Photos: Corey Conners through the years

View photos of Presidents Cup International Team member Corey Conners throughout his professional career.

Corey Conners has been one of the most consistent players on Tour.

As an amateur, Conners played at Kent State University and was a runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Amateur. Turning professional in 2016, Conners joined the PGA Tour full-time in 2018.

The Canada native traded in his hockey stick and sweater for a cowboy hat and boots with his first Tour win at the Valero Texas Open in 2019. With the win, Conners became just the fourth Monday qualifier to win a PGA Tour event since the practice was installed in 1983.

In his first Presidents Cup appearance, Conners had hoped to help turn the tide at Quail Hollow against a stacked United States team. It didn’t work out too well, as he lost all four matches he was a part of.

Here’s a look at his career through the years.

Celebrate Team USA’s win with 2022 Presidents Cup gear

Polos, quarter zips and pint glasses, oh my! What better way to celebrate the U.S. Presidents Cup victory?

The U.S. held its lead throughout Sunday singles and secured its ninth consecutive Presidents Cup victory at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

While Jordan Spieth had the weekend’s best record, going a perfect 5-0-0, captain’s pick Kevin Kisner brought something else to the group.

Kisner was clearly ready to celebrate his team’s victory, and now so can you.

Golfweek has compiled a list of some of the best Team USA and Presidents Cup gear out there so you can celebrate today and for at least the next 23 months.

We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

‘I was pretty pissed off’: Justin Thomas responds to Si Woo Kim shushing the crowd at the 2022 Presidents Cup

“But we won the Cup so that’s all that matters.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Justin Thomas and Si Woo Kim went out first in the Sunday singles matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup, and the pair of The Players champions didn’t disappoint.

Thomas held a 2-up lead at the turn but started to leak a little oil on the back nine, and Kim was there to take advantage with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11. Tied on the par-4 15th, Kim made an 7-footer for par to keep the match squared, let out a fist pump and proceeded to shush the crowd.

Thomas saw the whole thing while he walked to the 16th tee and didn’t take too kindly to Kim’s gesture to the fans.

“Honestly, at the time, I was pretty pissed off,” said Thomas, who lost the match 1 down to remain winless in Presidents Cup singles. “No, it’s one of those things, I think when you’re in the moment, when you’re on the other side of it, it’s something that gets you motivated, gets you pumped up a little bit.

“So I can say whatever I want about it, but he beat me. So he has the upper hand on me,” Thomas continued. “But we won the Cup, so that’s all that matters.”

The clap-back didn’t stop there.

Earlier in the day during the final round of matches, CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter pointed out how Thomas was frustrated by Kim not conceding what he thought to be a gimme putt on the par-4 9th, which he made to go 2-up in the match. The two-time major champion took to Twitter after the fact to have a little fun at the moment caught on camera.

PGA Tour stats had the putt right in the middle at 2 feet, 7 inches, so maybe JT had a point after all.

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Presidents Cup: Q&A with Quail Hollow Club’s Johnny Harris

Will Quail Hollow consider hosting the LIV Tour? “Not while I’m president of the club.”

Adam Sperling, executive director for the Presidents Cup, moved his family to Charlotte and spent more than three years promoting and selling the biennial competition being played in the Queen City. He got to know as well as anyone just how important hosting a world-class event that would be shown around the world meant to the good people at Quail Hollow Golf Club. That starts with Johnny Harris, the club’s president, who sets the tone with his big personality. “There is a quote,” Sperling says, “Everything’s impossible until it’s done, and there is nothing that these two men (Johnny and son Johno Harris) and the members of Quail Hollow and this community sees as impossible.”

Harris and son Johno, general chairman of the 2022 Presidents Cup, took time out of a busy day at the Presidents Cup on Saturday to participate in a Rolex roundtable discussion with several writers, including Golfweek. Here are excerpts from the Q&A.

