Scottie Scheffler plays a shot from the bunker on the 1st hole on Sunday at the Presidents Cup. | Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler began his day with an incredible shot that you need to see. But it also served as a metaphor for Team USA’s dominating start.
On the opening hole at the Presidents Cup on Sunday, Scottie Scheffler pulled his second shot into the sand trap to the left of the green. Meanwhile, his opponent, Hideki Matsuyama, stuck a wedge a few inches from the hole, but it spun back and settled about 15 feet away.
Matsuyama still had a massive advantage until Scheffler decided to take matters into his own hands.
The reigning Masters champion dunked his third shot straight into the hole on the fly, giving himself the unlikeliest of birdies and draining all of the International’s momentum.
Scheffler’s birdie was one of seven par-breakers the Americans made on the opening hole on Sunday, which explains why so much red is on the leaderboard early.
In the first match of the day, Xander Schauffele owned Jason Day on the front nine, making the turn with a 5-up lead. Then, Sam Burns, who has a 3-0-0 record this week, holds a 2-up lead over Tom Kim through nine holes.
Russell Henley, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau all hold early leads.
Scheffler, meanwhile, is dead even with Matsuyama through nine holes. Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala are also tied in the matches, although they have only played four combined holes as of this writing.
Not all hope is lost for the Internationals, however. Si Woo Kim holds a 1-up lead over Keegan Bradley through six holes, while Min Woo Lee, who has not played since Thursday, got off to a quick start against Wyndham Clark. Lee leads 2-up through three.
But if the Internationals want to pull off a historic comeback, they must take all of the red off the board and turn things gold. It’s a tall task, especially when you have shots like Scheffler’s dunk going Team USA’s way.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
