Day 2 of the Presidents Cup played out much like Day 1, in fact, the score was exactly the same as the Americans won the session, 4-1. There were a few matches that played out much closer in the Four Ball setup than during alternate shot as three matches made it to the 18th hole. Still, the Americans grew their lead even further and will head into Saturday's double session with a commanding 8-2 lead.
The deficit appears to have Trevor Immelman unfazed — either that or he's unaware he is allowed to change his teams because he is rolling out four of the exact same Foursome teams from Thursday into Saturday's morning matches.
It's a befuddling decision to see him essentially do nothing to try to change the momentum, but he does catch a break from Davis Love's side as the dominating tandem of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele will take a seat for the morning.
I expect the bloodbath to continue into the weekend, so let's see who stands out for our Best Bets heading into Saturday.
Best Bets
Cameron Young/Collin Morikawa (-145) over Adam Scott/Hideki Matsuyama (DK, ties are a push)
One of the half points given up on Friday by the Americans came at the expense of Cameron Young's partnership with Kevin Kisner. I am not fazed by that one bit heading into Saturday as Young played quite well and really didn't get much help from his playing partner, who just couldn't get any putts to drop.
Scott showed some better form on Day 2 as he stretched Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth to the 17th hole, but Matsuyama has been absolutely dusted by the Cantlay/Schauffele team for two straight days. Matsuyama has been the weak link in a lot of scenarios as he leaned on Tom Kim to keep them alive down the stretch Friday. I think there will be a point where the focus and motivation will start to fade and that can cause some trouble in alternate shot formats. I'll ride the upstart in Young and the rejuvenated game of Morikawa.
Corey Conners/Sungjae Im +130 over Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas (DK, ties are a push)
Spieith and Thomas have made it cleanly through the first two days, but they have not been overly sharp. As they noted today, they "ham and egged" their way through the match as both players were left to play holes alone on more than one occasion. I think that likely catches up with them at some point and alternate shot is probably that format.
On the other side, Im was arguably the best player on the course for either team on Friday (Ok, outside of Cantlay/Schauffele) and he won't be an easy out the rest of the weekend. He really played well on Thursday too, but Conners just didn't have it and left his teammate hanging.
I was encouraged by the ball striking I saw from the Canadian on Friday and if he can keep that going, they are a dangerous team for this format. I'll take the plus money once again and see if we can catch an upset.
