The U.S. Team served notice that it's aiming to make it 10 Presidents Cup titles in a row on Thursday when the defending champion dominated the opening day's play in Quebec, sweeping the International Team in all five four-ball matches.

In the tournament that pits 12 U.S. pro golfers against their international counterparts from around the world, excluding Europe, the Americans have ruled this tournament since its debut in 1994, winning on 12 occasions and losing once in 1998. The 2003 event in South Africa was declared a tie.

With the Americans leading 5-0 at Royal Montreal Golf Club, the visitors now need to get a projected 15.5 points to retain the title. On Friday the teams will transition to foursomes (alternate shot) before playing four-balls on Saturday morning and foursomes in the afternoon. The tournament ends with all 12 players from each side competing in singles matches.

On Thursday, the stacked American side led with world No. 2 Xander Schauffele and partner Tony Finau beating Australian Jason Day and South Korean An Byeong-hun 1up in the opening match. World No. 3 Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala beat the Aussie duo of Adam Scott and Lee Min-woo 1up.

The third match saw world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley put away South Koreans Tom Kim and Im Sung-jae 3&2. Veteran Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open winner, beat South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Canadian Taylor Pendrith 1up.

The final match saw Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay defeat Canadian Corey Connors and Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, world No. 7 and top-ranked player on the Internationals, 2&1.

Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who is coaching the U.S. Team for the first time, singled out Schauffele in his post-match comments, citing the leadership he brings to his all-star team.

"I've always known Xander and admired his game, but I just really feel like he's stepped up here in the last few years. I've just witnessed how he is in the team room, how he carries himself," said Furyk. "He's a confident person, but I think he instills confidence in others, as well. You want folks like that to step up in your team room, the veterans, and show some leadership. He's done a great job."

Schauffele said he and Finau did what they "were supposed to do" in their opening match. The pair were 2up against Day and An through 14 holes, only to be tied after 16 holes. Schauffele then made birdies on the final two holes to secure the point.

"Maybe we lost a little focus there on 16. That was a really tough pin," said Schauffele who will play with Cantlay against Matsuyama and Im in the foursomes on Friday. "But it was nice to be able to have my teammate's back here (on holes 17 and 18) because he had mine all day."

Scheffler, the Olympic gold medalist who won his second Masters title in April, had a relatively easy time against the South Koreans as playing partner Henley made a birdie on the first hole to get them 1up in a match they would never trail. Henley, who is making his debut in the tournament, made three more birdies, including back-to-back starting at the 14th hole.

"I think we did a good job of getting a lot of looks out there, and we had a couple chances in the middle of the match to extend ourselves and we weren't able to hole them," said Scheffler. "But Russell stepped up in a big way on 14 and 15 with back-to-back birdies to give us a 3up lead."

Mike Weir, the International Team coach, was making no excuses for his squad's play but added "there was still a long way to go".

"I saw great energy out there amongst our guys. It didn't go our way today, but the guys are positive. I saw a lot of great things," said Canadian Weir, the 2003 Masters winner. "The U.S. Team played fantastic today. Doesn't mean we're not going to do that tomorrow. The energy is good in our room."

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