Spieth gives U.S. slim lead in Presidents Cup

Clutch putts spark rally from 3 down to give Americans a one-point edge.

INCHEON, South Korea — Jordan Spieth made seven-foot putts on the final two holes to complete the biggest comeback all week and allow the Americans to escape with a split of the foursomes matches Saturday morning in the Presidents Cup. The Americans had a

7 1 ⁄2-61⁄2 lead going into the four matches of fourballs in the afternoon.

The lead could easily have belonged to either team during a final hour at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea that featured clutch putts and big blunders.

The only match that lacked any drama was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, the International juggernaut this week. They stayed undefeated for the week in a 3-and-2 victory over Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed.

Spieth and Dustin Johnson were 3 down at the turn to Jason Day and Charl Schwartzel and still two holes behind when Schwartzel came up short and into a creek with a wedge from the 14th fairway. It was the first of two big mistakes by Schwartzel.

Johnson hit his tee shot to seven feet on the parthree 17th, and Spieth poured in the putt to square the match. Both teams missed the fairway on No. 18, and Schwartzel tried to reach the green from a bunker. He missed it so badly that the ball barely left the ground, smacked into the base of the lip and stayed in the bunker. The International team made bogey.

Spieth, however, played overly cautious with a wedge that left Johnson a 30-foot putt that was extremely fast at the hole, and he ran it seven feet by. Spieth had to make that par putt for the win, and one of golf’s best putters left little doubt.

“We could have made it a little easier from 90 yards out. I could have gotten us below the hole,” Spieth said. “But man, what a comeback we had there. That was a great fight. And it was a huge point in the Presidents Cup.”

For the fourballs session, U.S. captain Jay Haas kept Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes together for a fourth straight match, while Spieth was with Patrick Reed, his partner from the Ryder Cup.