“Keegan Bradley with the final dagger on a dominating day for the Americans.” – Dan Hicks on Bradley’s birdie on No. 18 for a 5-0 four-ball sweep
“The Internationals have tried hard but the Americans have seemed to have the answer to every question thrown at them.” – Paul McGinley
“You can’t say enough about Xander Schauffele in the last 30 minutes. He hit five perfect shots to end this match.” – Jim “Bones” Mackay on Schauffele birdieing last two holes to win match 1 up
“That was some bulletin board material.” – Brad Faxon on International team pairing of Tom Kim/Sungjae Im walking off the 8th green with Scottie Scheffler left to putt
STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 26, 2024 – NBC Sports presented exclusive coverage of Day 1 of the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, followed by Golf Central Live From The Presidents Cup post-round coverage on GOLF Channel. The United States team leads the International team 5-0 after Day 1 four-ball matches.
Tomorrow’s foursomes match coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel.
Dan Hicks (play-by-play), Brad Faxon (U.S. team analyst) and Paul McGinley (International team analyst) led NBC Sports’ coverage, along with holes announcer Curt Byrum and on-course reporters Notah Begay III, Smylie Kaufman, Jim “Bones” Mackay, and John Wood. Cara Banks handled interviews and reports on the International team while Damon Hack handled interviews and reports on the U.S team.
Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, and Johnson Wagner anchored Live From The Presidents Cup post-round coverage. Following are notes and quotes from today’s coverage.
DAY 1 LEADERBOARD – FOUR-BALL | ||
U.S. TEAM PAIRING | RESULT | INTERNATIONAL TEAM PAIRING |
Xander Schauffele/Tony Finau | 1 UP | Byeong Hun An/Jason Day |
Collin Morikawa/Sahith Theegala | 1 UP | Min Woo Lee/Adam Scott |
Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley | 3 & 2 | Tom Kim/Sungjae Im |
Wyndham Clark/Keegan Bradley | 2 & 1 | Taylor Pendrith/Christiaan Bezuidenhout |
Patrick Cantlay/Sam Burns | 1 UP | Hideki Matsuyama/Corey Conners |
DAY ONE
UNITED STATES TEAM
Hicks on Bradley’s birdie on No. 18 to win the match and sweep the Internationals: “Keegan Bradley with the final dagger on a dominating day for the Americans. No one loves this theatre more than Keegan Bradley.”
Chamblee on Live From on Schauffele: “The man of the day was Xander Schauffele...they left the 16th green tied. At this point, the matches were all so close and this thing can go any which way. We found out why this guy has ascended to a new level of clutch. You don’t win two majors in a year without coming up big...(his win) tells the rest of the team, ‘We got this.’”
Wagner on Live From on Bradley: “He’s known as a great driver, but today he did it with his putter...on the back nine, he almost single-handedly won this match. He said he wouldn’t pick himself (for the Ryder Cup) if he’s outside of the top-six, but these players might make him pick himself if he keeps playing like this.”
Faxon on Schauffele hitting shot on No. 18 to four feet: “That is why he won two majors this year. Shots like this when the pressure is on the most. How about these last two holes he has played after missing the short putt on No. 16? Getting it together, hitting it close on No. 17 and making that putt.”
Mackay: “You can’t say enough about Xander Schauffele in the last 30 minutes. If this putt ends up going in, he will have hit five perfect shots to end this match.”
Byrum on Scheffler shouting at Tom Kim after answering with birdie on No. 7: “Woah! Scheffler showing some emotion as well. He and Tom are really good friends...he said he wanted Scheffler and wanted to take him down. He was absolutely talking to Tom Kim.”
Faxon on Kim/Im walking to the 9th hole with Scheffler still to putt: “That was bulletin board material. Assistant captain Kevin Kisner texted me after that and said he told (International team) assistant captain Camilo Villegas, ‘If you guys are going to do that, then it’s game on.’”.
Faxon on post-match conversation between Villegas and Kisner: “I don’t think Kiz wants any part of what Camilo is telling him.”
Faxon: “The birdies on the American side just make it so quiet out there.”
Wood on Henley: “In his first ever team match, Russell Henley birdied No. 14 and No. 15 to put them 3 up. An incredibly clutch performance by Russell Henley in his first match out.”
Wood on the Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley pairing: “I love the order that they are playing with Scheffler going first. With this being (Henley’s) first team event, there’s got to be some nerves there but he hasn’t shown it yet. When you’ve got the No. 1 player in the world in front of you in the fairway on every hole, that’s got to free you up a little bit.”
INTERNATIONAL TEAM
McGinley: “The back nine was going to be important. The Americans were going to continue to play the good golf, they had the wind in their sails, and the question was, could the Internationals stand up and match them? And the answer so far has been ‘no.’..you’ve got to give credit. The Internationals have tried hard, but the Americans have seemed to have the answer to every question thrown at them.”
McGinley: “This crowd has never really got into it today. They never really had much going their way to get noisy and create a hostile environment.”
Faxon: “A nightmare start.”
McGinley: “They’ve just missed every putt that was important.”
Hicks on Bezuidenhout birdie miss on No. 17: “Three misses from that same distance from Bezuidenhout. They were all huge. Not one (goes in).”
McGinley on An/Day both missing the green on No. 17 and losing hole and ultimately losing match to Schauffele/Finau: “You had the advantage, you had the honor, and you just completely opened the door...you’ve got to exert pressure on your opponent in match play, they didn’t do it, and they paid the price.”
Wood on the pairing of Tom Kim/Sungjae Im walking to the 9th hole with Scottie Scheffler still to putt: “Kim and Im have left. They have got to the 9th tee box and have absolutely left. They are 60 yards away and are not watching. Things are definitely getting a little chippy right now.”
McGinley on the pairing of Tom Kim/Sungjae Im walking to the 9th hole with Scottie Scheffler still left to putt: “Wow. That’s bordering on bad behavior. That’s disrespectful in my opinion...I’m a great believer in that you don’t want to give the opponent energy, you don’t want to put a chip on their shoulder and give them the moral high ground. Their behavior was not the moral high ground. They didn’t pay the respect of watching their opponent’s putt. That’s not a good psychological position for the Internationals.”
Wood: “When Kim and Im walked off the 8th green, it looked like Villegas instigated it. He said let’s go and they walked over there. After that hole, the American vice captain with this group is Kevin Kisner and it looked like he and Camilo had some words. I couldn’t hear what was said but it didn’t look that friendly to be honest with you.”
--NBC SPORTS--
