MONTREAL — Scottie Scheffler showed off a goofy side that is legendary in Dallas circles and illustrates the ultra-competitive nature of golf’s No. 1 player.

Tom Kim expected no less.

The Presidents Cup got spicy on Thursday when 22-year-old Kim took his celebration to another level after burying a birdie putt from just inside 30 feet on the par-3 seventh hole. He pirouetted and shouted, “Let’s go!”

Scheffler responded by matching his birdie with a putt of about the same length, turning to Kim and shouting with equal passion, “What was that?”

And it was tough over the next two holes, especially when Kim made another birdie and walked to the ninth tee box – about 50 yards away – while Scheffler still had a 15-foot putt to close the hole (he missed). .

“It looked like he poked the bear, from my perspective,” said Scheffler, who won the Olympic gold medal while playing alongside Kim and defeated Kim in a playoff at the Travelers Championship.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Kim and Sungjae Im didn’t win another hole the rest of the way as Scheffler and Russell Henley secured a 3-on-2 victory on a day when the Americans won the four-ball session for a 5.-0 lead.

“He was just being himself. That’s how we play at home, and I knew it was going to happen,” Kim said. “It’s all in good fun. I made it on top of him, and he gave it to me, and I gave it back on the next hole. I don’t avoid him. He’s a good friend. But at the same time, this week I think I don’t like him, I want to beat him so badly, and I’m sure he feels the same way.’

They are friends. That much became clear when Scheffler wrapped his arms around an emotional Kim on the final hole of the Olympics to comfort him.

Scheffler competed – and won – against a field of 60 men. Match play is personal, and at least it seemed that way in a match that added some flavor to an otherwise flat day at Royal Montreal.

“We were up two in the game and he made a putt on seven, had a big reaction and I made a big putt too,” Scheffler said. “So it was important to me to make sure we kept the momentum in the match. And then I think he made a big putt on 8 and they were walking from the green to the tee or something like that.”

Scheffler said he saw a video of Kim “yelling at me,” but he didn’t notice.

“I just played a little bit,” Scheffler said.

Kim made his Presidents Cup debut in 2022 as a 20-year-old and proved to be the emotional spark for the Internationals, most notably when he hit his hat on the ground after making a winning putt in the fourballs match against Patrick Cantlay and Xander. Schauffel.

As for leaving the eighth green while his opponents still had a putt, Kim brushed that off.

“I made a putt, and whether he made it or not wouldn’t make any difference,” Kim said. “There was no reason to stay there and watch him. It doesn’t help us at all. It wasn’t an attempt to be cheap or do anything like that. We were focused on our own game.”

Scheffler shrugged, just like he does with everything else.

“It’s fun to compete and fun to represent our country, and at the end of the game you take off your hat and shake hands,” he said. “We’re friends after, we’re not friends during, I guess.”