Team USA captain Jim Furyk has joked that Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were split up at the Presidents Cup because they ‘don’t really like each other’. The 54-year-old made the surprise call to break up the pairing at a press conference before the start of the action.
Schauffele and Cantlay are good friends and have typically played well together since making their Presidents Cup debut five years ago. Furyk went in a different direction for the fourballs on Thursday, though, with Schauffele being sent out with Tony Finau instead.
Cantlay, meanwhile, was paired with Sam Burns for the final match against Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners. Discussing his decision to split them up, Furyk explained that it was led by statistics after initially joking that Schauffele and Cantley had fallen out.
“What went into the decision to split them? I mean, it’s little known, they just don’t really like each other anymore, they don’t get along very well,” said Furyk.
“No, we’re trying to maximise our [potential]. If you’ve got eight guys or 10 guys on the course, we’re trying to maximise our potential, get the best five groups you can get out there on the golf course.
“I think, talking to my assistants and talking to our statistical team, there’s a number of different reasons. Obviously, we know those guys play all their practice rounds together, they’re great friends, they get along very well.
“No reason other than trying to maximise the potential we have for the five groups on the golf course.”
Team USA secured a 5-0 clean sweep in the fourballs on Thursday after a moment of tension between Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim. The pair are known to be good friends away from the course but were involved in a flashpoint during the seventh and eighth holes.
After rolling in a birdie putt, Kim appeared to rile Scheffler by screaming: “Let’s go!” as he celebrated his successful attempt. Moments later, Scheffler halved the hole with a similar putt before responding to Kim, asking: “What was that?”
On the eighth hole, Kim celebrated wildly after holing an even longer birdie putt, before heading to the ninth tee before Scheffler had finished putting.
Sky Sports commentator Paul McGinley was not impressed with Kim’s conduct and said: “That’s bordering on bad behaviour there. That’s disrespectful in my opinion. I know it’s competitive out there but it certainly shows you there’s an underlying edge here.”
