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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USA Win Presidents Cup Down Under

The Americans returned Down Under and this time wound up on top in the Presidents Cup.

Jim Furyk became the fourth player to win all five of his matches, and the bottom half of the lineup was strong enough Sunday to give the Americans their fourth straight win in this lopsided series.

Perhaps it was only fitting that Tiger Woods clinched the cup for the second straight time.

U.S. captain Fred Couples  was criticized for using a pick on Woods, who had been out with an injury most of the summer and had not won since his personal life crumbled two years ago. Woods played well all week, even if he didn't always get rewarded with a point. In his singles match against Aaron Baddeley, he was never seriously challenged.

Woods closed out Baddeley, 4 and 3, and the celebration was on. The only point remaining was for Steve Stricker in the anchor match to beat Y.E. Yang for the final score, 19-15.

"I was hoping it wasn't going to come down to us," Woods said. I was hoping that Stricks and I could take a victory lap back here. But we didn't get off to a good start early. I was telling Joey (LaCava) on the range, 'It's probably going to come down to the last four matches.' We needed to get our point, so we went out there and played really well today and put a lot of heat on Badds."

Couples said Woods was ready to go all week at Royal Melbourne.

"He was ready for a month," Couples said. "Certainly, I couldn't answer how he was going to play, but this week I think he showed to himself that his swing is back and he's healthy, and that's more important to me. Obviously, we want to win the cup, but's more important for me to have people realize that he can play the game."

He can celebrate, too.

Woods took his turn in joining in the Fanatics, the Aussie group that goes to big sporting events. Woods even donned one of their green caps and slapped hands in the crowd.

It was a small measure of revenge for the Americans, whose only loss came at Royal Melbourne in 1998. And it was vindication for Couples, who said a month early that he was taking Woods because he was the "best player forever."

International captain Greg Norman got in on the debate, saying he would have taken PGA champion Keegan Bradley over Woods.

"He stepped up to the plate. He putted extremely well," Norman said. "Any player hates to see another great player struggle, because we all know what it's like to go through the ins and outs of the game. At the end of the day, you want to see the player who has dominated the game come back."

As for Couples' taking Woods over Bradley?

"I did make those comments," Norman said. "I probably still would have gone for Keegan Bradley because he's a major champion."

The International team's only win came 13 years ago at Royal Melbourne, when the Americans suffered their biggest loss in any team competition. There was no repeat this time, not even close.

The Americans led after each session, and their 13-9 lead going into the final session Sunday was too much for the International team to overcome, even with a loud and boisterous Australian crowd behind it.

Ryo Ishikawa, Charl Schwartzel, K.T. Kim and Geoff Ogilvy got the International side going. But the outcome was never seriously in doubt. Furyk, David Toms and Woods were at the bottom of the lineup, and none ever trailed.

Toms routed Robert Allenby, 7 and 5, giving the Australian a dubious distinction. He joined John Huston as the only captain's picks to not win a single point.

Furyk, coming off his worst season since he was a PGA TOUR rookie, joined Woods, Shigeki Maruyama and Mark O'Meara as the only players to record a 5-0 record in the Presidents Cup. Furyk made an eagle on the par-5 second and beat Ernie Els 4 and 3.

"I felt better about my game than what I've been playing this year, and I kind of want to thank my partners," said Furyk, who won three matches with Phil Mickelson and another with Nick Watney.

Mickelson, 3-0 going into singles, conceded the first three holes to Adam Scott and conceded another hole at the eighth to fall 4 down. He rallied far too late and lost, 2 and 1.

Couples wasn't planning on Furyk winning all his matches. Then again, nothing ever surprises him.

"We needed it. He was a leader," Couples said. "He and Phil told me, which was very odd -- I wasn't planning on it on Tuesday night -- that they wanted to play together. And they rode and rode and rode. Jimmy going 5-0 is great. It's cool. It's unique. It's fun. And I think he's happy, as the rest of the 14 guys are."

Not so happy was an International team that can't figure out how to win.

"It's disappointing to not get the cup this year, but to have this event here at home, it has been a fantastic week and one I'll remember for my whole career," Scott said. "We played hard. I think it's just a really demanding golf course. No matter how good you are, on this course it's just too hard to hit the ball well to get it around here. And they might have done it just a little bit better than us this week."

Woods Gets Point in Rainy Melbourne

Finally it was a point for Tiger Woods which was all the Americans needed on Saturday in the rain at Royal Melbourne to build a 11-6 lead in the Presidents Cup and put the International team in serious danger of falling too far behind to recapture the cup on home soil.

The Americans went 4-1 in the foursomes session, and tried to expand their lead in the afternoon fourballs. They were up in three matches early, though the International team was trying to rally. No team has ever trailed going into the 12 singles matches and won the Presidents Cup.

Woods played again with Dustin Johnson, and while it wasn't pretty, it was finally a point in their foursomes match.

