MONTREAL — A month ago, Keegan Bradley was sweating out whether he’d qualify for the BMW Championship while planning to serve as an assistant captain to U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk at Royal Montreal Golf Club.
Then he not only made it as the last man in the BMW field, he won the tournament and forced Furyk to use one of his captain’s picks on the 38-year-old veteran who last competed in international team competition a decade ago. On Thursday, Bradley sank six putts of more than 10 feet and teamed with Wyndham Clark during a four-ball session at Royal Montreal Golf Club for a 1-up win.
“It was 10 years of pent up energy, it looks like, of not playing these,” said the fiery Bradley, who was jubilant when his winning putt dropped in. “I just had such a blast out there today.”
But on Sunday morning, he experienced his share of butterflies before his singles match against Si Woo Kim, the hottest player on the International Team.
“I felt like I could throw up,” Bradley said. “I can’t remember ever feeling like that. I was, like, really uncomfortable,” adding, “this morning I woke up and just, like, felt I had electricity going through my body.”
Bradley gave the U.S. side just the jolt it needed. It was only fitting that he should have the honor of securing the clinching point, as the U.S. claimed the 2024 Presidents Cup for a 10th straight time in the biennial competition, winning 18½-11½ over its opponents consisting of a 12-man team from the rest of the world (excluding Europe).
“It’s a fairy tale. It’s a movie almost. I just can’t believe it,” said Bradley, who was named the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain in July. “You just have to work as hard as you can, and good things happen.”
As soon as he won his match, 1 up, over Kim, he looked around for someone to hug, finally finding teammate Russell Henley and then locating his wife for a smooch.
“I was saying all week I didn’t know if I’d ever get to do this again. To just play in this tournament and then to win the point, my goodness, the last time I played, I was the point to lose the Ryder Cup,” Bradley said. “If this is my last round as a player, maybe it is, I’m happy with that.”
He added: “This is up there with as great a moment in my career as I’ve ever felt.”
The U.S. raced to an early lead, sweeping five four-ball matches Thursday, but the Internationals returned the favor with a sweep of Friday’s foursomes to show they wouldn’t go lightly this time. But on Saturday’s double session the U.S. won three out four points available in each session to grab an 11-7 lead. No team has ever trailed by more than two points heading into the singles session and come from behind.
Furyk, who was the losing U.S. Ryder Cup captain in 2018, front-loaded his lineup and his studs delivered, winning 4½ points in the first six matches. On Sunday, the Americans played the first hole in seven birdies and an eagle and added seven birdies at the second for a collective 16 under. “That’s coming out hot,” Furyk said.
Xander Schauffele, the World No. 2, went out first and played 15 holes in 7 under to rout Jason Day, 4 and 3.
“My goal was just to set the tone, get red up on that board as early as possible, and I was able to do that,” Schauffele said.
Sam Burns and Tom Kim traded shots all day, but their match ended tie, the first of the week.
The one early loss was in the third match where Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama made birdies at 14 and 15 and a stellar approach shot on the par-3 17th to edge world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, 1 up.
“The last putt right there I was super nervous,” Matsuyama said. “My hands were shaking a lot.”
Scheffler moved to 1-3 in singles during team competitions and 0-2 in the Presidents Cup.
The next three matches, however, all went to the Americans. Russell Henley, perhaps the breakout star for the red, white and blue, topped Sungjae Im 3 and 2.
“I’m just thankful to be on the team but also to get some points for the team,” Henley said. “It just means the world to me.”
Corey Conners, one of three Canadians on the International Team, was one of the brights spots in singles. He rallied from a 2-down deficit through four holes and coasted to a 5-and-3 win over Tony Finau.
“One of the coolest moments of my career on 13, with everybody, a thousand people around the green singing ‘Oh, Canada’ and to hole a putt like that was really memorable and special.
“The crowds have been behind us, and we really felt their energy,” he said.
Patrick Cantlay, who drained a 16-foot birdie at 18 to win Saturday’s last foursomes match and stake the U.S. to an 11-7 lead heading into singles, earned another point for the U.S. with birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 to pull away from Canadian Taylor Pendrith, 3 and 1.
“It’s great to have teammates and have the best players in the world on my team,” Cantlay said. “This team is so close, and we’ve pulled for each other all week.”
Collin Morikawa (2 and 1 over Adam Scott) and Max Homa (2 and 1 over Mackenzie Hughes) both added full points for the U.S. Wyndham Clark and Australia’s Min Woo Lee tied as did American Sahith Theegala and South Korea’s Ben An. South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout claimed one final point for his side with a 2-and-1 victory over Brian Harman.
While the International side battled to the end, the result was the same, but Tom Kim expressed belief that the International side just needs a few things to go its way next time.
“Winning doesn’t last forever,” Kim said. “There’s going to be one day where it’s just going to be our day. We’ll keep trying. There’s going to be one time when we’re going to hold the Cup, and it’s going to be sometime soon.”
Source: Golfweek
