More great play from Retief Goosen and Adam Scott helped the International team keep their slim lead over the United States at 6-5 after better-ball matches in the Presidents Cup on Friday.
Goosen and Scott remained perfect at 2-0, along with Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank who prevented the International team from an even larger lead by rallying to win their match 2 and 1 against Trevor Immelman and Mike Weir.
Also, Internationals Michael Campbell and Vijay Singh failed to capitalise on great opportunities at the 18th hole, both of them settling for halves.
Campbell’s wedge to the 18th hit the pin and rolled back into the rough, then his belly wedge rimmed in and out.
Singh, playing with Tim Clark, stuffed a wedge into three feet for birdie on the 17th to square their match, then had a chance to beat Fred Funk and Stewart Cink when he hit a towering shot out of the rough to 15 feet. But the birdie putt never had a chance, dipping well below the cup for a halve.
Still, it set the stage for what should be a pivotal third round on Saturday with five alternate-shot matches in the morning and five better-ball matches in the afternoon.
”With a 36-hole day, one side can get a lot of momentum going,” Leonard said.
The crowd warmed up to the action, especially after a one-hour storm delay as all the matches were on the back nine. The fans were far more vocal in the afternoon, as loud cheers rang out at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, with only murmurs and grudging applause whenever the International team made a putt.
Some even cheered when Campbell missed an eight -foot birdie putt to stay one up on the 17th hole.
”That’s all part of the game over here in America,” the New Zealander said.
”A guy said to me over the putt, ‘Miss the putt.’
It’s pretty unfair. But once again, it’s actually a good thing for me personally. It really keeps me going.”
It fired up the Americans, too, especially after they struggled just to stay in the game.
”It’s contagious,” Chris DiMarco said.
Even so, US captain Jack Nicklaus was disturbed by a gallery that ignored the International team, and even spoke to the fans at one point.
”I said, ‘Hey guys, you can root if you want to for the American team, I think that’s fine, but when the International team hits a good shot, I think they deserve a round of applause in appreciation,”’ Nicklaus said. ”Nick O’Hern hit about a 25-footer
and you could almost hear a pin drop. I didn’t like that at all.”
O’Hern and Peter Lonard easily beat Davis Love III and Kenny Perry, leaving that American team 0-2.
Adam Scott carried the load in his and Goosen’s match against David Toms and Fred Couples, and the International pair raced to a four-up lead through six holes. The Americans tried to peck away at the lead, and got the deficit down to one hole until neither Couples nor Toms could manage a par on the 15th hole.
Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk were the last match out against Australians Stuart Appleby and Mark Hensby, mostly to give Furyk time to heal his sore ribs. When he arrived on the first tee, Nicklaus checked on his health, and Furyk waved both hands at him to signal he was fine.
Turns out it was Woods who was hurt. He began to suffer from back spasms on the sixth hole, when he hit a shot and his knees buckled. He said it was part of his ribs, which affected his upper back, and it had been bothering him all week.
It didn’t appear to affect his game.
Woods hit a six-iron on the par-three seventh, a peninsula green with the flag tucked just over the bunker. The shot soared into the hazy skies, landed softly and rolled just past the edge of the cup to within two feet. Woods walked to the side of the tee, and a physical therapist — the same one who treated Furyk on Thursday — filled a plastic cup with ice and pressed it against his lower back.
The birdie was conceded, and the hole was halved when Appleby pitched in for birdie to match him. Despite the ice treatment, Woods kept firing away with birdies.
He holed a 12-footer on the ninth for a two-up lead, then reached the par-five 10th in two shots with an approach from down the side of a hill, and barely cleared a bunker on the 11th to set up a three-foot birdie.
”It’s just a matter of keeping it pain free and loose before I swing,” Woods said.
Furyk managed to play without much pain, and he came through in the clutch. Right when Appleby and Hensby were making a charge with consecutive birdies, Furyk nearly holed his approach from the 16th fairway, then made an eight-footer for birdie to close out the match three and two.
”Jimmy decided to play his three best shots of the day,” Woods said. ”Perfect time.”
Verplank and Leonard fell two down after three holes against Immelman and Weir. With International captain Gary Player watching from behind the fifth green, Verplank hit his approach into four feet for birdie, Leonard made a clutch par on the eighth to halve the hole, and Verplank came through with a birdie on the ninth to even the match.
They took over on the par-five 12th with a birdie, and Verplank birdied the 13th with another great approach.
Next up is a battle of the unbeatens — Verplank and Leonard against Goosen and Scott in the first match on Saturday. – Sapa-AP