The story of the mutiny at the 1996 Presidents Cup. Of course, it includes Greg Norman

“This isn’t going to be the f—— Greg Norman show.”

At the World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in March, David Graham approached former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and congratulated him on being inducted and joining him in receiving golf’s highest honor. As they shook hands, Graham looked him in dead in the eye and added, “I want you to know. I’ve got a long memory.”

Finchem nodded knowingly and responded, “Yes, I know what you are referring to.”

That would be an incident that happened more than 25 years ago, when Graham, an Australian who won two majors during his Hall of Fame career was unceremoniously ousted as captain of the International Presidents Cup team by his own players, just two months before the second biennial international team competition was to be held in September 1996. Some of what happened during a player meeting in July at a Grand Hotel conference room near Royal Lytham in St. Annes, England, where the British Open was being contested that year, still is a mystery but this much is clear: it damaged the reputation of a good man willing to give his time and effort to grow the fledgling event.

To this day, Graham is convinced Greg Norman, then the No. 1 player in the world and now the face of LIV Golf, and fellow Aussie Steve Elkington orchestrated what one participant in the proceedings dubbed “this mutinous act.”

Mike Bodney, who spent 25 years with the PGA Tour and served as the Tour’s senior vice president of championship management, was one of three officials in the room and remembers the meeting didn’t start out the way it ended.

“It was the last thing I ever expected to happen and one of the oddest things I ever experienced in my life,” Bodney said.

Initially, Graham agreed to talk about what happened all those years ago. For more than two decades he has taken the high road, speaking once to Jaime Diaz in 1996 for a story in Sports Illustrated, but primarily staying mum on the topic. When I finally reached Graham on the phone earlier this month, he demurred. He sensed nothing to be gained by rehashing a sad moment in an otherwise distinguished career. But as we continued talking Graham began to pick at an old scab. He recounted how he and three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin were selected as the first Presidents Cup captains, and Bodney credits Graham for his role in getting the event off the ground.

David Graham was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015 at a ceremony in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Graham was truly honored to be the first captain of the International team. But after the first event, which was won on home soil by Team USA, Graham had reservations about reprising his role. It proved to be a lot of work. He called Irwin to ask him if he planned to continue in his position as team captain. Irwin said that once was enough and Graham shared that he was leaning in the same direction. He asked Irwin who would be his replacement. When told that it would be Arnold Palmer, Graham suddenly had second thoughts.

“I said, how in the world can I possibly turn down the opportunity to be part of something with Arnold Palmer?” Graham recalled.

Little did he know that at least two of the players on his team harbored feelings of resentment against him and questioned his communication skills.

First and foremost was Norman, the most powerful presence, the best player in the world for whom the Presidents Cup was essentially created to assuage his interest in a version of the Ryder Cup for the rest of the world.

“He did feel empowered and was attempting to break out of the mold of being just a player,” Diaz said. “Greg wanted to be big.”

Norman, however, came down with the flu the week of the inaugural playing of the Presidents Cup in 1994 and he was excused from participating in team events such as a black-tie dinner at the White House despite, at the urging of Finchem, the fact Graham made attendance compulsory. On the final day of the competition, Norman flew in to lend support and arrived on the first tee. Graham said, “What the hell are you doing here?”

When Norman asked if he could be mic’d up for the CBS broadcast, Graham laid into him. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” Graham said. “You’re not going to take anything away from these players who did all the dinners, all the practice rounds, all the meetings. You want to come riding in here and go on national television and tell everybody how great you are. That’s not going to happen.”

David Graham was the captain of the International team for the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994 (shown here in 2000).

According to several sources of Diaz, an angry Norman told his teammates that Graham’s exact words were, “This isn’t going to be the f—— Greg Norman show.”

“I know what it was all about,” Graham continued.

It also had to do with Steve Elkington’s displeasure over the way Graham handled a special request of his during the International team’s visit to the White House. Elkington’s wife was about 3 months pregnant, and they asked to leave the party early.

