- Plan to overturn commercial whaling moratorium sinks in Peru
- Man City must solve Rodri riddle, Ten Hag vexed by Man Utd miscues
- Ricciardo thanks fans for 'wild' ride after RB axing
- US regulator urges safety checks on some Boeing 737 rudders
- Scheffler-Kim spat spices 5-0 US rout to open Presidents Cup
- 'I need to go': Floridians make final preparations for Hurricane Helene
- Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan accused of sexual assault
- Japan ruling party votes for next PM
- Macron, Trudeau pledge common front on economy, language
- Harris slams Ukraine 'surrender' policy with Trump confirming Zelensky meet
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Athletics pay emotional farewell to Oakland in last home game before move
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Americans sweep four-balls to grab 5-0 lead at Presidents Cup
- Armenian PM says peace with Azerbaijan 'within reach'
- Israel defies ceasefire calls and vows to keep battling Hezbollah
- 'Stir crazy' McKeown breaks 100m backstroke short-course world record
- Ten-man Spurs cruise in Europa League opener despite Son injury scare
- Iran shows 'willingness' to re-engage on nuclear issue: IAEA chief to AFP
- Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan accused of sexual asault
- Harris slams Ukraine 'surrender' policy as Zelensky visits White House
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Teenager seeking to halt Ohtani 50-50 ball auction
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Packers clash awaits for 'late developer' Darnold
- Israel pours cold water on US-backed call for ceasefire with Hezbollah
- US, allies urge pressure on Venezuela's Maduro after disputed vote
- Zelensky meets Biden after US unveils Ukraine military aid surge
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Eric Adams, New York's criminally charged mayor of 'swagger'
- Ten Hag says lack of goals Manchester United's biggest problem
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Emotional Almodovar wins lifetime award at San Sebastian festival
- Putin rachets up nuclear rhetoric, but is he ready to act?
- Former MVP Derrick Rose retires from NBA
- England's Hull out of Pakistan tour
- US urges pressure on Venezuela's Maduro after disputed vote
- US announces new half billion dollars for Syria aid
- Lawson to replace Ricciardo at RB F1 team for rest of season
- New York mayor charged with years of bribery, fraud
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- Myanmar junta invites armed groups to stop fighting, start talks
- Kenya set for full Haiti deployment amid call for shift to UN mission
- Argentina change seven of team that beat Springboks for rematch
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Marsh adamant Australia have 'moved on' from Lord's row
- Monet's odes to London's 'beautiful' smog appear in city
- Pakistan braces for 'transitional pain' as IMF approves $7 bn loan
Americans sweep four-balls to grab 5-0 lead at Presidents Cup
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and world number two Xander Schauffele sparked the United States to a 5-0 sweep over the Internationals in Thursday's opening four-ball matches at the Presidents Cup.
The Americans, who lead the all-time rivalry 12-1-1, seized command in quest of a 10th consecutive victory in the series against a collection a global talent from outside Europe.
"I'm happy for the guys. Right now all smiles," US captain Jim Furyk said. "Tough matches. Our guys played great on the back nine. It came down to a lot of putts."
Schauffele and Tony Finau beat South Korean Ben An and Australian Jason Day 1-up while Scheffler and Russell Henley defeated South Koreans Tom Kim and Im Sung-jae 3&2 at Royal Montreal.
Fourth-ranked Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala beat Australians Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott 1-up while Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay won 2&1 over Canada's Corey Conners and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.
And Keegan Bradley, the 2025 US Ryder Cup captain, curled in a 19-foot birdie putt at the 18th to close out the fifth session sweep in Cup history with a 1-up win with Wyndham Clark over Canada's Taylor Pendrith and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
"It was just unbelievable," Bradley said. "To be around the guys and see how into it they are, it's inspiring for me."
Friday will feature five foursomes matches with four matches in each format on Saturday ahead of Sunday's 12 concluding singles matches.
The Americans, who have won 10 times when leading after the first session, boast 12 of the world's 25 top-ranked players.
Scheffler and Henley never trailed but faced a battle. Scheffler and Kim tied the par-3 seventh, par-4 10th and par-5 12th holes on birdies and Henley birdied from two feet to win 14 and 20 feet to win 15 to give the US duo a 3-up edge.
"It was a fun match. We did some good stuff out there," Scheffler said. "Russell and I did a good job of keeping the pressure on them most of the match. Russell stepped up big there on 14 and 15."
"I just really wanted to get a point," rookie Henley said.
Scheffler and pal Kim traded barbs after long birdie exchanges, saying, "I would have done the same thing back at home. It's all in good fun.
"We're friends after. We're not friends during."
Schauffele made sure the Americans won the first match for the fifth Presidents Cup in a row and eighth time in nine Cups.
"We knew what we were supposed to do," Schauffele said.
Day birdied to win the first hole but Schauffele birdied to win the second and the US duo never trailed again.
Schauffele birdied the 10th from 15 feet for a 2-up US lead. Finau tied the 14th on a 30-foot chip-in birdie and An won the 15th on a seven-foot birdie putt.
Finau and Schauffele each missed par putts from inside four feet at 16 to surrender the hole and tie the match.
But Schauffele sank a birdie putt from just outside eight feet at the par-3 17th for a US lead and then dropped his approach at 18 inside three feet and sank the putt to win the match.
"He had my back all day," Schauffele said. "I figured it was my turn to have his back."
- US grind over Aussies -
Morikawa and rookie Theegala battled the Aussies in a match where neither side was more than 1-up.
Morikawa birdied the par-5 12th to tie the match then birdied from just outside four feet to win 14 for a 1-up lead. Theegala dropped his approach at 18 inside three feet and while Scott sank a 10-foot birdie putt, Theegala tapped in to win the match.
"We grinded out there," Morikawa said. "We saw a lot of lip outs, a lot of close putts and never let up."
Bradley and Clark never trailed in winning but didn't take the lead for good until Bradley's birdie from just inside 35 feet won the 13th.
Cantlay put his duo ahead to stay with a six-foot birdie at eight and Burns sank a 10-footer to win 13 for a 2-up edge, with Matsuyama's 10-foot birdie miss at 17 sealing the US victory.
T.Ward--AMWN