Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim trade fiery celebrations on Day 1, USA lead Internationals 5-0 #adessonews

Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim traded barbs in the form of fiery celebrations during a heated opening day four-ball match at the Presidents Cup which was won by Scheffler and Russell Henley 3&2.

It created scenes similar to last year’s Ryder Cup where the Europeans and Americans almost came to blows, with fever pitch reached at the tenth hole on Friday (AEST) where both Scheffler and Kim made birdies on an opening day the

They each let out massive fist pumps and effectively yelled at one another as Kim tried to breath life into an Internationals fight back while Scheffler attempted to maintain the American’s dominant start to the tournament.

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The tension led golf writer Dan Rapaport to make a call back to the infamous feud between Patrick Cantlay’s Joe La Cava and Rory McIlroy in Rome last year by posting on X: “Wish Joe La Cava was on Scottie Scheffler’s bag right now”.

The contest reached fever pitch when the pair both birdied the 10th hole when Scheffler yelled “What was that?” at Kim.

Scheffler and Kim are good friends which led the world number one to try douse any flames post-round by playing it off as heated competition between friends.

“Yeah, that was a bit of fun. It’s the same thing I would have done at home if he had made a putt and we were playing ‘Wolf’ and he celebrated like that,” Scheffler said.

“So it’s all in good fun. We enjoy competing against each other. That’s what it’s like out here. It’s fun to compete and fun to represent our country, and at the end of the match you take your hat off and shake hands. We’re friends after, we’re not friends during, I guess.”

Rapaport added further context to the situation on X by saying that they do normally like one another.

“Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim are legitimately close friends,” he said.

“Scottie and the rest of the Dallas crew have taken Tom under their wing. But today, inside the ropes, they want nothing more than to beat each other. Badly.

“We’ve all been there with a good buddy on the golf course. Team competitions are the best.”

Henley admitted that Kim and Sungjae Im walking off to the next tee while Scheffler was still putting out on the eighth green “bothered” him “a little bit”.

Commentator, and three-time Ryder Cup winner as a player, Paul McGinley said that he believed the International pair’s actions were “bordering on bad behaviour…that’s disrespectful in my opinion”.

Scheffler however took some responsibility for his opponents’ behaviour.

“To be fair to them walking off, I did like scream at them on the hole,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m not going to say it was their fault, you know what I mean?”

The uncharacteristic behaviour from Scheffler gathered plenty of attention online and it comes at an important time for the Presidents Cup which has been criticised for lacking passion and relevance due to the American dominance.

Scheffler has enjoyed a year reminiscent of Tiger Woods in his prime which included winning The Masters for the second time and golf.com’s Claire Rogers shared her thoughts on his animation on X.

“Obsessed with the fact that the biggest celebration we’ve seen from Scottie Scheffler this year (despite winning 7x + a gold medal) was to match Tom Kim’s birdie on the 7th hole on Day 1 of the Presidents Cup,” she said.

The US won all five four-ball matches on Thursday at Royal Montreal Golf Club.