They trailed early in the match until winning consecutive holes with pars as Adam Scott and K.J. Choi struggled. Woods and Johnson went 1 up on the 13th when the International team conceded before reaching the green, and the Americans went 2 up on the next hole after Scott and Choi made another bogey.

Woods closed out the match with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 16th.

In afternoon fourballs, Woods missed six putts inside 15 feet — one of them for eagle — as he and Johnson were all square against the South Korean duo of Y.E. Yang and K.T. Kim.

Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk won four out of five holes on the back nine, and Mickelson polished off Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day by holing a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole. Mickelson and Furyk won all three matches they played together.

U.S. captain Fred Couples sat David Toms and Phil Mickelson in the afternoon session. Couples said Mickelson offered to sit if needed, and Couples said it would keep the four-time major champion fresh for the Sunday singles.

That ended a streak of 32 consecutive matches played at the Presidents Cup for Mickelson.

President's Pointless for Tiger

The Americans kept the lead in the Presidents Cup, and they still don't have a point from Tiger Woods.

In some of the toughest conditions ever at Royal Melbourne, Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day earned a small measure of redemption by holding on to beat Woods and Dustin Johnson on the 18th hole that helped the International team split the six four-ball matches Friday.

The Americans lead 7-5 going into a double session Saturday with 10 points at stake.

Woods is 0-2 for the first time ever in this event, and the first time in any team competition since he and Phil Mickelson lost their opening two matches at the 2004 Ryder Cup.

The state of his game was tough to measure, as was the case with any other player. The wind was vicious. On a sand belt course with fast greens, the most telling statistic was that 13 holes in the six matches were won with pars -- a rarity in the better-ball format.

International captain Greg Norman, who knows Royal Melbourne as well as anyone, poured water on the 18th green to drive home just how hard it was. The green repelled the water down the slope, none of it absorbed in the firm turf.

"There's probably nowhere else in the world where that would happen," Norman said.

Norman was mostly impressed with Baddeley and Day. One day after they bogeyed the last two holes and had to settle for a halve, Baddeley came through in the clutch with a tough par on the last hole -- right after Woods nearly chipped in for birdie from behind the green -- to help keep the International team in the game.

"I was very disappointed yesterday. I feel like I let Jason down," Baddeley said. "So it was great to come through today and make par on the last hole."

Woods was the only American without a point. His game looks fine. The numbers are shocking.

His partnership -- Steve Stricker in foursomes Thursday, Johnson in four-balls Friday -- has won only one hole in two matches. That came on the fourth hole Friday when Woods rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt, complete with a fist pump that is rarely seen these days. The lead lasted only four holes, however, as Baddeley and Day squared the match with a par on the eighth.

Baddeley made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 13th to go 1 up, and Woods and Johnson couldn't catch up. They just didn't have enough birdie chances and when they did, they couldn't make them.

"Just trying to hit the greens, that was a heck of an accomplishment," Woods said. "Wedges weren't holding, balls were oscillating on the greens, you've got to play the wind on putts. It was a tough day."

Woods and Johnson will give it another shot Saturday, paired in the foursomes session. They will face Adam Scott and K.J. Choi.

The north wind is considered the toughest at Royal Melbourne. The wind blows harder on links courses in the British Open, but these greens have far more slope and most are elevated. The premium is on precision, and even that isn't always enough.

"It's carnage on a golf course like this today," Adam Scott said after he and K.T. Kim lost to Mickelson and Jim Furyk. "Thank goodness it's match play and we weren't actually counting our strokes.

"Today is a day where it's hard to feel like you're playing well."

Ernie Els, a multiple winner at Royal Melbourne, said it was the fastest he has ever seen the greens because of the heat and wind. Officials did not cut the greens overnight, fearful of wind blowing golf balls all over the place.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it an 11 today," Norman said about the conditions as the round began.

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, the leadoff match for the second straight day, again beat Els and Ryo Ishikawa, closing them out on the 17th hole. Mickelson and Furyk also remained perfect, with Furyk making a birdie on the 17th for a 2-and-1 victory.

The International team won the last two matches. Geoff Ogilvy, who grew up next door at Victoria Golf Club, holed a bunker shot on the fifth hole to give him and Choi a lead they never lost. More importantly, Ogilvy holed a 6-foot par putt on the 18th to take down Nick Watney and Bill Haas, a team that still has not had the lead in two matches.

Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel, South Africans with three majors between them, won on the 17th hole against David Toms and Hunter Mahan.

Toms and Mahan are one of five teams that have yet to be split up. Els and Ishikawa will try to get their first point Saturday, while Simpson and Watson, and Mickelson and Furyk, are paired again. The other team that remains intact is Baddeley and Day, who go into Saturday with a lot more confidence after their big win.

Scott Cards Major Tiger Defeat

Adam Scott and K.J. Choi were relentless Thursday at Royal Melbourne in dishing out the worst loss for Tiger Woods in any format of match play.