“I said, fine, I’ll get you a car,” Graham recalled. “He said, ‘We all have to go.’ I said, ‘There’s no way the whole team is going anywhere. End of story.’”

Norman has always denied that he had been the ringleader in Graham’s dismissal. The story is relevant again as Norman continues to disrupt the professional game.

“Knowing him the way I know him now, he probably wanted to be a playing captain,” Bodney said.

As Bodney remembers it, the decision to ask Graham to resign didn’t feel premeditated: “It just got completely out of whack and snowballed.”

As the players moved to take a vote of no confidence, Bodney recalls Norman taking a step back. “He became quiet as if he didn’t want it to be seen like it was his idea,” Bodney said.

Brian Allan, the executive director of the Australasian tour, was in the meeting, too, and pleaded with the players to think through the consequences of their actions.

“We made all the arguments,” Allan told Diaz, “that it would hurt the event. That it would be a black eye for golf. That it would make the players look like traitors. At one point, Bodney asked, ‘Has anyone given any thought to how David Graham is going to react to this?’ When the response was silence, I said, ‘I’ve known the bloke for 25 years. He is not going to take this gracefully. I can assure you he is going to s— on you from a great height.'”

New Zealand’s Michael Campbell abstained while the other nine players cast their ballots to oust Graham. Until Henrik Stenson opted to join Norman’s LIV Golf and was stripped of his post as European Ryder Cup captain in July in favor of Luke Donald, Graham had been the only captain for either of the Cups to be relieved of his duties.

David Graham won the 1979 PGA Championship and 1981 U.S. Open titles.

Replacing a man of great stature and esteem in the game was unnecessary and cast a shadow over the Presidents Cup. The competition didn’t need controversy in its infancy. As Diaz tried to report the story of the mutiny, he noticed that most of the players attempted to distance themselves from their role in the matter even though many of them had supported the move in the team room. To Diaz, the reputations of Robert Allenby, Elkington, Ernie Els, David Frost, Mark McNulty, Frank Nobilo, Norman, Craig Parry and Nick Price – had taken a hit. “At worst, they lived down to the stereotype of the selfish and stupid modern pro,” Diaz wrote. “At best, they behaved like sheep.”

“It raised the question of how much power should a team have, should the athlete have?” Diaz noted. “It was a time-honored tradition to do what the captain says and you don’t betray that tradition of my captain, right or wrong.”

Parry, an Australian pro, had the unenviable task of breaking the news to Graham, who called him from his home in Dallas and asked, “How did the meeting go?”

As Diaz wrote, Parry swallowed hard. “My first thought was, I’ve got to tell him,” Parry recounted. “I’m not going to lie about it or keep it from him.”

“David,” Parry heard himself say, “the players would like a new captain.”

Graham took the news hard.

“I about dropped the phone,” Graham said. “I honestly had no inkling that there was a problem. I said, ‘I’m dumbfounded. Do you have any idea how much work I’ve done?'”

In a later interview, Graham admitted that when he hung up the phone, he cried.

Bodney had two difficult tasks of his own: he tracked down another fellow Australian, a reluctant Peter Thomson, and asked him to assume the captaincy. Even worse, Bodney had to call his boss and break the news to PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.

“Tim lost it,” Bodney said. “But he understood the problem was the toothpaste was out of the tube.”

“I didn’t try to change their minds,” Finchem told Diaz at the time. “When I got to the British Open, this decision had been made. It had been communicated to David. Trying to force-feed something else was not in my province of authority and probably was unworkable. I feel responsible in many ways for what happened. We knew the eligible players on the International side some time ago, and we probably should have gotten them in a room somewhere and hashed out any problems.”

“He could’ve stopped it,” Graham said of Finchem’s role. “But he bowed to Norman and Elkington.”

Diaz noted that “Norman was once again held responsible for a rash and
ill-conceived decision.”

All these years later, Graham expressed his displeasure that “neither Norman nor Elkington had the balls to call me.”

