Justin Thomas hit a 17-footer for birdie on the final hole to earn another point alongside Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup.
This match will forever be known for the tandem putter drop.
After cruising to a point during the first round four-ball matches at the Presidents Cup, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas were in a dogfight for 18 holes during Friday’s (Thursday night in the U.S.) foursomes match. With a tied match on the final hole, Thomas made a clutch birdie putt from 17 feet to seal the second point in as many days for the pairing, 1 up.
Woods and Thomas went 2 up through the first five holes at Royal Melbourne, but the Internationals’ Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An clawed back to the tie the match at the turn.
The Internationals then went 1 up over the next three holes, but an American birdie – their first since the fifth hole – tied the match on the 13th. Both teams then went bogey-birdie-par-par over the next four holes, taking the all-square match to the 18th hole.
Thomas’ drive missed the fairway to the right, giving Woods and approach shot from the baked-out rough. The Internationals were in the fairway then found the green, 25 feet from the middle-left pin. Woods threw his approach into the air and he walked after it, ultimately coming to rest 17 feet behind the hole.
Matsuyama’s birdie putt missed just slightly long and right, opening the door for Thomas to save the day and earn a point with a clutch birdie.
“I don’t know. I’m speechless,” said an emotional Thomas on Golf Channel after the putt, with Woods at his side. “I’ve made a lot of, been fortunate to hit a lot of big putts. To do it with my captain and maybe turn the tide in this Presidents Cup is awesome.”
A few minutes later, Rickie Fowler made a putt to earn a half point for the U.S., the final piece of a late American rally. The International team led 4-1 after Day 1 and will take a 6½-3½ lead into Day 3.
On the bus ride over to Royal Melbourne, Tiger Woods and his U.S. team sang happy birthday to Rickie Fowler, who turned 31 on Dec. 13.
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He was a late add to the 2019 U.S. Presidents Cup team and was on the sidelines during the Day 1 action at Royal Melbourne.
But at the close of the day on Thursday night in Melbourne, U.S. captain Tiger Woods announced that Rickie Fowler will see action on Day 2.
Fowler will team with Gary Woodland in Thursday’s foursomes. The U.S. pair will square off against Sungjae Im and Cameron Smith. Smtih also sat out the first day.
Fowler was added to the team by Woods three weeks ago when world No. 1 Brooks Koepka announced that he had been forced to withdraw from the Cup while recovering from a knee injury.
On the bus ride over to Royal Melbourne, Woods got up and announced to the team that it was Fowler’s birthday.
Despite Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas earning the first point, the Internationals dominated the four-ball format at the 2019 Presidents Cup.
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After the first day of play in Australia at Royal Melbourne, it’s advantage Internationals.
Despite playing captain Tiger Woods and the Americans having the distinct advantage when it comes to talent, with ten of Team USA’s 12 players ranked inside the 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking, Ernie Els and his International squad hold a commanding 4-1 lead after Thursday’s (Wednesday night in the U.S.) four-ball matches.
“The golf course was very tough. The golf was excellent. I’m really proud of my team,” Els told Golf Channel soon after the conclusion to Day 1.
“We got a long way to go but this is an unbelievable start,” Els continued. “We know it’s a very tough side we’re playing.”
Woods and teammate Justin Thomas put the crucial first point on the board for Team USA, but it was all Internationals from then on.
Thomas-Woods (U.S.) def. Leishman-Niemann (Int.), 4 and 3
Tiger Woods carried the match in the early goings, making a pair of birdies on the opening holes and then chipping in for birdie at the par 3 fifth hole. Leishman and Niemann kept in the fight and battled throughout the opening nine, ultimately making the turn 2 down to captain Woods and Thomas. The Americans never trailed and it was Woods who put the first point on the board for the U.S., earning a 4 and 3 victory.
