Presidents Cup Day 4 Winners and Losers: U.S. Coasts to 10th Straight Victory

The U.S. ended any chance of an International rally early on Sunday, and several members of the team continued to shine in the victory.
Schauffele and Furyk celebrated a job well done on Sunday.
Schauffele and Furyk celebrated a job well done on Sunday. / Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

The 2024 Presidents Cup is in the books, and after a Sunday of little suspense, the United States won the Cup for the 14th time in 15 editions of this event, this time by a final score of 18 ½ to 11 ½. We call ’em like we see ’em around here. They are:

Winners

Xander Schauffele: Led off the singles and wiped the floor with Jason Day 4 and 3 to earn the first point for the U.S. and, perhaps most significantly, never leaving a doubt that the first point of the session would go any other way.. 

Russell Henley: Went out fourth in singles, a sign of confidence from captain Jim Furyk, and delivered a 3 and 2 win to cap a 3–1 week. The 35-year-old was playing in his first U.S. team event and deserves a spot in a second event: the 2025 Ryder Cup. 

Keegan Bradley: Clinched the winning point by taking down Si Woo Kim. Best of all, learned a bunch of punchy new U.S. team combos from captain Furyk. Can carry a little extra moxie into the Bethpage Ryder Cup next year.

Jim Furyk: This doesn’t erase the defeat from his 2018 Ryder Cup captaincy, but there’s a different kind of pressure now in this event considering Dan Marino and John Elway were still taking NFL snaps the last time the U.S. lost a Presidents Cup. The U.S. can’t lose this event, and Furyk adds his name to the list of captains who can say they didn’t. 

Losers

Tom Kim: Like Saturday, it stings to put him here, but the International’s newly minted lead antagonist brought the fire but could only draw Sam Burns on Sunday and finished the week 1-2-1. 

Adam Scott: Played his heart out and won two points for his team, but (potentially) ending a playing career without a win in this event in 10 appearances is tough to swallow. A mortal lock to captain the team in four years in Australia.

Mike Weir: Let the second-guessing begin around the International captain, who will get plenty of questions about his lineups. If you were so confident in Jason Day to put him out first in Sunday singles, then why sit him for all of Saturday? Why send out the same four groups for Saturday afternoon when they won all of one point Saturday morning? Why play Taylor Pendrith (-4.11 strokes-gained total) in every match? We could go on.   

The Presidents Cup: The PGA Tour needs to go back to the drawing board for this so-called competition. The Internationals have a nice shield and reportedly more team unity than ever—and now a 10-event losing streak after the most lopsided win for a road team in Presidents Cup history. Does anyone really expect a different outcome in two years at Medinah?


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Jeff Ritter
JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of golf content for Sports Illustrated. He has more than 20 years experience in sports media and has covered more than 30 major championships. In 2020 he joined Morning Read to help spark its growth and eventual acquisition by SI in 2022. He helped launch Golf Magazine’s first original, weekly e-magazine and served as its top editor. He also launched Golf's “Films” division, the magazine’s first long-form video storytelling franchise, and his debut documentary received an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. Ritter has earned first-place awards for his work from the Society of American Travel Writers, the MIN Magazine Awards and the Golf Writers Association of America. He received a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan and a master’s from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. A native Michigander, he remains a die-hard Wolverines fan and will defend Jim Harbaugh until the bitter end.

John Schwarb
JOHN SCHWARB

John Schwarb is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated covering golf. Prior to joining SI in March 2022, he worked for ESPN.com, PGATour.com, Tampa Bay Times and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is the author of The Little 500: The Story of the World's Greatest College Weekend. A member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Schwarb has a bachelor's in journalism from Indiana University.