Through Day 1, the Presidents Cup is progressing as expected: The Americans are dominating.
Team USA is up 5-0 on the Internationals through one in Montreal, but it wasn't in a necessarily convincing fashion. Three American victories were 1 Up, while the other two were 2&1 and 3&2. There's enough talent on the Internationals side to make this interesting, although maybe not to win.
After opening as a -250 favorite, the Americans are now -2200 entering Friday at bet365. The Internationals are +1600.
Here are two bets to make for Friday's foursomes matchups from our experts.
Presidents Cup Picks: Friday Foursomes
Matthew Gannon: Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele over Hideki Matsuyama & Sungjae Im (Tie Loses; -150, bet365)
The best friends are back after they got separated on Day 1 — not that it would have made a difference, as Team USA rolled to a 5-0 lead.
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele know each other's game better than anyone on the PGA Tour and have plenty of experience as teammates in events like these. After his first match, Schauffele spoke about how important it was to get off to a nice start and go out first for Team USA. That will be the case yet again on Friday since this matchup will lead off the day.
Statistically, Cantlay was the best golfer of the day in terms of strokes gained and Schauffele was fourth. The two they're facing from the Internationals were 16th and 19th. Remember that only 20 golfers played on day one so this is a very large advantage for Team USA in this matchup.
I don't mind laying the juice here as I trust Schauffele and Cantlay to put a point on the board for Team USA.
Tony Sartori: Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley over Byeong Hun An & Si Woo Kim (-160, bet365)
The Americans swept the board on Thursday in dominating fashion, and I'm projecting a similar result on Friday. Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley subsequently won their matchup 3&2 against Tom Kim and Sungjae Im, the biggest margin of any of Thursday’s pairings.
There is no reason to split up this Scheffler and Henley pairing, which is why they are once again tasked with going against Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim on Friday. Scheffler needs no introduction as this is the best player in the world.
With that said, I want to give some credit to his partner, who even outperformed Scheffler on Thursday, at least analytically speaking. Henley gained more strokes putting, around the greens and total.
Regardless, those two are going to get a favorable matchup once again on Friday against An and Kim.
An hovered around the midway point among the Internationals on Thursday in total strokes gained, while Kim is making his first appearance as a reserve. With all due respect to both golfers, neither are remotely close to the Scheffler and Henley level, and those two should once again find success on Friday.
