USA TODAY International Edition
USA dominates Internationals in Presidents Cup
JERSEY CITY, N.J. The Internationals needed something good to happen Saturday morning in the Presidents Cup.
The team should have just stayed in bed.
And now the Internationals need a miracle.
The weekend broke chilly and windy at Liberty National Golf Club, but the U.S. continued to sizzle in the 12th edition of this biennial match play competition. After building an 8-2 lead after the first two days — the largest advantage after two sessions in the history of the event — the Americans increased their advantage to 111⁄2-21⁄2 by winning three of four Foursomes matches and halving the other.
The Internationals have won just one of the 14 matches played.
“These guys are trying. It doesn't look like we are trying but we are trying very hard,” Internationals captain Nick Price said. “The guys obviously are a little down. … It’s tough. The momentum is swung against us. We've just got to keep plugging along. We're not going to lay down.”
But the Internationals could be down for the count before Sunday’s singles play. If the Americans win 31⁄2 points in the four afternoon Fourballs matches, they would reach 15 points and retain the Cup by a tie. If they sweep the afternoon matches, the U.S. wins the Cup and improves to 10-1-1 in the series.
If the Americans do sweep, Sunday’s 12 singles matches will still be played but only the final score will be determined. The most lopsided victory in the series came in 2000 when the U.S. won 211⁄2-101⁄2 in Virginia.
The U.S. nearly pulled off a sweep Saturday morning.
Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed moved to 7-1-3 as a team (20-1 this year) with a thorough win over Jason Day and Marc Leishman in the opening match. Down 1 after eight holes, Spieth and Reed squared the match on the ninth and won the final four holes in a 4-and-3 victory.
Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar, who teamed for a victory on Thursday, whipped Adam Scott and Adam Hadwin, 4 and 3, in the second match. The Americans never trailed and won the last two holes, with Kuchar capping the match with a 20-foot birdie on the 15th hole.
“This game, it can change really quickly. We've got to play, play hard in every single match and try to get as many points as we can,” Johnson said. “I know we have a nice lead right now, but the other team, they are very good, and things can turn really fast.”
Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner remained undefeated with a 2-and-1 victory against Emiliano Grillo and Jhonattan Vegas. The Americans trailed for just one hole and won two of the last three holes of the match to close it out.
The lone bright spot for the Internationals came in the morning’s final match when Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace pulled out a half point against Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.