegas’ reasons for ushering his players away. But it turns out that Scheffler had no idea of what was going on around him after Kim holed that birdie on eight as he spoke about what happened on those two holes.
“If it wasn’t my friend, I probably would have never done anything or reacted. It just so happened that it was my buddy out there,” he told Subpar.
“It was really fun. And then the stuff happened on the next hole, which I didn’t even see. I saw the video after the day was done of Tom kind of running up behind me and like, you know, flexing a little bit.
“I didn’t even see them walk off to the next tee. That was, I didn’t even notice that because I was getting ready to hit my putt. And so at the end of the day, I mean, I think it’s all in good fun.
“I enjoyed getting to play against my buddy. You know, fortunately, Russell and I were able to get a win there.”
Internationals’ actions didn’t work – but didn’t backfire either, judging by Scheffler’s claim
As soon as Im and Kim left for the ninth tee, some would have started to wonder whether that would backfire. Scheffler is not exactly someone you want to fire up unless they believed that it would knock him off his game.
And it did indeed not help the Internationals. The next five holes would be halved, before the US pairing put their foot down and secured the biggest win of the day for the away side.
However, while it did not help the Internationals, judging by Scheffler’s comments, Kim’s celebrations and their decision to walk to the next tee prematurely had little impact on what followed either.
How Tom Kim has performed in the Presidents Cup
Kim has been involved in two Presidents Cups now, having made his debut in the event at Quail Hollow in 2022. He played a key role in the Internationals fighting back in Charlotte, but still won two and lost three of his five matches that week.
Meanwhile, Kim won one of his four matches at Royal Montreal, losing two and halving his singles match with Sam Burns on Sunday.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
