USA Take Lead in Dublin

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The Americans survived a late rally Thursday and put the International team in a familiar hole at the Presidents Cup.

Steve Stricker blasted out of a plugged lie in the face of a bunker to 3 feet to save par as he and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth hung on for a 1-up win in the final match on the course at Muirfield Village. That win gave the Americans a 3½-2½ lead, the fourth straight time they have led after the opening session in the Presidents Cup.

Former president George W. Bush was on the first tee -- not the greatest omen because he also met with the Americans at Medinah before they coughed up the Ryder Cup -- and Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel made light of their bad haircuts by wearing wigs onto the tee.

Assistant captain Davis Love III found a pet squirrel small enough to fit into his pocket, and Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn gave Tiger Woods a brief scare when she put the squirrel on his back.

After all that, the Internationals have never been so happy to be trailing.

The Americans led in every match early in the session and were ahead in five of them when thunderstorms and a few bursts of rain stopped play for 1½ hours. None of the matches had gone more than 10 holes, though the delay at least gave the International team a sense of starting over.

"The break did us really good," Oosthuizen said. "We came back out, felt refreshed and just played well."

Jason Day and Graham DeLaet rallied from 3 down to Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker, winning on the 18th hole when Day made a 20-foot birdie putt. In the best match of the day, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama battled from 2 down to Bill Haas and Webb Simpsonwith five holes to play to earn a halve when the 21-year-old Japanese star hit his approach to 2 feet for birdie on the last hole.

Oosthuizen and Schwartzel gave Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson their first loss. The South Africans, best of friends since junior golf, took their first lead on the 11th hole and didn't lose another hole until they had a 2-and-1 win.

The Internationals looked as if they might even pull even at the end of the day. Ernie Els made his first birdie of the round at just the right time, a 12-foot putt on the 17th hole that extended their match with Stricker and Spieth.

Spieth, who overcame a nervous start with several big putts, pulled his tee shot into the water on the 18th. Stricker's approach plugged into the bunker. Brendon De Jonge had a birdie chance from 18 feet, and it looked for a moment like even a par might win the hole and end the match in a halve. Stricker popped it out of the sand and watched it trickle to 3 feet as he lightly pumped his fist. De Jonge's putt missed and the Americans had the lead.

The Presidents Cup began with fourballs for the first time since 1996, which should have favored the Internationals. Instead, the Americans won their first fourballs session in 10 years, dating to the second day in South Africa.

Still, this was a moral victory for the International team.

"What we showed today was plenty of heart," Scott said. He said that a one-point deficit was not a problem. "We can make that up with the first match tomorrow."

Muirfield Village was set up for birdies, and there were plenty of them. Ten of the 12 teams were at least 8-under par in their rounds.

The exceptions were Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman, who were only 3 under in the shortest match of the day. They lost, 5 and 4, to Woods and Matt Kuchar. The Americans used a handshake from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and they used it a lot.

"That was definitely all me," Kuchar said. "That stems from `Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' I figured this guy was the perfect Carlton."

Woods turned out to be a decent partner, too. Kuchar was his 19th partner in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, and it was a solid debut. Kuchar won at Muirfield Village in June, while Woods is a five-time Memorial champion.

"We both have the low stroke averages in this tournament's history," Woods said. "Put us together and we feel very comfortable how to play this golf course."

Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson in the anchor match were 3 up through three holes and never looked back. Branden Grace and Richard Sterne, the only all-rookie team for the International side, were 2 down after 10 and never got any closer. The match ended on the 15th hole.

Mickelson and Bradley were 3-0 as partners in the Ryder Cup last year and had a 2-up lead through seven holes on Bradley's eagle. They didn't win another hole the rest of the way, however.

"I had good rhythm early on and when we went back out (after the delay), I was just a little bit tight and didn't make very good swings," Mickelson said.

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Graham is Sony Open DeLaeter

One year after back surgery that made him wonder if he could ever play golf again, Canada's Graham DeLaet chipped in for eagle and twice holed 35-foot birdie putts for a 7-under 63 and a two-shot lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Carl Pettersson and former Sony Open champion K.J. Choi were among those at 65, while Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson and Bud Cauley were among those at 66.

