Arguably the best match on Sunday at the Presidents Cup came between Scottie Scheffler and Hideki Matsuyama, with the Japanese winning the game on the 18th hole at Royal Montreal.
The Internationals needed their stars to step up on Sunday as they looked to turn around a four-point deficit after the first three days at the Presidents Cup. Mike Weir would have surely been aware that Jim Furyk would front-load his lineup to ensure that the US did not lose their momentum.
Xander Schauffele went out first for the visitors, while world number one Scottie Scheffler was in match three. And Scheffler’s opponent was Hideki Matsuyama.
The 2021 Masters champion had had a mixed week up until that point. He was unbelievably good alongside Sungjae Im on Friday as they beat Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay 7&6. But he lost his other three matches – with his putter going extremely cold at times on Saturday.
What Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie did after win over Scottie Scheffler at the Presidents Cup
But Matsuyama was back to his best against Scheffler, making eight birdies to get the job done. Ultimately, it was not enough for the Internationals who only won three matches all day. Nevertheless, Matsuyama’s caddie, Shota Hayafuji was keen to make sure that his player’s victory did not get forgotten about during the celebrations after – as Wyndham Clark told the No Laying Up Podcast.
“Another awesome moment was Sho, Hideki’s caddie, was armwrestling with everybody – this is literally late in the night so everyone’s had a few drinks – Sho was armwrestling everybody. And he lost to somebody, he’s got up and he’s like, ‘I don’t care’. He pulled up his shirt and under his shirt was sharpied, ‘Hideki 1 up over Scottie Scheffler’,” he said.
“Someone had written it on his stomach and he pointed to that and said, ‘it’s okay, 1 up over Scottie’. That was really funny, we all lost it and so, he kept showing it all the time.”
Where does the Presidents Cup go from here?
The final scoreline led to plenty of debate over the future of the Presidents Cup. USA has won 13 of the 15 events, and it really did appear to be such a good opportunity for the Internationals last month.
In the face of real turmoil, the Internationals were so impressive at Quail Hollow two years ago. And there was definitely a moment in Charlotte when it appeared that they had a genuine chance to win.
This year seemed to come with nothing like the same number of stumbling blocks. Weir was leading his team on Canadian soil off the back of a pretty dreadful US showing at the 2023 Ryder Cup. And yet, Furyk’s side got the job done relatively comfortably.
Some hit out at the PGA Tour for the state of the Presidents Cup. But as the dust settles, it does appear that the gap may be gradually closing. The US team only won one more hole over the week, while the Internationals blew the US away in Friday’s foursomes session.
And with Matsuyama taking down the best player in the world on Sunday, it does appear that there are enough positives for the Internationals to cling to heading to Medinah in 2026.
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