MONTREAL — Scottie Scheffler showed off his famous trash-talking side at Dallas rallies and showcased the fiercely competitive nature of the No. 1 golfer.
Tom Kim expected less.
The Presidents Cup turned sour on Thursday when Kim, 22, took his celebrations to the next level after burying a 30-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole. He did a pirouette and shouted, “Let’s go!”
Scheffler responded by matching his birdie with a putt of about the same length, turning to Kim and shouting with equal passion, “What’s that?”
And it was tight on the next two holes, especially when Kim made another birdie and walked to the par nine — about 50 yards — as Scheffler still had a 15-foot putt to tie the hole (he missed).
“It looks like he poked a bear, in my opinion,” said Scheffler, who won an Olympic gold medal when he paired with Kim and defeated Kim in a qualifier for the Travelers Championship.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Kim and Sungjae Im did not win another hole as Scheffler and Russell Henley closed out a 3-2 victory on a day when the Americans swept the four-ball 5-ball session. -0 lead.
“He was on his own. This is how we play at home, and I knew it was going to happen,” Kim said. “It’s all good. I did it on him, he gave it to me, I took him back to the next hole. I’m not afraid of him. He’s a good friend. But at the same time. time, this week I don’t like him I want to beat him badly, and I’m sure you feel the same way.
They are friends. That was evident when Scheffler hugged an emotional Kim on the last hole of the Olympics to comfort her.
Scheffler was competing — and winning — against a 60-man field. Matchmaking is personal, and this was evident in a game that gave a somewhat flat day in Royal Montreal a little flavor.
“We were at the top of the game and he made a putt on 7, he had a big reaction, and I made a big putt,” Scheffler said. “So it was important for me to make sure we kept the momentum in the game. And then I think he made a great putt on 8 and they went off the green to the tee or something like that.”
Scheffler said he saw a video of Kim “yelling at me” but didn’t see that.
“I just played,” Scheffler said.
Kim made his Presidents Cup debut in 2022 at the age of 20 and it was an emotional spark for international players, especially when he slammed his hat down after making the winning putt in a four-ball match against Patrick Cantlay and Xander. Schauffele.
As for leaving the eighth green while his opponents still had a putt, Kim dismissed that.
“I made the putt, and whether he did or not it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Kim said. “There was no reason to sit there looking for a putt. It didn’t help us. We weren’t trying to be cheap or do anything like that. We were focused on our game.”
Scheffler withdrew it, as he did everything else.
“It’s fun to compete and it’s fun to represent our country, when the game is over you take off your hat and shake hands,” he said. “We’re friends after that, not friends at the time, I guess.”
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