San Francisco, CA (My Sportsbook) - Each side picked up 2 1/2 points in Saturday's four-ball matches, but the U.S. leads 12 1/2 - 9 1/2 with Sunday's 12 singles matches to go at The Presidents Cup.
Saturday's anchor match between Phil Mickelson and Sean O'Hair for the U.S. and Vijay Singh and Tim Clark for the Internationals was the final match to be completed. None of the four players could make birdie at Harding Park's par- five closing hole so they walked off halving the match.
The result left the Americans five points away from winning the Presidents Cup for a third consecutive time. The last time the U.S. lost to the International squad was in 1998.
Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker completed a perfect team record. They came from behind Saturday morning to win, then routed Ryo Ishikawa and Y.E. Yang, 4 & 2 in the fourth four-ball match.
The first contest Saturday afternoon went to the U.S. when Anthony Kim and Jim Furyk held on for a 2-up victory over Adam Scott and Masters champion Angel Cabrera.
The Internationals had an easy go of it in matches two and three.
Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby cruised to a 2 & 1 victory over U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and British Open winner Stewart Cink. The American major winners went a combined 0-6-1 in the team sessions.
Ernie Els and Mike Weir crushed Justin Leonard and Zach Johnson, 5 & 3 in match three.
It came down to the final match on Saturday with a lot riding on the outcome. If the U.S. could win the full point, it would take a nearly insurmountable four-point lead into the singles, which it has traditionally dominated.
A win for the Internationals and it would be a manageable two-point cushion, but it ended in a halve, despite some sensational golf.
Mickelson and O'Hair were 2-down at the turn, but squared the match with an O'Hair birdie at 13. Mickelson hit his approach to concession range at 16, but Clark followed him with a birdie of his own to halve the hole keep the match all-square.
Singh got a conceded birdie at the short, par-four 17th. O'Hair drove into a bunker and blasted out to three feet. He needed that putt to halve the hole and he poured it in as they moved to 18 even.
Both Clark and O'Hair missed the fairway, while both Mickelson and Singh drove into the short grass. No one got on in two, although Singh was just short and Mickelson just long.
O'Hair pitched from right of the green 15 feet past the hole. Clark left himself 20 feet and Singh hit a poor putt that came up 15 feet short from just shy of the green. Mickelson chipped his 10 feet short and it became a putting contest.
Clark was first and his putt hit the hole, but stayed above ground. Next up was Singh and his birdie effort never hit the hole. The Americans had two chances at it and O'Hair was first. His putt hugged the right edge and that left the stage for Mickelson.
The world No. 3 couldn't capitalize.
"We had a good match today," said Mickelson. "I think both sides would've liked to have finished with a birdie and see if we could've won it. It was a fun match."
Now it's down to the singles with the U.S. in command. In the previous seven Presidents Cups, the Americans have won singles six times, with the only exception two years ago in Canada when the U.S. was seven points ahead.
But the Internationals aren't out of this just yet.
"My guys are in a great place," said International captain Greg Norman. "This is what we needed for this format. They've put themselves in position now. I'm extremely proud of them."
American captain Fred Couples can be proud of his best pairing.
On Saturday morning, it was Woods with a heroic performance. He holed a 22- footer for birdie at the 17th to square their match, then hit a spectacular four-iron inside 10 feet to set up the win at 18 that gave them the match.
In the four balls, it was Stricker that did the damage. He had five birdies in a six-hole span from the third and suddenly the American side was 4-up.
The U.S. got to 6-up with six to play, but Ishikawa and Yang didn't give up. They won 13 with a Yang birdie and 14 and 15 with Ishikawa birdies. Neither the 18-year-old captain's pick, nor the PGA Champion could birdie 16, so Woods and Stricker moved to 4-0.
As awesome as Woods was Saturday morning, Stricker was equally good in the afternoon with seven birdies.
"What he did this morning's round really made me want to do something and step up a little bit," said Stricker of his partner's performance down the stretch Saturday morning. "The putter was my friend this afternoon. I gave myself a lot of opportunities."
Woods was more than happy to assist as needed.
"I helped out on three holes all day, 17, 18 this morning and here," Woods said after he was conceded birdie and the win at 16. "Otherwise, I was cheerleading all day."
The Internationals clawed back from a 2-down deficit in the opener, but Furyk birdied 10 and 13 to move back to 2-up. At the 15th, Kim made his first birdie of the match to halve the hole, but Scott kicked in a three-footer to win 16 and get his side 1-down.
Kim hung in there and made a tough six-footer for birdie to halve the 17th. The Internationals needed to win 18 to halve the match, but Furyk knocked his second close at 18 and when Cabrera missed his eagle putt, the U.S. picked up a full point.
Match two was all Internationals from the third hole. Allenby won that with a birdie and found his team 4-up through 10 holes. Cink birdied 11 and 16 to make it 2-down for the U.S., but a halve at 17 gave the Internationals the victory.
Els and Weir won the first and never relented. They built a 3-up lead at the turn, pushed it to 4-up at 11 when Els holed out from a bunker and closed the match when the Americans conceded at 15.
Els and Weir didn't lose a single hole on Saturday and moved their record in four balls to a perfect 4-0.
