The 14th edition of the Presidents Cup successfully made its curtain call on Sunday, September 25, at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The biennial competition is held between Team USA and Team International, which includes golfers from all countries except Europe.
Team USA wins its 12th Presidents Cup title
The United States team has never lost on home soil, and this year was no exception. They successfully defended their title after surviving intense competition from the International team, winning the tournament 17.5 to 12.5 and securing their ninth consecutive Presidents Cup victory.
It is pertinent to note that team USA has won 12 out of the 14 editions of the tournament, losing only one till now. However, the US team featured six of the top 10 golfers in the world, while the highest ranked player for the International team was World No. 17 Hideki Matsuyama.
A few prominent international team golfers like World No. 3 Cameron Smith, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, were ineligible for the Presidents Cup after joining hands with LIV Golf.
The International team also featured eight rookies and built the youngest team in Presidents Cup history with seven players in their 20s, the youngest being the 20-year-old South Korean, Tom Kim.
Yet, the Internationals put forth stronger competition than expected. After digging a big hole of 2-8 at the start, the Internationals set up momentum on Saturday, taking the score up to 7-11. On Saturday, the International team outscored the Americans in a two-day session for the first time since 1998.
On Sunday, Team US captain Davis Love III sent his best players to the beginning of the finals singles matches to break the momentum of the Internationals. It was a tight contest between the two teams where Team USA needed to maintain its four-point lead to win the finals. Speith defeated Cam Davis of Australia with three holes to spare while Thomas lost to Kim-si-Woo on the final hole.
Later, Patrick Cantley defeated Adam Scott, 3 and 2. Columbia's Sebastian Munoz brought down World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler by a score of 2 and 1.
After winning the fifth singles match, Sebastian Munoz said:
“We're here for the long run in this event. We're going to win this event. So we'll keep building. We'll keep fighting. At some point, we're going to win.”
After being 3 up, Xander Schauffele faced a strong battle against Canada's Corey Conners to eventually win the match 1up.
“Just luck of the draw, you know what I mean?
“It was close. It was stressful and what you saw there was a big sigh of relief.”
Max Homa and Carolina Morikawa secured the other two victories for the United States to eventually win the tournament.
2022 Presidents Cup prize money
Unlike most golf tournaments, the Presidents Cup does not offer any prize money since it's a charity event. The players, captains and captains assistants each recieve $1,50,000 which the players are supposed to distribute to a variety of charitable causes of their choice.
The 15th edition of the Presidents Cup will be held in Montreal in 2024.