Emotions run high in Canada, and Cantlay simply doesn’t care
MONTREAL—South Korea’s Tom Kim, an emotional spark for the Internationals against the United States at the Presidents Cup, said he and partner Kim Si-woo were cursed at by rivals on Saturday.
The South Korean duo was edged, 1-up, by Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele at Royal Montreal as the US team seized an 11-7 lead entering Sunday’s 12 final singles matches.
Both Kims holed long shots to win holes in what became an emotional duel, with Kim Si-woo making a Stephen Curry NBA “goodnight” gesture after sinking a 40-foot chip from the greenside rough to win the 16th hole.
“My favorite NBA player is Steph Curry, so that’s what I did,” Kim Si-woo said. “It didn’t finish well, but yeah, I was excited.”
Tom Kim said the emotions brought out unsportsmanlike behavior.
“As it got towards the end, it got a little feisty out there,” Tom Kim said. “I could hear some players cursing at us. I don’t think there was good sportsmanship there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand it.”
Cantlay admitted, “I didn’t even know what the goodnight gesture was until about 10 minutes ago,” and said he wasn’t affected by the Kims’ emotional actions.
“I don’t care what they do,” he said.
Second-ranked Schauffele, who won two majors this year, and Cantlay said they knew nothing about any abuse directed toward their Korean rivals.
“I felt like Pat and I, we treated the Kims with the utmost respect. We’re trying to quiet the crowds down when they were hitting,” said Schauffele.
“I have no clue if anyone was doing any of that. I don’t believe any of our guys would do something like that. So I’m not sure what he was hearing.”
