U.S. captain Jeff Fujimoto (front left), flanked by teammates and local caddies, celebrates the Americans’ third straight Bridges Cup victory.
Ois Keniry
In the third iteration Bridges CupThe elite U.S. mid-amateur team barely held on in the final session to defeat the international competition 17-15 at Haesley Nine Bridges Stadium in South Korea. This victory is the third in a row for the Americans in this competition.
Bridges Cup is a partnership between South Korean conglomerate CJ Group and 8AM Golf, in which two teams compete over three days in a Ryder Cup style. The first iteration took place at CJ’s Nine Bridges (No. 87 in the GOLF world ranking), on Jeju Island in 2022. The following year, the competition moved to Les Bordes (No. 83) in France.
Each team is hand-selected by its captain and is comprised of high-level amateur golfers whose resumes include USGA championships and major tournament experience. All that talent was evident in Haesley.
The 12-person American team on Monday, he scored in the first session to take a 5-1 lead in four-ball matches. However, the international players made up ground in the three-day competition and were two points down at the start of Wednesday’s singles session with 12 points up for grabs, meaning it was truly a tournament for everyone. At first, it seemed like the international team was gaining momentum and waiting for a potential comeback.
“After nine holes it really looked like the Internationals had a chance to break it,” said Simon Holmes, professional golfer and Bridges Cup commentator.
Matthew McClean, Hugh Foley and Lukas Michel won a closely-fought morning match, but USA’s Drew Kittleson finally put a red card on the board after a 2-1 victory over Jacob Austin.
Then everything started to come together for the Americans. They have won five of their last eight games, with Scott Anderson, Andrew Medley and Drew Stoltz winning 5 and 4.
“We never thought he was ever missing,” said international team captain Simon Holt. “We rallied like crazy, but ultimately we fell short.” Holmes added: “The way they fought, the intensity of the competition, the amount of stress that was under the players and especially the captains, just shows that the Bridges Cup, the combination of 8am and CJ and this concept of team golf in the middle of the night, is an absolute winner .
