Statement from Commissioner Jay Monahan and the PGA TOUR on Texas school tragedy

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The U.S. leads the International team by 3-1/2 to 1-1/2 points after Thursday’s opening day of the Presidents Cup. Here’s a look at each of the five Foursomes matches. MATCH 1: USA wins, 6 and 4 Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (U.S.) def. Hideki Matsuyama/Charl Schwartzel (International) Holes won: USA 9, Internationals 2 Holes led: USA 11, Internationals 1 Recap: The Internationals took the early lead when the U.S. conceded the second hole, having found trouble with Justin Thomas’ errant tee shot. After that? It was all America. The momentum switched when Fowler chipped in from 72 feet for birdie to win the third hole. Thomas then drained a 12-foot birdie to win the fourth, and the Internationals bogeyed the fifth. All the sudden, the U.S. was 2 up and kept the pressure on. The Internationals struggled, shooting 5 over on the front side. A double-bogey at No. 7 and a bogey at No. 9 put the Internationals 5 down at the turn. Schwartzel rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt to win the 10th, but the Americans responded by winning the next two holes, Thomas rolliing in a couple of birdie putts inside 10 feet. QUOTES Rickie Fowler (on his chip-in): “That was definitely a big turn of events. I feel like we were definitely on the better side of the hole when it comes to missing that green … That was kind of our whole goal going into the day was to manage our way around and put ourselves in the right spots. Felt like we did a good job of that.” Justin Thomas (on Fowler’s chip-in): “It definitely got the round going a little bit and got the momentum going our way. But we played some unbelievable golf after that, too.” Charl Schwartzel: “There was a few key moments where things changed. One was on the fourth hole. Their ball, Rickie and Justin’s ball pitched about a foot over the bunker. It looked like we might actually win that hole; end up losing it. I hit a bad shot on 7 in the water. And then you give Rickie and Justin, which are both unbelievable players, playing good golf now, you give them just a little bit of momentum, they are hard to catch.” Hideki Matsuyama: “”We really didn’t get into our game today. Just the rhythm just wasn’t there.” MATCH 2: USA wins, 1 up Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (U.S.) def. Adam Scott/Jhonattan Vegas (International) Holes won: U.S. 5, Internationals 4 Holes led: U.S. 3, Internationals 6 Recap: A solid performance by both sides, who were all square through 15 holes. At the par-3 16th, Johnson’s tee shot finished seven feet from the pin to set up Kuchar’s birdie putt, while the Internationals bogeyed the hole. That gave the U.S. team its first lead of the match, and they held on from there, playing bogey-free golf for the entire match. QUOTES Matt Kuchar: “We were bogey-free today, which is amazing. In alternate-shot, in these conditions, not to make a bogey and for us to just win 1 up, that’s a heck of a battle that we had with those guys. They played some really good golf and I have a heck of a partner to ride.” Dustin Johnson: “I thought we played really, really solid. Never really got out of position. Didn’t make any bogeys. We just, you know, kept the ball in play.” MATCH 3: USA wins, 5 and 4 Patrick Reed/Jordan Spieth (U.S.) def. Si Woo Kim/Emiliano Grillo (Internationals) Holes won: U.S. 8, International 3 Holes led: U.S. 12, International 0 Recap: Spieth and Reed continued to dominate as teammates, easily defeating two Presidents Cup rookies in Thursday’s foursomes play. Spieth and Reed are now 6-1-2 overall as a team, and 2-0 in the Presidents Cup. Spieth moved to 4-0 in Presidents Cup Foursomes. The American duo never trailed Thursday, winning the par-5 second hole after Kim hit the Internationals’ second shot in the water. Spieth and Reed won Nos. 4-7 to take control of the match. The Internationals looked to be in good shape to win the 11th, but Spieth made a 33-footer and the Internationals bogeyed. Overall, the Americans shot even-par in Thursday’s windy conditions, making three birdies and three bogeys. QUOTES Jordan Spieth: “Other than the flip on 11, this was a pretty boring day for us, but boring is what we needed today. We really only hit, I want to say, two shots that we shouldn’t hit today. We both had an iron shot that we’d like over again.” Patrick Reed: “When it’s windy like this, with how comfortable we are around the greens and on the greens, it just seemed like if we got ourselves in a bad spot we were able it figure out how to get it up-and-down and save par.” MATCH 4: International wins, 3 and 1 Branden Grace/Louis Oosthuizen (Internationals) def. Daniel Berger/Brooks Koepka (U.S.) Holes won: Internationals 6, U.S. 3 Holes led: Internationals 7, U.S. 2 Recap: The South Africans remain perfect, winning three of the last five holes to break open a tight match that had been all square through 12 holes. Two years ago, Grace and Oosthuizen won all four of their matches in South Korea, and delivered yet again for Nick Price. Oosthuizen made a 19-foot birdie putt to win the 13th and grab the lead. The Americans, long-time friends and former Florida State teammates, lost the 15th with a bogey after Koepka found trouble off the tee. The Internationals closed it out with an 11-foot birdie from Oosthuizen. QUOTES Louis Oosthuizen: “In the middle, a few holes, we didn’t hit very good shots but we knew it was going to be a grind all day. Then we started really flushing the ball and really giving ourselves putts for birdies and making pars. In these conditions today, par on some holes is good enough to win.” Branden Grace: “It was nice to hit clutch shots when it mattered. We putted great. His speed was spot on. Down the stretch, we had a couple of long putts when we needed to just put pressure on the guys and did exactly that.” Brooks Koepka: “Just didn’t give ourselves any chances on the back side. We didn’t give ourselves enough chances for birdie and you have to be able to do that, especially as windy as it is today.” Daniel Berger: “We had a few stretch of holes where we lost it a little bit but Brooks played really well. I think I could have played a little bit better, and if that was the case, we may have come out with the win.” MATCH 5: Halved Jason Day/Marc Leishman (Internationals) halve with Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner (U.S.) Holes won: U.S. 6, Internationals 6 Holes led: U.S. 9, Internationals 4 Recap: After clawing back into the match and holding the lead through 16 holes, the Internationals could not hang on for a much-needed win. But at least they salvaged a half-point. Day missed a 20-foot par putt on the final hole, giving Mickelson a chance to win the match with a 6-1/2 foot putt, but he missed too. The Americans got off to a quick start and were 3 up through six holes. But the Internationals won four straight holes to take the lead, relying on an eagle, two birdies and a par. The Americans squared the match with a par on the 12th before a nice approach by Leishman set up Day for a birdie at the 14th.  QUOTES Phil Mickelson: “It was interesting. We played some good golf. We were 4-under through 10 in some difficult conditions and we were only 1 up. They had a stretch there where they won four holes and it was just back and forth. It’s too bad we both bogeyed the last hole because we had some good going today.” Kevin Kisner (on Mickelson): “He was my partner in my first Presidents Cup match, something I’ll always remember. He was the epitome of class and partner, and I just can’t thank him enough. He carried me around all day.” Jason Day: “They had us down a lot early in the round and then Leish had a great chip-in on 9 and got us going again. Spread that momentum our way, and you know, obviously the last few holes wasn’t the way we wanted to finish, but with that said, any point is like moving forward even if it’s a half a point.” Marc Leishman: “That’s about as intense as it gets. You have all your teammates there and all the American guys, and the match is on the line.”

