U.S. leads Presidents Cup ... but not by much

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-10-09

Two days into the eighth edition of the Presidents Cup, things are just about where they should be.

The United States team has a 6 ½-5 ½ lead over the Internationals, built in large part in the early matches of each day, only to have the Internationals storm back to make things tight.

For the most part, the matches have been hard-fought and close throughout. And when that’s the case, there’s always plenty of room for what-ifs and what-might-have-beens.

The Internationals won the last two matches Friday in dramatic style. Ernie Els and Mike Weir shocked Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim by winning the last three holes for a 2-up victory.

How good was it going for the winners? Weir, the Canadian lefty, ripped a three-wood from very close to a set of bleachers and the ball hopped up onto the green and his eagle putt was eventually conceded.

Tim Clark also showed some nice touch with his three-wood on the 18th. He hammered his to 15 feet and when he curled in the eagle putt, he and teammate Vijay Singh had won the last two holes for a 1-up victory over Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover. (Interesting note on Cink and Glover. The two American major champions in 2009 are pointless going into the last two days).

"We watched the board a little bit and we knew all the of matches were within or two, except for a couple of them, so we knew if we could turn it around ... there's still a lot of golf to play," Weir said.

After a 6&4 foursomes victory Thursday, the dynamic duo of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker laid another whipping on the Internationals in Friday’s four-ball competition. This time they hammered Angel Cabrera and Geoff Oglivy, 5 & 3. That American pairing has yet to be behind in two matches and hasn’t reached the 16th hole either day.

But the game’s best player, as well as one of the best in 2009, were not totally thrilled with how they played.

"You want two on each hole -- two balls in the fairway and two balls on the green, always putting a lot of pressure on your opponent," Woods said. "We didn't do that, it seemed like, on the front nine especially. It was one ball in, and that one ball was making birdies. So we did well."

So, for the weekend? Well, the U.S. has never lost on home turf and have a 5-1-1 lead in the series. Today and Sunday are long days with five foursomes matches in the morning and five fourball matches in the afternoon.

And the competition concludes with 12 singles matches on Sunday. Internationals captain Greg Norman was excited about the thrilling finishes Friday, but is generally pleased with how his team has performed to this point.

“I think that's just indicative of what professional golf is all about. If you're behind the 8-ball, you feel like you've got to dig a little deeper, you have the ability to do that. There's no reflection on the opposing team. Just our guys just came up with the shots at the right time,” he said.

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