“I know one thing,” Graham told Diaz at the time, “I’ll never sign another shirt or hat with a shark logo.”

Graham never got an apology nor does he want one.

“It would be a worthless effort on anyone’s part,” he said. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve one. When asked about Norman’s role as CEO in the upstart LIV Golf, Graham said, “I think he’s laughing all the way to the bank. I think he’s loving all the attention. He’s clearly an egomaniac. He’s been like that forever.”

Graham would know. A gentleman golfer to the very end, Graham, now 76 and still playing golf every day, concludes that he regrets accepting the captaincy for a second time. The two-time major champion should never have been dishonored.

As our conversation winded down and we shifted to other pleasantries, Graham said, “You got more out of me than I intended.”

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Kevin Kisner sums up his week at 2022 Presidents Cup: ‘I got half a point, but I brought the fun’

“I have never seen a better display of golfers and a worse display of partiers, and I am the best partier.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – While Davis Love III may never make it public, Kevin Kisner knows that he was 13th man on Team USA, a last-minute Captain’s pick that otherwise belonged to the injured Will Zalatoris.

Kisner expected to be spending the week hunting, fishing and trying to gain some weight, he said, before Love called him during the Tour Championship and told him he might be needed.

“Kevin Kisner even put down his bow and picked up his clubs after thinking he might have a little bit of a break,” Love said.

Kisner made his second career appearance in the Presidents Cup and tallied a record of 0-2-1 this week, which included a loss Sunday to South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout. But Sunday night that was of little consequence to Kisner, who stole the show again in the post-victory press conference, beginning when he tossed an empty Fireball shooter into a sea of reporters.

His teammates had been calling Kisner, 38, Grandpa, but apparently experience has its benefits, as he explained. Asked about the pending team victory celebration that is sure to last into the wee hours of the morning, Kisner said, “My experience can ultimately win in this scenario. There is nothing that any of these (guys) can do that can hang with me tonight, I promise you.”

He continued: “I have never seen a better display of golfers and a worse display of partiers, and I am the best partier on this (dais). Amen.”

And in the perfect ending to the press conference he added, “That’s why they picked me. I got half a point, but I brought the fun.”

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Presidents Cup: How each American, International player fared at Quail Hollow

Four players went undefeated and six failed to earn a win at the 2022 Presidents Cup.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The United States held off a charging International squad to claim the 2022 Presidents Cup, 17½-12½, and extend its win streak to nine events dating to 2005.

In the event’s 28-year history, the Americans have dominated to the tune of a 12-1-1 record, losing in 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia and tying in 2003 at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club in South Africa.

Speaking of impressive records, Jordan Spieth made his pitch to be the new Captain America with an impressive 5-0-0 showing this week at Quail Hollow Club, with rookie Max Homa just behind him at 4-0-0 after sitting out Saturday afternoon’s four-ball session. On the other side, rookies Sebastian Munoz (2-0-1) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (1-0-1) were the lone unbeaten players for the Internationals.

Three players went winless for each team, but only two failed to earn a point, and they’re both from Canada, who will play host in 2024 when the event heads to Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal.

Here’s a breakdown of how each player fared this week by event at the 2022 Presidents Cup.

American records

Player Overall
(W-L-T)
Singles
(W-L-T)
Foursomes
(W-L-T)
Four-ball
(W-L-T)
Jordan Spieth 5-0-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 2-0-0
Max Homa 4-0-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 1-0-0
Justin Thomas 4-1-0 0-1-0 2-0-0 2-0-0
Patrick Cantlay 3-1-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 1-1-0
Xander Schauffele 3-1-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 1-1-0
Tony Finau 3-1-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 0-1-0
Collin Morikawa 2-1-0 1-0-0 1-1-0
Cameron Young 1-2-1 0-1-0 1-1-0 0-0-1
Billy Horschel 1-2-0 0-1-0 1-1-0
Sam Burns 0-3-2 0-0-1 0-2-0 0-1-1
Kevin Kisner 0-2-1 0-1-0 0-1-1
Scottie Scheffler 0-3-1 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-0-1

