MONTREAL — Tony Finau felt a sea change when he stepped onto the first tee of the Presidents Cup on Friday. The horseshoe-shaped stand was full and loud. The gallery was four deep in the first channel. The atmosphere was completely different.

The biggest difference was the scoreboards. They switched from red to gold.

All.

In a stunning turnaround at Royal Montreal, the Internationals flipped the script on the American team by defeating the foursomes session, a performance so one-sided that the Americans only led in one of the five matches, and that was only for one hole.

Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im tied a record for biggest blow in the Presidents Cup. Jason Day secured a full point with a chip that was sublime even by his standards. Si Woo Kim capped off a very perfect day with a 15-foot par putt.

Three of the matches did not go beyond the 14th hole.

“Unbelievable,” said Adam Scott, who played in his 11th Presidents Cup without ever winning. “To come back and show everyone what this team is capable of after a tough day yesterday is just incredible. … This team now knows what it is capable of.”

Tom Kim didn’t star and still played a major role. The 22-year-old from South Korea had said Thursday that he thought the crowd was too quiet, and he hoped the Canadian fans would “help us a little more.”

They did, and scorecards filled with golden international leads weren’t even necessary. The noise in Royal Montreal made it clear what was going on. Inside the ropes the Americans couldn’t do anything about it.

“We definitely felt the energy right out of the gate,” Finau said. “I hit the first tee shot in our group yesterday, and I hit the first tee shot today. It was a night and day difference, I think it was just the noise and the energy.”

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, 3-0 in foursomes at the Presidents Cup, had no chance against Matsuyama and Im. The Internationals had birdies on their final seven holes, a staggering streak considering they were alternating shots, for a 7-and-6 win.

It tied a Presidents Cup record last set in 2011 when Scott and KJ Choi defeated Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 12 holes. The Americans did not help matters by not hitting the fairway until the eighth hole. But again, Matsuyama and I were the equivalent of 8 under for 12 holes.

Right behind them, Scott and Taylor Pendrith made three straight birdies. They never trailed and lost just one hole in a 5-on-4 win over Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa. Scott became the highest scoring international player of all time, passing Ernie Els with his 22nd career point.

The Canadians also delivered. Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners won the first two holes in a 6-on-5 loss to Wyndham Clark and Finau. They only lost one hole, and that was only after they had a six-concern lead after 11 holes.

It was the first time in Presidents Cup history that a team on the 14th hole won three games in one session.

“There was a lot of belief in the room, among the guys, that we can still do this. We’re still a great team and we still have a lot of golf to play,” Hughes said. “We came here this morning, we had our heads up and our chins up, and we were ready to play.”

Two games went the distance, and the Internationals were just as brutal.

Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were 1 ahead of Max Homa and Brian Harman and went to 18th. Day faced a field of muddy grass that had been pressed by spectators. He was one of the best golfers and even he was impressed when he saw him roll out to a foot.

“The lie wasn’t that great. It was wet,” Day said. “So I was just trying to understand the lie a little bit better through the practice swings. Is it going to bounce? Is it going to dig? Just because of how wet it is.

“Halfway through the shot I held my hand up just knowing it was going to be a good shot.”

And then Si Woo Kim produced one last cheer. In a 13-hole match, Kim and Byeong Hun An were 1 ahead of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley going to the 18th when An left a big, nasty lie in the rough and Kim couldn’t reach the green.

“It was a tough second shot, so I told him, ‘Just get me within five yards and I’ll get it.’ And I knew I had a chance to win,” Kim said.

Henley missed a 25-foot birdie putt. Kim drained a 15-foot par putt to secure another 1-up victory, another full point and a deadlock for the weekend.

There will be two sessions on Saturday – four matches of fourballs, four matches of foursomes – before Sunday’s 12 singles matches.

It’s almost like you’re starting over, and now it becomes a sprint.

“I’m just so proud of the boys, I’m so excited for them,” international captain Mike Weir said. “To play so well yesterday and not have any points on the board was disappointing. So to see their hard work and to see them stay there and us, captains and I, asked them to stay there and believe in it, couldn’t be happier.”

It was the sixth time a session had been swept in the Presidents Cup, and the first time for the international team since a 6-0 shutout in South Africa in 2003.

It was the second time the Presidents Cup had been tied after two sessions. In 2003 it was 5.5-5.5 and tied at 17-17 after Woods and Els tied three sudden-death playoff holes and captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player covered the darkness had agreed to a draw.

Weir put together three of his best foursomes matches for the Saturday morning fourballs session; US captain Jim Furyk retained three of his fourballs partnerships as of Thursday.

“I said yesterday, ‘They’ve got their backs against the wall. They’re coming out shooting,'” Furyk said. “Well, I’m sure my boys are a little pissed off in the team room right now. The idea is to start shooting tomorrow.’

This report used information from The Associated Press.