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Tiger Woods zig-zagged all over the leaderboard in the opening round of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot before a rough finish left him fighting an uphill battle to claim an 83rd PGA TOUR win. Woods signed for a 3-over 73 in the opening round despite sitting in red numbers with six holes to play, leaving him eight shots adrift of early leader and playing partner Justin Thomas. A bogey, double-bogey finish spoiled what had otherwise been an impressive grind from Woods to continue the fight despite some bad breaks. "I did not finish off the round like I needed to. I made a bunch of putts in the middle part of the round. It seemed like most of my drives on the front nine landed in the fairway and ended up in bad spots, and I tried to stay as patient as possible, and unfortunately just did not finish off my round the way I needed to," Woods said. Coming off a bogey on the 17th following a wild drive into deep rough, Woods missed the final fairway to the left. He muscled his second shot to just short of the green but then chunked a chip shot that failed to make the surface. His fourth shot rolled out above the pin, leaving a treacherous downhill putt from 9 feet that snapped hard right to left. The 44-year-old was unable to coax it home, leaving a sour taste in his mouth given conditions were much more scorable than expected. "The golf course was set up fantastic. What they did with the hole locations were very fair today. It gave us an opportunity to make some birdies, and you look at most of the scores, and the guys took advantage of it," Woods said of the venue that yielded a winning score of 5 over the last time it hosted the U.S. Open, but had seven players under par from the morning wave. "The golf course is there to be had. Obviously they could have made it a lot more difficult if they wanted to, but I thought it was very fair. We have a long way to go. This is a long marathon of a tournament. There’s a lot of different things that can go on. I just wish I would have finished off my round better" In a day resembling a roller coaster ride, Woods was perhaps a little stiff in the cool morning air as he started slowly. The 15-time major winner had a great look at birdie on the opening hole from inside 20 feet, but it slid by the left side. Despite saving par with up-and-downs from greenside bunkers over his next two holes, he was quickly 2 over with bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes. A birdie on the sixth was wiped out with bogey on the eighth hole, but then Woods appeared to find his mojo as he birdied the ninth, 10th and 11th holes thanks to some brilliant putting. He connected from 31, 23 and 19 feet, respectively, and had fought his way back from 2 over to 1 under. But just as his putter had gotten hot, it found a way to cool off. Facing a great look at birdie on the par-5 12th from 9 feet looked to be heading dead center until the last possible second, it jumped right just a hair and brutally lipped out much to Woods' disbelief. Compounding his frustration, he followed it with back-to-back bogeys, and while he earned a shot back with a birdie bomb on the par-4 16th, he then dropped three in the last two holes.

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