International records

Player Overall
(W-L-T)
Singles
(W-L-T)
Foursomes
(W-L-T)
Four-ball
(W-L-T)
Si Woo Kim 3-1-0 1-0-0 1-1-0 1-0-0
Sebastian Munoz 2-0-1 1-0-0 1-0-1
Sungjae Im 2-2-1 1-0-0 0-2-0 1-0-1
Tom Kim 2-3-0 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-0
Cam Davis 2-3-0 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-0
Adam Scott 2-3-0 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-0
K.H. Lee 2-1-0 1-0-0 1-1-0
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 1-0-1 1-0-0 0-0-1
Hideki Matsuyama 1-3-1 0-0-1 1-1-0 0-2-0
Mito Pereira 0-2-1 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-1
Corey Conners 0-4-0 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-1-0
Taylor Pendrith 0-4-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-2-0

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Jordan Spieth goes 5-0 to lead U.S. to Presidents Cup win for 12th time

U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Davis Love III trusted that his 12-man team would deliver in Sunday singles.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After watching his team lose both sessions on Saturday and its lead heading into the final day trimmed to four points, U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Davis Love III trusted that his 12-man team would deliver in Sunday singles.

“This is one of our best formats, and they’re going to come out mad tomorrow,” he predicted.

Love front-loaded his lineup with several of the top players in the world to attempt to put a sea of red on the scoreboard early: Justin Thomas in the leadoff spot followed by Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. They delivered mixed results, but Team U.S.A. needed just four points to retain the Presidents Cup and continue its domination in its biennial match, winning 17 ½-12 ½.

On an overcast fall day at Quail Hollow, they did enough to take care of business, led by Jordan Spieth, who went out in the second match of the day and defeated Australian Cam Davis 4 and 3. Spieth secured his first-ever victory in singles and notched a perfect record of 5-0, the first player from either team to do so since South African Branden Grace in 2015.

2022 Presidents Cup
Team USA golfer Jordan Spieth hits his chip shot on the second hole during the singles match play of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)

“It feels really good,” Spieth said. “When you go out early as I’ve done pretty much every team event on a Sunday, they’re looking for red on the board, and it feels good to finally provide that.”

Patrick Cantlay avenged his lone defeat of the week on Saturday afternoon, besting Adam Scott, 3 and 2.

“I knew it was really important for me to get my point today,” Cantlay said, “and I’m really content with how I played.”

But the outmanned International team kept it interesting until late Sunday. South Korea’s Si Woo Kim shushed the crowd, with his finger at 15 and silenced them with his putter on 18, draining a clutch birdie putt at 18 to edge Thomas 1 up.

2022 Presidents Cup
International Team golfer Si Woo Kim reacts after making his putt on the 15th green in front of caddie Manuel Villegas during the singles match play of the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

“J.T. give me fist pump, and then I had to do it. And I had to make it, and I made it,” said Kim, who was a team-best 3-0-1, of his putt to tie the 15th hole. “Then, like, yeah, I had to do something. I think that give me more energy.”

Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz was 2-0-1 in the matches he played, knocking off World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who finished 0-3-1, by a score of 2 and 1.

“I believe Munoz is going to come out of this competition with a real infusion of self-belief and confidence,” NBC’s Paul Azinger said. “He has made some huge putts.”

Munoz likely would agree. “Probably one of the best things I ever achieved in my life,” he said.

Xander Schauffele essentially called his shot in clinching the winning point for Team USA.

“I’ll just save mine for tomorrow,” he said when asked for his highlight on Saturday.

Schauffele, who was in the seventh match of the day on Sunday and won a total of three points for his country, squandered a 3-up lead but hung on to defeat Canada’s Corey Conners 1 up.

“Just luck of the draw, you know what I mean?” Schauffele said. “It was close. It was stressful and what you saw there was a big sigh of relief.”

