Tom Kim Calls Out Fans for Lack of Enthusiasm at President’s Cup

The International Team at the Presidents Cup was hoping for a Ryder Cup-like hometown advantage for this year’s event at Royal Montreal.

That didn’t happen on Thursday, as the U.S. team swept the day’s events to jump to a 5-0 lead in the four-day competition.

Tom Kim provided some of the only juice on the day, as he exchanged barbs on and off the course with Scottie Scheffler, before he and Sungjae Im fell 3-and-2 to Scheffler and Russell Henley.

Kim said:

“I think it was a little too quiet today being on home soil. I don’t think the fans were really – I wish they would have helped us out a bit more, especially being in Canada. I know how much they love golf. I’m definitely expecting more crowds to be louder and for them to be on our side.”

Before the crowd could get into the matches, the U.S. team took leads in all five matches early on the back nine of each four-ball contest. All of the other matches besides Scheffler and Harman’s win were close, but the U.S. kept making putts and didn’t give the home team a chance to build momentum. 

Part of the clutch putting came from Keegan Bradley, next year’s Ryder Cup captain who made his way onto this team for the first time since 2013 by winning the BMW Championship last month. 

Nobody better than Keegan Bradley to finish off an American sweep to kick off the Presidents Cup.

Good stuff 🇺🇸 #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/JUybzKvYkZ

— TJ Eckert (@TJEckertKTUL) September 26, 2024

Bradley said:

“It was 10 years of pent-up energy, it looks like, of not playing these. I just had such a blast out there today. It’s really fun for me to be out here with these guys. I told Wyndham on 18 just how much I missed being out here and doing this.”

We’ll see if the International team gives the fans anything to cheer about over the next few days.

Cover Image via Sports Illustrated