It’s over.
Well, it’s almost over.
They’re going to play the 12 scheduled singles matches Sunday to complete the Presidents Cup, but there’s really not much point to it, because the International team needs to win an unrealistic number of points to overcome the historic, overwhelming deficit it faces.
The U.S. Team — which has won nine of the 11 Presidents Cups played while losing only once and tying once — stormed to an unthinkable, staggering 14 ½ to 3 ½ lead after utterly dominating the visitors on a bloody red Saturday at Liberty National.
Through three days and encompassing four sessions with 18 matches played, the International team has managed to win only two of them outright. The U.S. has won a total of 101 holes to 61 for the Internationals.
“We’ve given it our best shot this week, we’ve just come up against a juggernaut of an American team that has not put a foot wrong, it seems like, in three days. They have had all the momentum and we’ve had nothing,’’ International captain Nick Price said. “They have had all the momentum and we’ve had nothing.’’
“These three days of golf for our guys was really special,’’ U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “They played great. They’re resilient guys and they don’t like to lose. They put on another great show.’’
The U.S. Team, which won the morning foursomes session 3 ½ to ½, looked like it might close out the International Team and clinch the cup before dinner time on Saturday.
The U.S., which needed to sweep the afternoon four-ball session to clinch, won three of four matches. But Anirban Lahiri and Si Woo Kim ruined the party, halving their match with Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell to stave off elimination.
“We obviously wanted to end it,’’ Hoffman said. “We knew what was on our shoulders. Got to give it up to Lahiri. He made some great birdies coming down the stretch, and they knocked us off.’’
Said Price: “These guys have played their hearts out. I think the emotion that Si-Woo Kim and Anirban Lahiri showed on the last green sort of epitomizes our team. They got a standing ovation when they walked in our team room. First time we had seen a match go our way for a long time.
“But our boys, they haven’t lost their senses of humor, I can tell you that. We may be down, but we are not out.’’
Well, yes, they kind of are.
The Americans need to win only one of the 12 available points in singles on Sunday, meaning almost the entire day will become an exhibition of little consequence.
“This is probably the best U.S. team ever, and they’re on form,” South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel said.
“We knew at lunch that we could sweep [the four-balls] and win the cup [Sunday],’’ Jordan Spieth said. “We’ve had a phenomenal week so far and our team has played incredible golf.’’
If you thought the International President Cup team might come out angry on Saturday and take it out on the U.S. side you were mistaken.
What already was a blowout on the part of the Americans got worse for the Internationals after Saturday’s morning foursomes session. The U.S. turned an 8-2 lead into 11 ½ to 2 ½.
There was word seeping out of the International team room Friday night into Saturday that the players and coaches had their noses bent out of shape by what they believed to be excessive celebration on the part of Phil Mickelson and the U.S. on Friday as they put a cherry on top of that 8-2 lead entering the weekend.
Mickelson and his partner Kevin Kisner had just clinched the final point of the Friday four-ball session and they did a “Three Amigos’’ dance on the green after Mickelson sank a 12-foot birdie putt.
Aussie Marc Leishman still had an 11-foot birdie putt to tie the hole and halve the match, which he would miss.
Albeit under different circumstances, the moment was reminiscent of the famous Justin Leonard putt against Jose Maria Olazabal in the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline, where when Leonard and the Americans went ballistic when Leonard made his long birdie putt while Olazabal still had a putt to try to make, which he would miss.
According to sources, in the wake of the Mickelson-Kisner celebration even Stricker let his team know on Friday night that there was a time and a place to celebrate, his clear message being not to rub it in.
Stricker, who’s spent the week trying to keep his players’ eyes on the prize and not allow them to become complacent, delivered the understatement of the year when he said: “We’ve got to get one point. It’s not over yet, and we’ve got to still take care of business. There’s plenty of time to party and celebrate if we can take care of [Sunday]. But we’re in a great spot.’’
Yes. Yes they are. Because it’s over.