The opening round of the ongoing Presidents Cup brought out the emotions from players on both sides. Tom Kim and Scottie Scheffler, both good friends but playing on opposing sides, had an aggressive back-and-forth with some standout moments. While both players admitted this was in good fun, there were no games when Kim accused Team USA of bad sportsmanship on day two.

Things are getting heated at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. On Saturday, Kim and Korean teammate Si Woo Kim were beaten by USA rivals and Xander Schauffele in foursomes. During the play on the seventh hole, Team USA’s putt refused to concede a short putt on the par-three, after Si Woo Kim’s ball ended up within three feet of the hole. Kim was forced to tap the ball home from close range which annoyed him and he placed his putter on the ground to show the short distance between the ball and the hole.

While this situation seemingly didn’t escalate, Kim accused some US players of “cursing at them” and that it wasn’t “good sportsmanship.” However, Xander Schauffele hit back at these claims and said they were treating their opponents with respect. The two-time major champion said he wasn’t sure why Kim made such accusations.

Speaking to the media, Schauffele said, “I mean, I can speak for myself. I felt like Pat and I treated the Kims with the utmost respect, we were trying to quiet the crowds doing when they were hitting. Just go back on film…it was fair take, give and go.” Well, then what happened? The American golfer has no clue of any misbehavior directed at Kim and his partner.

“I have no clue if anyone was doing any of that,” said Schauffele as he added, “I don’t believe any of our guys would do something like that. So I’m not sure what he was hearing.” Earlier Kim raised the issue of how things went which was different from what Schauffele.

In his conversation with Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, Kim didn’t disclose the names of those involved in the alleged cursing but Schauffele and Cantlay and their caddies Austin Kaiser and Joe LaCava – were not involved. He did mention, “I think the start of the round was definitely a little harder, but as it got towards the end, it got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us.” 

Kim had ruffled a few feathers after he performed his Steph Curry ‘Night Night’ celebration after chipping in on the 16th. Earlier on day one, he had a fiery but friendly face-off with Scottie Scheffler. Both men were seen shouting at each other and having exchanges. After Kim managed to sink a long birdie putt he let out a celebratory road in front of Scheffler.

Following his friend up, the American responded with a birdie of his own to tie the hole and yelled out “What was that?!” in the Korean’s direction. Later both players agreed that it was light-hearted fun. But it seems on Day 2, the exchanges were not as friendly, according to Kim.

In his address to the media, Kim added, “You see me out there throwing fist pumps and jumping on the green. It’s all part of it, I get it. I just don’t think there’s a need to look at someone and curse at them. I just don’t think there’s a need for it.” Kim indeed has been in a buoyant mood with his passionate celebrations at the Presidents Cup. Perhaps this could have been a reason for the reaction from the Americans.

According to Golf Channel correspondent, Rex Hoggard,  the alleged incident was thought to have taken place on the 11th hole when some members of the US contingent were being “very loud, very vocal” toward Tom Kim. Meanwhile, another incident sparked controversy after the play on Saturday afternoon.

The PGA Tour posted a video of US player Wyndham Clark mimicking Kim’s Curry celebration and it didn’t sit well with Byeong-Hun An. An took to X to reply to the tweet writing, “You always have a guy in your group, who doesn’t do s— but talk s— all day.” However, later he deleted the tweet saying he wanted to be a “better person than that.”

Thus tensions are rising in the Presidents Cup as the USA looks to maintain its dominance at the event. Earlier, the Kim duo, unfortunately, failed to tie the match as the Cantlay-Schauffele pair clinched the victory with a score of 1 Up, the point of which they clinched at the past par4, 18th hole. Their triumph marked the sixth victory of the American team that day.

Xander Schauffele & Co. dominate the third day at the Presidents Cup

Out of the four Four-ball matches that took place on Saturday, the International team was only able to win one when Si Koo Kim & Tom Kim beat Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. The American squad swept away the rest 3 with Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa winning 2&1, Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele defeating their rivals 3&2, and Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns emerging victorious 2&1.

The Foursomes that followed soon after experienced a similar fate as the International team claimed only one match. Taylor Pendrith & Adam Scott defeated Brian Harman and Max Homa while increasing their total point tally to 7, as opposed to the 11 that the Jim Furyk-led USA team boasts.

Anyhow, just a day more is left for the winners of the Presidents Cup to get crowned, and Sunday’s singles pairing has thrown up some interesting encounters. Tom Kim will face Sam Burns while top-ranked Scottie Scheffler will take on Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. South Korean Im Sung-jae competes against Russell Henley and Canada’s own Taylor Pendrith is pitted against Cantlay. Kim Si-woo faces Keegan Bradley.

Could we see more sparks fly before the eventual winner is decided? Well if anything like that goes down, we will have you covered.