"I'm just so excited to be back out," DeLaet said. "I had a good season my rookie campaign, and then it was all basically just taken away. And I realize now how fortunate we are to be playing golf for a living. My whole attitude is definitely better."

For Stricker, a minor adjustment was in order.

He is trying to become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to sweep the Hawaii events, and Stricker was noticeably tired during his pro-am Wednesday, and parts of the opening round.

Part of that was a Monday finish on Maui. He took the day off Tuesday, and he couldn't take three steps Wednesday without dozens of players congratulating him.

"A nice problem to have," Stricker said.

He picked up four birdies on the back nine, though, and was right in the hunt.

"I was a little sluggish at times. I'm still excited from last week," he said. "You turn around and you're right back in the competition. You've got to be focused. And I was, for the most part."

Cauley, who last year became the sixth player to go from college to the PGA TOUR without q-school, didn't show any signs of rust from having not played in nearly two months. He ran off four straight birdies around the turn until he stalled, then dropped a shot on the 17th and missed a birdie opportunity on the 18th when he tried to hit fairway metal out of a bunker and topped his shot.

"I did a lot of things right," he said. "I did a lot of things I was doing last summer."

Thursday was a gentle start of the season in the first full-field tournament of the FedExCup season on the PGA TOUR, with the ocean breeze barely strong enough to move fronds on the palm trees that line the fairways. Sixty-three players in the 144-man field broke par, including Oahu native Tadd Fujikawa, given a late sponsor exemption.

DeLaet surged to the top of the leaderboard when he chipped in from just short of the green on the par-5 ninth, then holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 10th and hit his approach to 6 feet on the 12th for another birdie. He took the outright lead with birdies on the last two holes, getting up-and-down from just short of the green on the par-5 18th.

At this time a year ago, he was a week removed from surgery on his lower back, which included shaving part of his disk to keep it from pressing against a nerve. The Sony Open offers pleasant scenery on TV, but he couldn't stand to watch.

"It took me a couple of months before I could even watch golf," he said.

The injury was nothing new, first suffered when DeLaet was playing hockey as a junior. His lower back would give him fits, and then the pain would subside. Toward the end of his rookie season in 2010 -- he finished 100th on the money list to easily keep his card -- it got so bad that he couldn't sit for more than a few seconds.

Surgery took care of the pain, and DeLaet tried to return in the summer in the two tournaments sandwiched around the U.S. Open. His next start was supposed to be the AT&T National at Aronimink, but after playing a few holes before the Wednesday pro-am, he realized he was trying to get back too soon.

"I think I wanted to be there so bad that I felt that I was better physically than I actually was," DeLaet said. "I just knew that it's hard enough to compete out here when you're healthy, and I just knew that I wasn't in good enough shape to compete."

For the moment, he feels great.

It wasn't windy enough for Choi's tastes -- he practices in blustery conditions all the time at home in Dallas -- and while he was still tired from a week at Kapalua, he was pleased to start with a 65. Ditto for Pettersson, who worked harder than usual in the offseason by playing golf just about every day in North Carolina.

"I took one week off," Pettersson said. "I work hard. A lot of people think when you're overweight, you're lazy. I don't do much gym work. I did do some stretching. I worked with a physio who stretched me three times a week, and I worked hard on my game."

The most sterling debut belonged to Harris English playing in his first PGA TOUR event. English won a Nationwide Tour event as an amateur, then barely broke a sweat in the final two stages of Q-school to get his card. And in his first round, he was atop the leaderboard at 6 under.

But he went long on the 14th green to make bogey, and then was too delicate with a bunker shot on the 15th and left it in the sand, leading to a double bogey. With a birdie on the final hole, he settled for a 67, still not a bad start.

Stephen Ames had one of the better turnarounds. He has been in Hawaii for his annual winter vacation, playing the Bay Course at Kapalua during the Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course. But when he got to Waialae, he was 3 over through eight holes.

Ames birdied six of the next nine holes and posted a 67.