For the second straight Presidents Cup, Tom Kim was the emotional chief of the Worldwide squad.
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On paper, this yr’s Presidents Cup appeared like one other rout, with the Individuals successful 18.5-11.5 to assert their Tenth-straight victory and enhance their all-time document to 13-1-1 over the Internationals.
However these few days at Royal Montreal Golf Membership in Montreal, Quebec, final month had been hardly mundane.
There was that testy trade between Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim throughout Thursday’s opening session, and Kim made extra headlines when he mentioned he might hear “some gamers cursing at us” amid an exhilarating foursomes match wherein Xander Schauffle and Patrick Cantlay beat Kim and Si Woo Kim 1 up on Saturday night. Because the final match out on the course, gamers from each groups had been following alongside and watching.
“I don’t assume there was good sportsmanship there,” Tom Kim mentioned. His cursing and sportsmanship feedback had been extensively circulated.
“I felt like Pat and I, we handled the Kims with the utmost respect,” Schauffele mentioned. “We’re attempting to quiet the crowds down once they had been hitting. We’re attempting to quiet the crowds down once we had been hitting. It was honest take, give and go. I’ve no clue if anybody was doing any of that. I don’t imagine any of our guys would do one thing like that. So I’m undecided what he was listening to.”
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Paul Tesori, Tom Kim’s caddie, provided his tackle the controversy when he joined Brian Crowell and Frank Darby on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Sunday.
“Clearly, I witnessed three eventualities the place members of the U.S. group emphatically obtained private with Tom and sure, cursed at him and obtained very private,” Tesori mentioned. “And on the finish of the day, nobody desires that. These two guys that had completed it, I don’t assume that’s of their character in any respect. I do know considered one of them apologized, which is a good factor. The warmth of the second obtained to him. However I do need to say one thing about that. When Tom talked about that within the Saturday press convention, I didn’t know he had completed it. And when he got here in, he shared with me what he did, and that is a part of what a 52-year-old veteran can share with a 22-year-old. I mentioned, Tom, you will have each proper to really feel the best way you probably did.
“Certainly one of them, I witnessed a foot away from me. And the sentiments I had inside had been very New York Bethpagey. I needed to react bodily, and I used to be upset by what had occurred, however on the finish of the day I additionally know the character of the particular person this occurred with I don’t imagine is that manner, and Tom dealt with it rather well. Now, there’s no cause for him to go within the media, and we all know on this planet we reside in now even when there was video proof of what occurred, half the world goes to assume he’s being a child and the opposite half goes to assume he’s viable.”
Tesori mentioned it was “solely two of the 24 guys that acted in a manner that I’d be embarrassed to behave,” however added Kim must have thicker pores and skin.
“On the finish of the day, he can’t go to the media and pronounce that,” Tesori mentioned. “You bought to go speak to your captains about it, go speak to your teammates about it, and it’s a studying expertise for Tom. And I believe that’s what it comes right down to.”
Kim was additionally concerned in an incident with Scheffler throughout Thursday’s four-ball session. Kim screamed and celebrated after making an extended birdie putt on the seventh gap, however Scheffler dished it proper again after he made a birdie on prime of him, screaming “What was that?” at Kim.
On the eighth, Kim made one other birdie and adopted it with yet one more vocal celebration, however Kim and Sungjae Im didn’t stick round to see Scheffler putt out, as an alternative strolling to the ninth inexperienced.
“Properly, that’s bordering on unhealthy habits there,” analyst Paul McGinley mentioned on the published. “That’s disrespectful, in my view. I do know it’s aggressive on the market. However that actually reveals you there’s an underlying edge right here that’s not all enjoyable and video games.”
On PGA Tour Radio on Sunday, Tesori mentioned Kim and Im walked to the ninth tee after assistant captain Camilo Villegas instructed them to take action.
“From the skin view for Camilo, he thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that is getting unhealthy; that is getting private; that is gonna go to a nasty place and I’m gonna get these guys out of right here as a result of when Scottie makes that 9-footer, he’s going to look proper at Tom,’” Tesori mentioned. “Camilo admitted he was flawed. He shouldn’t have completed that. His fault was, ‘I obtained to take them out of this example.’”
U.S. assistant captain Kevin Kisner was proper subsequent to the inexperienced when it occurred. He was on Barstool’s Fore Play Podcast final week and referred to as the transfer “Bush League.” He mentioned he talked with Villegas a few days later to type all of it out.
“He was like, ‘Dude, simply gonna be trustworthy with you, once I noticed Scottie [yell back on 7], I feared somewhat bit for my guys; that was the scariest-looking Scottie Scheffer I’d ever seen, so I simply didn’t need him to make one other putt and one thing go awry,’” Kisner mentioned. “I’m like, I’ll take your phrase for it, however I nonetheless thought it was bull—-.”