Hadwin-Im (Int.) def. Schauffele-Cantlay (U.S.), 1 up
A 21-year-old Presidents Cup rookie, Sungjae Im heard the first roar of the day playing in the second group after holing-out for eagle on No. 1. The Internationals and Americans each held a 1 up lead on the front nine before making the turn tied. The match stayed all square until an Adam Hadwin par at the 16th turned the match in the Internationals favor.
Sungjae Im led the TOUR in eagles last season (18).
Scott-An (Int.) def. DeChambeau-Finau (U.S.), 2 and 1
There wasn’t much to see in this match. Bryson DeChambeau struggled and Tony Finau didn’t have enough to keep up with Adam Scott and Byeong-Hun An, who led for 14 of the 17 holes en route to a 2 and 1 win. The Americans only won two holes, both by Finau.
Matsuyama-Pan (Int.) def. Simpson-Reed (U.S.), 1 up
After his rules violation at the Hero World Challenge, Patrick Reed got an ear-full on the first tee after hitting into the bunker, with one heckler asking if a shovel was in his bag this week in Australia. It was a close match, with the Internationals holding a 2 up lead at the turn. Down the stretch, Captain America made a few clutch putts, evening the match with a birdie on No. 16. Hideki Matsuyama then re-claimed the lead on the 17th, leading to the 1 up win.
Ancer-Oosthuizen (Int.) def. Johnson-Woodand (U.S.), 4 and 3
The final match of the day was the second to end as Louis Oosthuizen and Abraham Ancer absolutely boat raced the high-powered pairing of Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland. Oosthuizen was on ace-alert at No. 3, hitting the shot of the day at Royal Melbourne’s opening par 3. Ancer and Oosthuizen went 4 up through five holes and the match never got closer than 3 up, ultimately ending 4 and 3 on the 15th.
Two new Callaway drivers were added to the USGA and R&A’s conforming driver lists last week and Xander Schauffele is using one already.
Last week a pair of new Callaway clubs appeared for the first time on the United States Golf Association and R&A’s conforming driver lists. The company did not provide details about the Mavrik and Mavrik Sub Zero, but once those drivers were added to the lists, they became available for use in competition and it appears that Xander Schauffele put one into play on Thursday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club during the open matches at the Presidents Cup.
As you can see in this close-up photo of the driver Schauffele used in his opening-round match with Patrick Cantlay against Sungjae Im and Adam Hadwin, the bottom of the club clearly says Mavrik.
Xander Schauffele’s Callaway driver at Presidents Cup. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
With a weight visible in both the back and behind the leading edge, it appears that Schauffele is using the Sub Zero version of the Mavrik driver.
Historically, Sub Zero versions of Callaway drivers spin less than standard versions and produce a lower ball flight.
Tiger Woods was on fire in the first match and carried teammate Justin Thomas to a win and the first point of the 2019 Presidents Cup.
Playing captain Tiger Woods made the right decision to send himself out first for the four-ball matches at the 2019 Presidents Cup.
The nine-time Presidents Cup veteran birdied the first two holes on Thursday (Wednesday night in the U.S.) and chipped in for birdie on the fifth hole, leading himself and teammate Justin Thomas to a commanding 4 and 3 victory over the International squad’s Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann.
Woods and Thomas never trailed in the opening match to the biennial event, making the turn at 2 up and cruising on the back nine to victory. It was a crucial point for the Americans, who trailed as much as 3-1 for the majority of the first day of play.
As they ended the match, the Americans trailed in three matches and were tied in one.
A group of boisterous American fans donning Captain American and tiger costumes sang loud and proud on the first tee at the Presidents Cup.
The Beach Boys and Backstreet Boys made an appearance at Royal Melbourne in Australia during the first round of four-ball matches on Thursday (Wednesday night in the U.S.) at the Presidents Cup.
Not in person, no, but rather in spirit.
A group of boisterous American fans donning Captain American and tiger costumes sang loudly and proudly on the first tee for Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay before their opening tee shots.
For the next match, the group sang the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 hit “I want it that way” before Cantlay hit his opening tee shot, but changed the words a bit. Instead of “I want it that way,” the American gallery instead sang “I want Pat Cantlay.”
