Despite some obvious obstacles facing the International Presidents Cup team on paper, there were reasons for optimism during Thursday’s opening session at Royal Montreal.

After all, the last two cups that were contested on an international grass field went to the extreme, in 2015 in South Korea and five years ago in Royal Melbourne. The international team defeated the US in four-ball in those two Cups 12-6, leading captain Mike Weir to open with that format on Thursday. The crowds at the Canadian Open were among the loudest in football in recent years, promising home field advantage for the black and gold.

Hope turned into outright despair within five games. Here are the key numbers and observations from Thursday’s Presidents Cup.

1. The Americans won the session 5-0 and quickly built a perhaps insurmountable lead. This is the third time in Presidents Cup history that one team has won the opening session, with the Americans also doing so in 1994 and 2000. They went on to win those two Cups by a combined margin of 19 points.

It is only the second time in Presidents Cup history that one team has swept while playing on different grounds. Remarkably, the other copy also came from Royal Montreal. In the 2007 Saturday morning celebrations, the United States turned a two-point lead into a seven-point lead, with only one of those five games reaching the 18th hole. Three games reached the final gap on Thursday.

2. Although the five matches were mostly exciting, the international team never had a consistent basis. The Americans led after 61 holes on Day 1. The Internationals led after 10 holes. The United States was especially strong immediately after the turn and took over the matches on holes 10-14. On that stretch of the course Thursday, the U.S. won seven holes and lost just one.

The United States was much better on Royal Montreal’s four par-3s on Thursday, winning six of those holes and losing only one.

Pure passion from @Keegan_Bradley 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gkkxUIGP2y

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 26, 2024

3. All this, and we haven’t even gotten to the format that the United States has dominated at this event in recent years. Since 2007, the Americans have had a difference of more than 33 points in the foursomes, which start on Friday. In that same period (well, before Thursday), the international team was only outscored by one point in four-ball.

With only four matches played in each two-man format on Saturday, this 5-0 result means four-ball for the United States this week. This is the first time in Presidents Cup history that the road team has outscored their opponent in four-ball. Before today, the home team had an all-time points advantage of 88-54 and a win-loss draw of 11-0-3.

4. Statistically, the Presidents Cup is simply not a fair fight. Since 2019, 65 matches have now been held in this event. In 64 of them, the United States has had the advantage when it comes to the world rankings. The only exception in that period was in singles in 2019, when Louis Oosthuizen (20th) had a narrow lead over Matt Kuchar (24th).

When comparing the season averages of each selection at the start of the week, the United States had the advantage in shots off the tee, approach, around the green and putting. They also had the advantage near the hole of 50-125 yards, 100-125, 125-150, 150-175 and 175-200. There are eight players competing this week with a world ranking of 26 or worse. They are all on the international side.

Games, championships, competitions and cups are not won on a spreadsheet. But sometimes the data is painfully predictive.

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5. The United States had nine of the top 11 performers in strokes gained from tee to green on Thursday, according to Data Golf. The best was Patrick Cantlay, who won 2.5 strokes with his approach play alone. That’s another bleak development for Weir and company: Cantlay ranks 97th on the PGA Tour in that statistic this season, the worst of any player on the American side.

The international team came into this week with few statistical advantages, but had five of the eight best players in the field in terms of strokes gained this season. That was also turned upside down on Thursday, with six of the top eight putters representing the American side.

6. World No. 2 Xander Schauffele put the finishing touches on the opener, nailing back-to-back approaches on 17 and 18 within 10 feet and converting both birdies. Schauffele has now won seven of his 10 career Presidents Cup matches and moves to 2-3-0 in four-ball. Schauffele and partner Tony Finau combined for nine birdies on Thursday, despite negative strokes as a pair.

In Match 2, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala defeated Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee by 1, thanks to Theegala’s only birdie of the day. In his Presidents Cup debut, Theegala hit his approach on the 18th within three feet and rolled in the putt. Thursday marked the 50th Presidents Cup game of Adam Scott’s career. He has now lost 26 of those matches, eight more than any other player in the event’s history.

The American team is on the board 🙌
@XSchauwelle | @PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/WBZlaQkofE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 26, 2024

7. While Tom Kim provided some electric moments throughout the day, he and partner Sungjae Im nailed every hole in their losses to Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley. The victory was Scheffler’s first in a team event since the 2021 Ryder Cup, as he remained winless at both Rome last year (0-2-2) and Quail Hollow in 2022 (0-3-1). Henley, meanwhile, gave the Americans the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt in the first match they would never relinquish, a brilliant start for the 35-year-old in his first ever Presidents or Ryder Cup match.

8. Playing his first Presidents Cup in eleven years, Keegan Bradley, along with partner Wyndham Clark, was a strong performer in their 1-up victory over Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. In ShotLink-measured tournaments this season, Bradley has made 1.8 putts of 10 feet or longer per round. He drained six today, including a 19-footer on the final, securing a full point for the Americans.

Bezuidenhout, a top-20 putter on the PGA Tour this season, wasn’t nearly as successful Thursday. Trailing by 1, the South African put his side in great position with approach shots on 16 and 17, each to 1.8 meters. He missed both – a troubling sight for a player ranked in the top 40 this season from four to eight feet. Pendrith has lost all five Presidents Cup matches of his career.

9. Cantlay and Sam Burns denied Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners, 2 and 1, in the fifth match. The win improves Cantlay’s Presidents Cup record to 6-2-1 overall and 2-0-1 in the four-ball format. The American made five birdies on his own ball on Thursday, leading all players of the day in total strokes gained.

Like his compatriot Pendrith, Conners is now 0-5-0 in his Presidents Cup career. The affable two-time PGA Tour winner did not make a birdie after the second hole today.

10. One team has been in the lead after the opening session of the Presidents Cup in 13 of the previous 14 editions. Of those thirteen, eleven won or retained the cup. When the Presidents, Solheim and the modern era of the Ryder Cup are combined, the team with the lead after the first session wins 72 percent of the time.

However, a five-point lead is a monstrous mountain to climb. The largest deficit after the first session for a team that came back to win is three points, achieved by the Americans at Royal Melbourne in 2019.

If you’re looking for an international Day 2 target with precedent, the biggest deficit the Americans have overcome after two sessions is also three points from the Americans five years ago.

(Top photo of Keegan Bradley: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)