The U.S. team featured six of the top 10 in the world, while Hideki Matsuyama, who tied Sam Burns on Sunday, was the top-ranked international player at No. 17. Missing from the International side was World No. 3 Cameron Smith, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who were among the defectors to LIV Golf and ineligible for the competition.

Nevertheless, the International side made a valiant comeback on Saturday. But they had dug a big hole, requiring a historic comeback of 8½ of the 12 points up for grabs.

“When you consider that we were 8-2 down on Friday evening, this team is no joke, and I’m sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke,” International team captain Trevor Immelman said. “We love this event, and we love our team, and we cannot wait to run this back and have another shot.”

The International side featured eight rookies and had the youngest team in Presidents Cup history, including 20-year-old South Korean sensation Tom Kim, who won two big points on Saturday to lead a spirited charge as the International team outscored the Americans in a two-session day for the first time since 1998.

“This young kid has burst onto the scene in the last six months,” International team captain Trevor Immelman said. “He’s been such a tremendous gift to our sport. He has an ability to be a global superstar, this kid.”

In singles, Tom Kim blew a 3-up lead after 10 holes to Max Homa, who went 4-0, one of four rookies to go 4-0-0 or better all-time at the Presidents Cup.

The U.S. has won the Presidents Cup nine times in a row and 12 of 14 times, with one tie. The next match will be held in Montreal in 2024.

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Presidents Cup Sunday singles results: U.S. holds off charging Internationals to win once again at home

Breaking down the final matches of the 2022 Presidents Cup.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Internationals made things interesting midway through Sunday’s final round of singles matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup, but in the end, it was the United States who came out on top.

Xander Schauffele clinched the winning point point for the Americans at Quail Hollow Club, defeating Corey Conners, 1 up, to seal the deal and earn the U.S. its ninth consecutive win in the biennial bout against the worldwide all-stars. The Internationals have won just once back in 1998 and earned a tie in 2003. The U.S. have won the other 11 competitions, six by four or more points.

Here’s a breakdown of each of the 12 Sunday singles matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup.

Sunday singles results

Si Woo Kim (Intl.) def. Justin Thomas (U.S.), 1 up

Si Woo Kim shushed the crowd, with his finger and with a clutch birdie putt at 18 to edge Justin Thomas 1 up.

“ It’s really special for me because I play with J.T. a match like three years ago,” said Kim, noting he was beaten on the 13th hole. “I was a little emotional. But this time, I (got) revenge.”

Thomas made birdies on two of the first four holes, clenching his fist after canning the putt at No. 4 and exclaiming, “Let’s go!”

But Kim battled back, rallying on the back nine with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 to tie the match. Thomas regained the lead at the 12th but gave it back with a bogey at 14. Kim fired up the crowd when he shushed them at 15.

“J.T. give me fist pump, and then I had to do it. And I had to make it, and I made it,” Kim said of his putt to tie the hole. “Then, like, yeah, I had to do something. I think that give me more energy.”

Kim backed up his gesture by taking his first lead of the day with a birdie at 16. Thomas responded with a 4-foot birdie at 17 to send it to the final hole deadlocked.

Both Thomas and Kim hit their approaches to 10 feet. Kim putted first and canned it; Thomas missed on the low side. He dropped to 0-3 in singles in the Presidents Cup. — Schupak

2022 Presidents Cup
International Team golfer Si Woo Kim (right) shushes the crowd during Sunday singles at the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

Jordan Spieth (U.S.) def. Cam Davis (Intl.), 4 and 3

Jordan Spieth is winless in singles no more. The American rallied from a 2-down deficit through three holes to defeat Cam Davis, 4 and 3.

I was more nervous than I probably should have been today just because I want to get that monkey off my back,” Spieth said. 

