Tom Kim leads International team fightback at Presidents Cup but US still in command

The International team won five of eight matches on Saturday to cut into the US team's lead after three days of the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

The US team entered Saturday's foursome and four-ball events with an 8-2 lead, but the International team won three of the four four-ball matches in the afternoon session to shave the lead. The US leads 11-7 heading into Sunday's singles and need 4.5 points on Sunday to win the Presidents Cup.

Tom Kim and Adam Scott starred for the Internationals, winning both of the matches they played on Saturday.

Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, paired together in both of Saturday's events, won both of their matches for the Americans.

The 20-year-old Kim sank a 10-foot birdie on 18 to clinch the victory for him and his partner, Si Woo Kim, in their 1-up four-ball win over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. The American duo was trying to improve to 3-0 overall.

Kim ignited the celebration before his putt even dropped in the cup, dropping his putter and throwing his hat down.

"I mean, in tournaments, I would never, ever shout this loud or go this crazy," Kim said. "But I'm just trying to bring some good energy to the team. You know, that's all I can do. We're behind a little bit. So, I'm just trying to bring positive vibes and try to get the team going and just give momentum to the team.

"To beat a team like that today, I feel like tomorrow we're going to have a lot of momentum going in."

Sungjae Im and Sebastian Munoz took down Americans Tony Finau and Kevin Kisner 4 and 2, while Scott and Cam Davis topped Sam Burns and Billy Horschel 1-up in the afternoon session.

Thomas and Spieth earned the only afternoon win for the US, 4 and 3 over Hideki Matsuyama and Taylor Pendrith.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas earned the only afternoon win for the US. Reuters

"Obviously we're bummed with how the afternoon session finished and how it went," Thomas said. "But I think Jordan said it best when we were driving back. I think you can easily forget what's going on, what the score is, just because of how a day ends.

"We're still leading the Presidents Cup, and we're in great position to win tomorrow. So we all just got to put our heads down and get after it," Thomas added.

The teams split Saturday's morning session.

Spieth and Thomas defeated Im and Corey Conners 4 and 3, Scott and Matsuyama beat Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa 3 and 2, Tom Kim and K.H. Lee topped Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler 2 and 1, and Finau and Max Homa beat Si Woo Kim and Cam Davis 4 and 3.

If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes.

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday

Second leg

Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm

Game is on BeIN Sports

Recent winners

2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)

2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)

2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)

2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)

2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)

2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)

2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)

2011 Maria Farah (Canada)

2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)

2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)

2014 Lia Saad (UAE)

2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)

2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)

2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)

2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)

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