Patrick Cantlay and two-time major champion Xander Schauffele made unwanted history in their day two defeat at the President Cup.
The international team’s Hideki Matsuyama and Sunjae Im dominated the game on Friday, trouncing the Americans and equalling the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s history.
This was despite the Americans winning all five of their matches on Thursday at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club.
Matsuyama and Sunjae – who had never partnered in an international team competition before – asserted their dominance in the first match.
They secured a joint-record 7 and 6 victory against Cantlay and the world no.2.
That equalled the largest margin of victory in Presidents Cup history.
Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were the last duo to lose by the same margin.
That came in 2011, when they were defeated by Adam Scott and K. J. Choi.
After their victory, Matsuyama said: “Yeah, you know obviously, it was a tough challenge for us losing five matches yesterday.
“But Sungjae had a perfect tee shot on the first hole, so you that brought us the momentum. So really happy with that.”
“Yesterday, the beginning was not really the nice beginning,” Im agreed. “But today from the beginning, our vibe was vibing and we were trying to win the match.
“With Hideki, our teamwork is amazing. When I put the shot, he would finish with the perfect putt so the teamwork is well done.”
2
The international team won each of their foursomes to return it to 5-5 overall.
Canadian pairing of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes recorded a similarly impressive 6 and 5 win over Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau.
All three remaining pairs saw out victories too, squashing the American’s hopes of avoiding losing all matches in a session for the first time since 2003.
And fans made their feelings known on social media.
“Absolutely embarrassing guys?!” one wrote on X.
Another said: “Xander & Cantlay should concede. This is embarrassing.”
“Didn’t have Xander and Cantlay forgetting how to play golf overnight on my bingo card,” a third quipped.
Day three of the Presidents Cup gets underway this Saturday, live on talkSPORT2.