Playing in his fourth Presidents Cup, Spieth hadn’t won in six combined singles matches between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

“I had a great back nine,” said Spieth, who rattled off three straight birdies beginning at No. 11 to take control of the match. “When you go out early as I’ve done pretty much every team event on a Sunday, they’re looking for red on the board, and it feels good to finally provide that.”

It capped off a phenomenal week for Spieth, who had a perfect record of 5-0-0 and became the first player to do so since South Africa’s Branden Grace in 2015.

“He putted great,” Davis said of Spieth. “He kept his momentum early when he wasn’t playing great, and then I think he got a little comfortable when I started missing a few shots.” — Schupak

2022 Presidents Cup
Team USA golfer Jordan Spieth lines up his chip shot on the second hole during the singles match play of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club. (Photo: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)

Hideki Matsuyama (Intl.) ties Sam Burns (U.S.)

American Sam Burns and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama dueled to a tie and a half point for each side.

Matsuyama took the early lead with a birdie at the second and stretched the lead to 2 up at the turn. That’s when Burns flipped the match in his favor, making three straight birdies beginning at No. 10 to assume the lead. Burns, however, made a double bogey at 15 to gift-wrap that hole to Matsuyama and the match was tied once more.

Matsuyama nearly stole a full point when his birdie chip at 18 crashed into the flagstick but didn’t drop. Burns had a chance for the win but missed his 23-foot birdie putt.

Burns had a record of 0-2-2 while Matsuyama went 1-3-1. — Schupak

Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) def. Adam Scott (Intl.), 3 and 2

Patrick Cantlay wasn’t going to lose twice in a row, and it showed early in his singles match against the veteran Adam Scott. The American held at least a 2-up lead from the third hole and on and put Scott to bed on the 16th hole, 3 and 2.

Scott won just two holes on Sunday and made more bogeys than birdies to bookend a week to forget that saw him go 2-3-0 in his record 10th appearance in the event. — Woodard

Sebastian Munoz (Intl.) def. Scottie Scheffler (U.S.), 2 and 1

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler held the advantage for most of the front nine before a three-hole swing on Nos. 8-10 saw Sebastian Munoz take control.

Both players drove the green and made eagle on the 325-yard par-4 11th and they also matched each other’s birdie-bogey-par efforts on holes 12-14 before Munoz pulled ahead, 2 up, with birdie on the 15th. Scheffler got one back when Munoz left the door open with bogey on the 16th, but ended the match on the next hole, 2 and 1, after a Scheffler concession.

In his Presidents Cup debut, the reigning Masters champion failed to win a match and went 0-3-1 while Munoz was an impressive 2-0-1. — Woodard

Tony Finau (U.S.) def. Taylor Pendrith (Intl.), 3 and 1

A real back-and-forth match here saw both players lead for at least six holes, with Tony Finau winning the first two before Pendrith won four of the next five to take a 2-up lead of his own.

Slowly but surely the American climbed back with wins on Nos. 9, 12 and 13 to take a 1-up that he never gave back. Consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 sealed the deal for the 3-and-1 victory and brought the Americans just one point away from victory. — Woodard

2022 Presidents Cup
Team USA golfer Tony Finau celebrates making his putt on the first green during the singles match play of the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

Xander Schauffele (U.S.) def. Corey Conners (Intl.), 1 up

The deciding point came from a tightly-contested match between Corey Conners and Xander Schauffele.

Tied through the first five holes, consecutive wins gave Schauffele a 2-up lead that he extended to 3 up before he let Conners back into the fold. Looking for his country’s first point of the week, the Canadian won Nos. 12-14 to square the match before a bogey of his own gave the lead back to Schauffele on 15. The 16th was squared with birdies and Conners failed to take advantage of a Schauffele bogey on the 17th, which sent the match to the 18th, where par was good enough to decide the event. — Woodard

Sungjae Im (Intl.) def. Cameron Young (U.S.), 1 up

Cameron Young never led his match against Sungjae Im, who won the first three holes with par. Then it was Young’s turn as the young American claimed three of the next five to square the match just before the turn.

