Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas' Partnership Is Powering the U.S. Toward a Presidents Cup Win
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The trouble that became a big part of the story four years ago seems almost trite now. Winning seemingly takes care of everything when such controversy arises.
Team USA lost then and is in control now.
Remember when Patrick Reed complained publicly at the 2018 Ryder Cup that captain Jim Furyk had split him from his successful partnership with Jordan Spieth?
Ah, memories.
That seems like ages ago in golf’s universe, with Reed unable to capture his past Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup glory and now gone to LIV Golf, which prevents him from competing in this competition.
Spieth, meanwhile, got the partner he wanted that year in Paris, Justin Thomas, and while the Americans suffered a gruesome defeat, that partnership was a small glimmer of hope that has blossomed into a formidable duo that Zach Johnson knows will make life easier for him next year in Rome.
For now, it is making Davis Love III breathe just a bit easier as that team is the difference between the United States and the Internationals at the Presidents Cup.
Justin Thomas (left) and Jordan Spieth haven't seen the 18th hole yet in going 4-for-4 in team play at this Presidents Cup.
Jim Dedmon/USA Today
The International side, appearing all but done earlier in the day, staged a nice rally Saturday afternoon, winning three of four points to at least make things interesting heading into singles competition at Quail Hollow. The U.S. leads 11-7 with 12 singles matches set for Sunday.
Love knows about four-point leads heading into the final day. Think Medinah, 2012.
Much has changed since then but there were some eerie similarities to that Ryder Cup 10 years ago, as the Internationals took the last two matches to close the gap to four points.
Thomas and Spieth were the only American team to win in Saturday afternoon four-ball competition and they are 4-0 overall—having trailed for a total of two holes.
“We played in Paris, and then we played in the last Ryder Cup as well,’’ Spieth said. “So it’s a comfort thing. Justin mentioned the number of times after the round that we know each other’s game about as well as we know anybody’s game.
“In a foursomes format, we understand that wherever we hit it, the other one is probably capable of hitting it there was well. And then getting out of trouble, we wouldn’t choose anyone else in the world to get out of trouble and figure out a way to make a par.
“And then when we’re on, we can dial it up and really get hot. We’ve just wanted to play four-ball. We wanted to play four-ball in the Ryder Cup (last year), and thought that would be our best format. We weren’t put together in four-ball in the Ryder Cup. We got mixed up a couple of times.
“We just had a lot of fun from the first hole. There was a lot of smiling. In best-ball you can do that, right? You can take chances. The other guy can pick you up a little easier. So we had a blast.’’
Much has been made of their friendship/rivalry that dates to their junior golf days and through their times at Texas (Spieth) and Alabama (Thomas) and onto the PGA Tour. Spieth got off to the faster start, winning the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup in 2015. Thomas captured it two years later. Thomas now has 15 PGA Tour wins and two majors, while Spieth has 13 and three.
The partnership is so successful that it does make you wonder what all the fuss was about in 2018 at Le Golf National. Thomas and Spieth went 3-1 in France, and Thomas went 4-1 overall.
And yet, Reed—at the time—might have had a point. He and Spieth had gone 8-1-3 in their partnerships in the previous Cups dating to the 2014 Ryder Cup. Breaking them up, on the surface, seemed an odd choice.
And in retrospect, having Tiger Woods—coming off his huge victory a week prior at the Tour Championship—pair with Reed, who was playing poorly, turned into a huge mistake as they went 0-2.
Who knows what would have happened had Spieth stayed with Reed, and Woods played with Thomas? A year later at the Presidents Cup in Australia, they teamed to go 2-0.
That is the fallout from losing.
But there’s no debating how successful Thomas and Spieth have become for the American side. They had the good showing in Paris, and then Spieth’s game fell into disarray and he did not make the 2019 Presidents Cup team.
At Whistling Straits last year, they only played twice in the team competition—perhaps another mistake had the U.S. not won so easily, 19-9—going 1-1 in foursomes but not playing four-ball.
This year, they’ve a been force, not seeing any of their matches get to the 18th hole, winning two of them in somewhat easy fashion, 4 and 3.
“I think when we get in a situation and an atmosphere like this, we have belief in one another, and it's just, like I said yesterday, it's fun to be able to root for each other,’’ Thomas said.
On Sunday, they will go at it alone, and they are being counted on to get early red on the board. Thomas is going first, Spieth second. Thomas is 2-2 in singles in his Cup competition, but lost both singles matches at the Presidents Cup. Spieth is a surprising 0-6-1 in singles.
They’ve certainly been the U.S. stars to this point, with another day to add to their legacies.