Woods went on to birdie the first hole to give himself and Justin Thomas an early lead against Joaquin Niemann and Marc Leishman, while Cantlay and playing partner Xander Schauffele were stunned by a Sungjae Im hole-out for eagle.
Follow along for shot-by-shot updates from Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas’ first round four-ball match at the Presidents Cup in Australia.
Presidents Cup playing captain Tiger Woods will lead the Americans out the gate in the first match of this year’s event at Royal Melbourne, teaming up with Justin Thomas for Day One’s four-ball matches.
Woods and Thomas, who were paired together for three of the four rounds in the Bahamas last week at the Hero World Challenge, take on the International squad’s Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann at 5:32 p.m. ET.
This is Woods’ ninth appearance for Team USA (his first since 2013) and Thomas’ second. Thomas is 2-0 in the four-ball format, while Woods is 7-9.
Follow along for shot-by-shot updates from the opening match in Australia.
More than anything, the team environment at Presidents and Ryder Cups has allowed Tiger Woods to shed his lone-wolf label.
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MELBOURNE, Australia – When the last Presidents Cup was held in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in 2017, Tiger Woods was recovering from surgery and only permitted to hit 60-degree wedges. His future in the game was very much in doubt. The thought of him as a playing captain just over two years later seemed preposterous.
It was a sad day for golf to see Woods relegated to a cart driver, asking players if they liked mayo or mustard on their sandwich. It was a role that in the past would have seemed beneath someone of his stature in the game. And yet Tiger’s two stints as an assistant captain at the 2016 Ryder Cup and 2017 Presidents Cup may have been critical moments in his revival as both a player and person.
Woods embraced the job of serving as a Team USA pop-pom waver. No job was too small, and he spent countless hours plotting pairings and determining which matchups should go out first. Brandt Snedeker, who was a member of the victorious 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup team, recounted how he spent more than 90 minutes on the phone with Woods one night, and it wasn’t the only time the 15-time major winner dialed him up.
“Got to the point where I was joking around, like ‘You’re calling me more than my wife is right now. We need to figure something out,’ ” Snedeker cracked.
Apparently Woods has evolved to sending early-morning text messages.
“You definitely get more texts between 1 and 4 am than any captain, that’s for sure,” Thomas said. “He takes it very seriously. … It’s like any time we’re together he’s asking me questions, and I’m like, ‘Dude, we already talked about this. You don’t need to go too into it.’ I understand he wants to be so perfect and wants to do all this, but being in Florida and hanging out a decent bit, I’m kind of a good sounding board to where he can kind of ask me some stuff but, no, he’s done a good job.”
The 2019 U.S. Presidents Cup team poses for a team photo at Royal Melbourne Golf Course on December 11, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
More than anything, the team environment allowed Woods to shed his lone-wolf label. For years, the biennial team competitions felt more like a burden than an honor to Woods. Instead, he enjoyed passing on some of his course knowledge to younger players in the pod he managed, such as Patrick Reed, and he even showed he could not only dish out jokes but take one, too. It was Zach Johnson who famously passed out “Make Tiger Great Again” T-shirts to his teammates.
“It’s not the Tiger we knew,” said NBC/Golf Channel commentator Paul Azinger. “He was uncomfortable if you were comfortable with him; now, he’s uncomfortable if you’re not comfortable with him. Tiger didn’t want to let anyone close to him. He came back and reinvented his personality with the players. These guys are so comfortable with him. They love him and he loves them back.”
The friendships that were forged in those team rooms between Woods and Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas led to them calling up Woods and urging him to play with them back home in Jupiter, Florida, as he attempted to resurrect his career. Those rounds prepared Woods for his return to the PGA Tour. Azinger thinks Thomas is Tiger’s best friend on Tour now. These young guns, who grew up idolizing Woods, wanted to go head to head with him and after a Tour Championship, Masters title and Zozo Championship victory they may be regretting what they wished for, but they contributed to making Woods great again.
