TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

U.S. leads, but can't pull away

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Mike Weir kept seeing American red on the scoreboard Friday, a familiar portrait at this Presidents Cup.

Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were dominant in a different format, winning so handily that they were the last match to tee off and among the first to finish. Phil Mickelson had a different partner and got the same result, closing out his match before reaching the 17th tee.

For the second consecutive day, the Americans were poised to take a comfortable lead.

Thanks to a superb fairway metal from Weir, a clutch putt for eagle on the final hole by Tim Clark and another late rally by the International team, the Presidents Cup is far from over.

The Americans were ahead in five of six matches at some point on the back nine. The fourballs sessions wound up in a draw, the teams splitting the six matches. The American lead remained one point, 6 1/2 -5 1/2 .

"We watched the board a little bit and we knew all the of matches were within one or two, except for a couple of them, so we knew if we could turn it around ... there's still a lot of golf to play," Weir said.

Weir and Ernie Els won the final three holes for a 2-up victory, the clinching shot by Weir from the base of the bleachers and onto the green at the par-5 18th for a conceded eagle.

"That was one of the better ones I've hit in a long time," Weir said.

Clark rolled in a 15-foot eagle as he and Singh won the last two holes for a 1-up victory over Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink.

"It certainly didn't look good there for a while," Clark said. "When you come out of a day like that tied - and obviously, only one point back now - we are feeling good. It seems like most of the close matches that have come down to the last couple of holes, we've been able to salvage a halve or even win a point, which is huge."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT