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SAN FRANCISCO: A determined Internationals performance kept the United States' lead at a slim one point on Friday in the Presidents Cup match play golf tournament.
While there was still no stopping Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, the International team got hot late to split the day's six four-ball matches 3-3.
That left the Americans with a 6.5-5.5 lead in the biennial competition, which pits the United States against an International team drawn from everywhere in the world except Europe.
"Great," said Internationals captain Greg Norman, whose team was trailing in five of six matches at one point.
South African Tim Clark sank an eagle putt at the 18th hole as he and Fiji's Vijay Singh won the last two holes to beat Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink – the reigning US and British Open champions – 1-up.
South African Ernie Els and Canadian Mike Weir battled to a 2-up victory over Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim – winning the last three holes to secure the triumph.
Meanwhile, Asian sensations Yang Yong-Eun and Ryo Ishikawa notched a convincing victory, downing Kenny Perry and Sean O'Hair 4 and 3.
"Tim Clark, to do what he did, to come down to make eagle to win that match was really the shot in the arm," Norman said. "I can tell you our team cabin is very, very happy right now and very excited about the way we turned things around today. It really could have been a disastrous situation."
Clark and Singh were in the last match on the course and arrived at 18 all-square.
Clark landed his second shot 15 feet from the pin, then made a putt that circled halfway around the cup before dropping.
"I was pretty calm when I had to stand over it," Clark said.
Added Singh: "It was a close match all day. They chipped in three times and we didn't make much today, but we hung in there. That was the key ... we hung in there."
The same was true of Els and Weir, who surrendered a 1-up lead at the fourth hole and didn't regain it until the 17th. They squared the match at 16 with Weir's birdie, and Els drained a birdie putt at 17 before Weir's eagle was conceded at the last.
"We watched the board a little bit, and we knew all of the matches were within one or two except for a couple of them," Weir said. "So we knew if we could turn it around – we were 1-down most of the time – there was still a lot of golf to play."
For the Americans, Woods and Stricker teamed for a second straight convincing victory, beating Aussie Geoff Ogilvy and Argentinean Masters champ Angel Cabrera 5 and 3.
Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard beat South African Retief Goosen and Aussie Adam Scott 3 and 2, while Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan posted a 2 and 1 victory over Australian Robert Allenby and Colombian Camilo Villegas.
For Leonard, victory was a vindication after he missed a three-footer on the final hole of the last match Thursday that cost the United States a point.
He bounced back by nabbing a birdie at the first hole, and also sank an eight-footer to close out the match.
"He came back after finishing last night not the way he wanted to, and on the very first hole making a critical putt, getting us off to a good start," Mickelson said.
"When he had a chance to finish it today, he did," Mickelson added. "He showed a lot of heart today."
Allenby and Villegas played Johnson and Mahan close, but Johnson made sure they didn't turn the tide with a birdie putt at 17 to secure the win.
Saturday sees five foursomes matches followed by five four-ball contests, and competition concludes Sunday with 12 singles matches.
The Americans have never lost on home soil in seven previous editions, and in fact have lost just once – at Royal Melbourne in 1998.
But the strong finishes had the Internationals feeling confident heading into the weekend.
"We are feeling good," Clark said. "It seems like most of the close matches that have come down to the last couple of holes, we've been able to salvage a halve or even win a point, which is huge."
US captain Fred Couples said it wasn't a question of his players collapsing on the finishing holes at Harding Park.
"It's not that we're butchering those holes," Couples said. "But those guys are playing them awfully solid. We are hitting good shots. In a medal play tournament, you would walk in and say, 'I left a shot or two out there.'
"And in match play, if you're 1-up and you leave a shot or two on those holes, you're 1-down and that's what we have done."
- AFP/so
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