The Startling Numbers That Show Just How Far Off Internationals Were In Presidents Cup Opening Session
Data Golf's strokes gained analysis shows that Team USA gained a huge 26 strokes vs the Internationals in their 5-0 sweep on Thursday
Team USA swept the first session 5-0 at the Presidents Cup to leave the Internationals with a huge mountain to climb over the remaining four sessions - and the stats show just how far off Mike Weir's home team were on day one.
Strokes Gained numbers from Data Golf gave a fascinating, and startling, look into how well, or not, the 20 golfers played in Thursday's opening four ball session and it isn't great reading for Weir and his team.
Jim Furyk's Americans were comfortably better in every single category and were a total of 26 strokes better than the Internationals thanks to 8 strokes gained in putting, 9.4 around the green, 5.3 in approaches and 3.1 off the tee.
The top six players were all Americans and the bottom five were all International players.
Patrick Cantlay was statistically the best player on Thursday with 3.93 strokes gained vs the field, with the eight-time PGA Tour winner leading the SG: Approach (+2.9) and SG: Tee to green (2.73) categories.
Cantlay made five birdies in 17 holes as he and Sam Burns took down Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners 2&1.
It was US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley who led the field in putting (+2.43 SG), with Sam Burns producing the best performance around the greens (+1.97 SG).
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The best player off the tee statistically was actually an International, Min Woo Lee. The Australian gained 1.35 strokes with his tee shots but lost strokes in every other department for a -2.63 total.
He and Adam Scott went down 1dn to Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
The Internationals' best player on day one was Taylor Pendrith, who gained 1.3 strokes vs the field. He was one of four Internationals to gain strokes in the four balls, with the US having seven players in the positive - Cantlay, Clark, Henley, Schauffele, Bradley, Scheffler and Morikawa.
The worst player statistically on day one was Christiaan Bezuidenhout, with the South African losing 4.05 strokes vs the field despite gaining 1.1 strokes in his approaches.
The International side have a lot of work cut out to try and claw back the deficit, with five foursomes matches on Friday, eight doubles games on Saturday (four four ball, four foursomes) and 12 singles on Sunday to come.
Mike Weir can take some assurance that there are still 25 points to play for, although his team will need to make up ground over the next two days to have a chance going into the singles.
USA was...8.0 strokes better putting9.4 strokes better around the green5.3 strokes better on approach3.1 strokes better off the tee26 strokes better total. 🧹 pic.twitter.com/738sYHpk7OSeptember 26, 2024
Presidents Cup day 1 results
Match 1: Xander Schauffele/Tony Finau <USA WIN 1UP> Jason Day/Byeong Hun An
Match 2: Collin Morikawa/Sahith Theegala <USA WIN 1UP> Adam Scott/Min Woo Lee
Match 3: Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley <USA WIN 3&2> Sungjae Im/Tom Kim
Match 4: Wyndham Clark/Keegan Bradley <USA WIN 1UP> Taylor Pendrith/Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Match 5: Patrick Cantlay/Sam Burns <USA WIN 2&1> Hideki Matsuyama/Corey Conners
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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