This week, Woods is the first Presidents Cup playing captain since Hale Irwin in 1994. He’s back in his element in the team room. On the flight from the Bahamas to Alcapulco he yukked it up, playing $100 hands of high card, low card, according to one passenger on the team plane. Drinks were flowing until the plane departed from Alcapulco and Captain Woods laid down the law – no more alcohol for the week. That is, he said, until the victory celebration on Sunday.
The 2019 Presidents Cup takes place this week at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twelve of the top golfers from the United States tee off against 12 of the best from outside of Europe. Below, we analyze the …
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The 2019 Presidents Cup takes place this week at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twelve of the top golfers from the United States tee off against 12 of the best from outside of Europe. Below, we analyze the tournament odds and prop bets, with golf betting picks and tips.
The first round will start Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Team USA has won the past seven Presidents Cups and leads the all-time series against the International side at 10-1-1. Fortunately for the global squad, which is led by three Australians, its only Presidents Cup victory was at this venue in 1998.
The Internationals are getting juicy +250 odds for the tournament victory. Team USA is a -250 favorite. Look for Adam Scott (No. 18), Marc Leishman (No. 28) and Cameron Smith (No. 52) to lead the Internationals to victory on home soil.
Presidents Cup Prop Bets
Internationals +3.5 Points (-125)
After losing 19-11 in 2017, look for the Internationals to keep it closer this time out. Their previous two losses in 2015 and ’13, were decided by one and three points, respectively.
Top Combined Points Scorer: Adam Scott (+1200)
Scott will have the crowd behind him as the top golfer from the host nation. He didn’t play in 1998 (when the Internationals got their lone win in the event, also in Melbourne), but he has won both the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship and has spoken highly of wanting to win at the famed Royal Melbourne as a potential career highlight.
Who will score the most points for the USA? Patrick Reed (+900)
Expect the best from Reed, who has excelled in the Ryder Cup format against Europe, and in the 2017 Presidents Cup. He’s coming off another controversy at last week’s Hero World Challenge in which he was penalized two strokes for improving his line of play in a waste bunker.
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Here’s how you can bet on US Team captain Tiger Woods during the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melborne Golf Club.
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Tiger Woods is set to captain Team USA at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club with the first round beginning Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Tiger selected himself with his final captain’s pick Nov. 7. Below, we look at the best prop bets centered around Woods as he makes his ninth Presidents Cup appearance and first since 2013.
The No. 6 golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking will make a third Presidents Cup appearance at Royal Melbourne, having played in both 1998 and 2011.
Tiger picked up just two points in each of his two previous appearances at Royal Melbourne. He’s 2-0-0 in singles matches, 2-2-0 in foursomes and 0-4-0 in fourballs.
Two of Tiger’s teammates – Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson – have a higher OWGR ranking, while the rest of his team also ranks inside the top 25. Eight golfers have better odds here. Shoot high with Thomas or Adam Scott of Australia for the International squad and PASS on Tiger.
Who will score the most points for the USA? (+1000)
Woods is tied with Rickie Fowler with the sixth-best odds to lead his team. Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson all have past experience at this venue, having played in 2011. Among them, Simpson fared the best, going 3-2-0 in his matches and picking up three points.
Tiger is coming off a victory at the Zozo Championship and a fourth-place finish at his own Hero World Challenge. I’d rather PASS on Tiger and place a larger wager on Thomas at +500.
Top USA Captain’s Pick Points Scorer (+260)
Woods selected himself, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland as his captain’s picks. Fowler was named as an injury replacement for world No. 1 Brooks Koepka.
This is my best spot to get action on Tiger at Royal Melbourne. A $10 bet for him to come away with the most points from a group of Reed, Fowler, Woodland and himself returns a profit of $26.
Of the four, he’s the only one with Presidents Cup experience at Royal Melbourne, and he has the top world ranking.
Complete Odds
Tournament winner
Odds
United States
-250
Internationals
+250
Tie
+1200
Get some action on this tournament by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
