'Unbelievable': Canadians spark stunning Presidents Cup turnaround

Friday's word of the day from the Presidents Cup: Unbelievable.

You can use it to describe nearly everything that transpired on Day 2 at Royal Montreal - the shots, the crowds, the energy, and, most importantly for the International team, the results.

Before play started, the atmosphere on the grounds felt completely different from Day 1. Royal Montreal was noticeably busier, likely due to the later start time, and fans were much louder in their support of the Internationals despite the 5-0 deficit the home team faced after Thursday's session.

Perhaps all it took was a couple of International team members to call out the far more subdued Thursday crowd for the Canadian fans to respond.

"(The crowds) were unbelievable today," Tom Kim said after calling the crowd quiet one day earlier. "They definitely brought it. Obviously, these guys had to go out and play. I sat out, but the crowd, I think, plays a huge role."

"Today the fans really brought it," Mackenzie Hughes said. "We felt that from the get-go. Corey (Conners) mentioned that the first tee felt a lot different today than it did yesterday. Just electric all day."

The Canadian duo was welcomed to "O Canada" on the first tee, which set the scene for the remainder of the day.

Hughes added: "I joked to Corey on the No. 2 tee - I said how many times will we hear 'O Canada' today? Just an unbelievable day. The atmosphere was buzzing from the get-go."

The crowd's energy propelled Mike Weir's group to a stunning 5-0 result in the alternate-shot matches just a day after the team suffered the first sweep of an opening Presidents Cup session since 2000.

And it wasn't particularly close.

Three of the five matches ended before the 15th hole. The Americans led for only one of the combined 58 holes played on Friday between the two teams.

The International team, meanwhile, rostered seven of the top 10 players based on strokes-gained metrics, according to DataGolf. It was a complete reversal from Thursday's data.

Conners was the Internationals' best player on Friday. Playing alongside longtime friend Hughes, the Canadian duo beat Tony Finau and Wyndham Clark 6&5, and Conners' incredible shot on the par-3 13th was the nail in the coffin for his American competitors.

While Conners and Hughes were taking care of business, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im were delivering blow after blow in the day's first match against the powerhouse duo of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

Matsuyama and Im shook hands on the 12th green with a 7&6 win, the largest margin of victory in Presidents Cup history.

Elsewhere, Canadian Taylor Pendrith partnered with 11-time Presidents Cup veteran Adam Scott for a 5&4 win over Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.

It wasn't complete dominance from the Internationals, however. Two matches came down to the 18th hole, including the one involving Jason Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who narrowly edged Max Homa and Brian Harman.

If it weren't for Day's short game, the Americans would have the lead going into the weekend.

Bezuidenhout put his partner in a difficult spot on the 18th hole, leaving him with a tricky pitch off a downhill lie and little green to work with. But Day, as he's done throughout his career, pulled off a shot that Adam Scott called "unbelievable" to secure the Internationals' fourth point of the day.

The Internationals' five points on Day 2 marked the first time in the history of the Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, or Solhiem Cup that there were back-to-back sweeps of sessions, according to the Twenty First Group's Justin Ray.

The Internationals' historic foursomes session injected competition into an event that looked like it could be a runaway.

Finau was noticeably energized during his post-round press conference despite his team's forgettable day on the course.

"You learn from today, but we've got three sessions left." Finau said. "That's the message to our guys. We know there's a lot of golf to be played. We played great yesterday, and they played great today. Now we're back to square one, where it's a tie moving forward. So it's a dogfight, and I like my 11 guys in a dogfight over the next three rounds."

As Si Woo Kim said said after securing the sweep-clinching putt on the final hole of the day, it's "game on."