The pair went shot-for-shot aside from an Im birdie on the 12th, where he briefly took a 1-up lead before giving it up two holes later after a bogey on No. 15. A Young three-putt on the 17th gave the lead back to Im, which he turned into a 1-up win. — Woodard

K.H. Lee (Intl.) def. Billy Horschel (U.S.), 3 and 1

Billy Horschel’s national team debut didn’t quite go as planned as the 35-year-old went just 1-2-0 after a 3-and-1 loss to K.H. Lee. The South Korean was in control from the jump, winning the first two holes to take a lead that he never relinquished.

In fact, Horschel won just three holes and got as close as 1-down, but this one was never in doubt. — Woodard

Max Homa (U.S.) def. Tom Kim (Intl.), 1 up

Have a debut, Max Homa. The fan-favorite went undefeated at Quail Hollow and had to come back against one of the best players this week, 20-year-old South Korean rising star Tom Kim.

Kim got all the way to 3 up around the turn before Homa caught absolute fire on No. 12, winning four consecutive holes to flip the match by taking advantage of multiple missteps from Kim. Homa never gave it back and ended the week a perfect 4-0-0.

“Best week of golf I could ever imagine. It was very special just to be on this team and to contribute and to bond with the guys,” said Homa. “Some of the moments we’ve had together on the golf course and in the team room have been amazing. I feel very, very, very lucky to be on this team.”

— Woodard

Collin Morikawa (U.S.) def. Mito Pereira (Intl.), 3 and 2

Mito Pereira won just one hole in his match against Collin Morikawa, but it came just a little too late. The pair were tied through four holes before Morikawa made birdie on the par-4 5th, followed by an eagle on the par-5 7th and another birdie on the par-4 8th to take a 3-up lead to the back.

The two-time major champion then went 4 up with a birdie on the 10th before Pereira’s lone win on the 11th. The next five holes were tied as Morikawa did just what he needed to do to put yet another point on the board for the U.S.

“I haven’t won in a while. And just to kind of feel those nerves and kind of feel that energy, it was so exciting,” said Morikawa. “Those are the things we live for. I think every single one of us here on both teams loves that position that you’re in when you’re coming down the stretch or you need to make a putt to win a hole.”

— Woodard

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Intl.) def. Kevin Kisner (U.S.), 2 and 1

Christiaan Bezuidenhout never let Kevin Kisner lead in this final match that didn’t see a birdie until the 6th hole (and only four more after that). Every time the American was able to square the match, Bezuidenhout was right there to respond and re-claim the lead.

Down the stretch the South African was nails, making birdie on Nos. 14 and 16 to take a 2-up lead which he carried to a 2-and-1 win. — Woodard

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Watch: Jordan Spieth mimics ‘Lion King’, raises son Sammy to Presidents Cup crowd

Sammy Spieth is our new leader.

If the scene that unfolded Sunday on the first tee at Quail Hollow Club is any indication, Sammy Spieth is the next heir to the throne.

Shortly before beginning his Sunday singles match in the 2022 Presidents Cup against Cam Davis, Jordan Spieth walked out to big cheers from the home crowd as he walked over to his wife, Annie Spieth, and their son, Sammy.

Jordan grabbed his son and then turned him around and hoisted him to the crowd engulfing the first tee, bringing a loud cheer from the fans. Many quickly made the comparison to the movie “Lion King”, when Rafiki took Simba to the top of Pride Rock and held him up for all to see.

Presidents Cup: Singles matches and predictions

It was an adorable moment for the Spieth family.

“It was fun to see him on the first tee,” Spieth told Golf Channel’s Steve Sands after his match. “That was super cool. He’s finally old enough to just be looking around and taking it all in and being interested in everything. He loves the ear muffs luckily because it has been loud out here.”

Spieth beat Cam Davis 4 and 3 in singles, becoming the first U.S. player to go 5-0-0 in Presidents Cup play since Jim Furyk in 2011.

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