The International pair won 7 and 6, tying the record for biggest margin of victory in Presidents Cup history. And Woods and Stricker, undefeated two years ago, turned out to be the only weak link for the Americans.

The U.S. won three matches handily, and rallied to halve two other matches to build a 4-2 lead after the opening session.

Woods and Stricker, winners of their first six matches together, now have lost their last two -- 6 and 5 last year in the Ryder Cup to Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, and 7 and 6 to Scott and Choi. What looked particularly bad about this one is the American tandem didn't win a hole and was the only team that failed to make a single birdie.

They will get new partners for Friday's fourballs matches. Woods will play with Dustin Johnson, while Stricker will play with Matt Kuchar. It will be the first time since 2007 that Woods plays with anyone but Stricker.

The only other match that went 12 holes since the Presidents Cup began in 1994 was when David Frost beat Kenny Perry by the same score in singles in 1996.

"Unfortunately, they got off to a quick start and we just couldn't keep up," Woods said. "We kept falling to the wrong side of these slopes. The golf course is so difficult, it's hard to make up shots."

Two of the six matches went the distance. Geoff Ogilvy and Masters champion Charl Schwartzel lost a late 2-up lead and had to settle for a halve against Bill Haas and Nick Watney. Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar rallied from 3 down with six holes to play and won the last two holes with pars to earn an unlikely halve.

"It did not look like 4-2 about an hour and a half ago," U.S. captain Fred Couples said. "We'll take that any day."

It was the third straight time in the Presidents Cup that the Americans won the opening session. They are 6-1-1 in this competition, the only loss coming 13 years ago at Royal Melbourne.

The Americans won the other three matches in a rout, led by the opening match of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson. They were 7 under through 16 holes in a 4-and-2 win over Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa.

Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, together for the first time since Brookline in the 1999 Ryder Cup, won 4 and 3 over Retief Goosen and Robert Allenby. Hunter Mahan and David Toms drilled the South Korean duo of Y.E. Yang and K.T. Kim, 6 and 5.

"The only hole that they won, we three-putted," Toms said. "So for the most part, we kept the pressure on, hitting fairways, hitting greens, made a few putts. Just a good day overall."

Woods and former caddie Steve Williams exchanged a firm, businesslike handshake on the opening hole and otherwise kept their distance. That was about all the drama in what might be the final chapter of this bitter split between player and caddie.

Williams now works for Scott, who was crisp off the tee and into the firm greens. He rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt to win the 11th hole, then hit an approach into 8 feet as Choi made the birdie to close out the match.

Scott and Choi never came close to a bogey and were 4 under through 12 holes. Woods and Stricker were 3 over.

"It seemed like we were just a little bit off," Stricker said after his first competition since Sept. 25 at The TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. "It seemed like I put him in the rough by a foot or so. If you're in the rough here, trying to hit to some of these greens is pretty difficult."

Scott called it a "very pleasing victory," more to do with being home in Australia than anything to do with his caddie.

"A good win, because they were a tough team last time, took a lot of points off us," Scott said. "So it was pleasing to get one up there."

For the longest time, it looked as though the day would end in a tie. International captain Greg Norman did not lose hope.

"We had the ability to go out there and win more points than we did," Norman said. "Day one is day one. It's a four-day event."

Woods and Williams in Foursome

Tiger Woods will face his former caddie Steve Williams on the opening day of the Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

Williams was sacked by Woods in July and apologised to his ex-boss for comments he admitted could be "construed as racist" this month.

Woods defended Williams last weekend and will now take on Williams and Adam Scott in Thursday's foursomes.

"It worked out awesome for everybody to have Adam and Tiger play," said United States captain Fred Couples.

"As we said all along, they are still very good friends and I think it's an exciting match."

Woods and Steve Stricker were paired against Scott and South Korea's KJ Choi in the sixth and final match, with the bi-annual tournament starting with the international pair of Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa coming up against Americans Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.

International captain Greg Norman was pleased to see Woods face Scott on the opening day of the tournament and backed the pair to be unaffected by matters off the course.

"I think it's great for the tournament," he said.

"I personally wouldn't have wanted to be sitting down at the singles and everybody is playing a really tight match and it comes down to the last group or the second to last group and all of this pressure is coming on because it's the first time the two met.

"It played out the way it played out. There wasn't any premeditation.

"At the end of the day, the guys in that last group will be the consummate professionals and go out and play the game of golf representing their International Team and the US Team the way they should do."

United States won the last Presidents Cup - held between the US and a team made up of the rest of the world not including Europe - in 2009, with Woods holing the winning putt in a 19½-14½ victory.

The tournament was founded in 1994 and the US have won all but one of the previous eight events, with the exception being a 17-17 tie in 2003.

Meanwhile, US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has announced that South Korea has been chosen to host the competition in 2015.