Justin Thomas’s Saturday began with his ball beside a boundary fence and no room for a right-handed swing. After Friday’s sweep, the U.S. could hardly afford another difficult start. His rookie partner helped them survive this one, but the moment Thomas would regret came much later.
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Veteran-rookie duo Thomas and Jackson Koivun took on Sungjae Im and Min Woo Lee in the morning session on Saturday. Despite their best efforts, they could only salvage half a point. Disappointed, especially after a particularly disastrous hole, Thomas apologized to the rookie.
“I’m gutted. I just feel like I let him down today,” said Thomas after the match in a press conference. “I’m bummed, and I told him that I’m sorry, not only for him, [but for] the team. I feel like, if I play and do some things I should have, we would have had a point there.
“But I’ve really enjoyed battling with Jackson. He’s going to be playing in these things for a long time. I’d definitely take him as a partner anytime you can get him.”
Thomas’s trouble began on the first hole. His drive went left and stopped barely in bounds near a fence. With no room for a normal swing, he played his second shot left-handed but moved the ball only a few feet. He played his third left-handed too. Koivun then made birdie to give the Americans an early 1-up lead.
The pair stretched their lead to 2 up through 14 holes, but Lee’s birdie at the 15th cut it in half. The Americans then bogeyed the par-3 16th, bringing the match back to all square. Thomas saved par on the 18th to secure a half-point for the U.S.
The trouble began on the first hole. Thomas pulled his drive left, where it stopped barely in bounds in thick rough beside a boundary fence. With no room for a right-handed swing, he tried to play his second shot left-handed but moved the ball only a few feet. He played his third left-handed too, this time with better results.
Jackson Koivun made sure the difficult start did not cost them the hole. The rookie hit his approach to within 10 feet and made the birdie putt, giving the Americans an early 1-up lead.
It is not to say the 21-year-old played better than Justin, who is serving as the youngster’s mentor this week, on day 3, but he also helped the pair earn two more points with birdies on the sixth and the eighth holes. The pair has performed well this week. They were paired in the Thursday four-ball against Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria. They eventually beat the International members 4 and 3.
However, despite Thomas’s disappointment, Koivun felt positive about the morning session. There was hardly any blame in his tone.
“It was so much fun out there,” Koivun, who was eight when Thomas turned pro, said after the match. “Really happy with the way I performed on the front nine, and obviously coming down the back nine finishing stretch was a little disappointing to hand away two holes, but at the end of the day, we got this afternoon to look forward to.”
While he’s happy with his result, he’s not the only one.
Before the tournament, Justin Thomas said, “He’s impressive. He’s a really, really good player, first and foremost, but he’s a great kid. He’s got his head on right…”
It goes without saying that Jackson gave Thomas plenty of reason for that confidence. He turned pro in June and won his first PGA Tour title at the 3M Open on July 26, finishing three strokes ahead of Scottie Scheffler. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker named him a Presidents Cup captain’s pick on September 1.
On the other hand, Thomas’s disappointment makes sense. Despite the expectations, one would say the major champ has largely underperformed. In the Friday foursomes, for instance, he paired with Cameron Young and lost 3 and 2 to Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Elsewhere in Saturday morning’s four-ball session, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim beat Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 2 and 1 to earn a point for the Internationals. The Americans answered when Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young beat Nick Taylor and Corey Conners by the same margin.
In the final match, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns defeated Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune 2 and 1. Together with Thomas and Koivun’s tie, the results gave the U.S. a 2.5-1.5 win in the morning session and cut the International team’s overall lead from 7-3 to 8.5-5.5.
It was a response to the Internationals’ Friday sweep, though the Americans still trailed heading into Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. responded emphatically on Saturday, winning both the morning four-ball and afternoon foursomes sessions by identical 3-1 margins to take an 11-7 lead into Sunday’s singles. That strong rebound set the stage for a dominant final day, with the Americans eventually securing an 18.5-11.5 victory.
This year, however, things seem trickier. With Team USA already trailing and having surrendered 1.5 points in the morning session, the Americans cannot replicate the exact sequence of their 2024 comeback as they head into Saturday afternoon’s foursomes.