Melbourne: The United States maintained their grip on the Presidents Cup on Friday, holding off a late charge by the Internationals to share the points 3-3 in the opening four-ball matches as the Royal Melbourne course bared its teeth amid searing northerly winds.
As the temperature rose and swirling gusts buffeted the famed sandbelt course, players on both sides were dumbstruck by the pace of the flint-hard greens, but the US made enough of their chances to hold a 7-5 lead going into the weekend's play.
Phil Mickelson, who teamed up with Jim Furyk again to down Australia's Adam Scott and Kim Kyung-tae 2&1 for the pair's second win, described the conditions as "crazy."
"This was a case where we're trying to read the wind on the putts," the four-times Major champion said in a greenside interview. "I hit a couple of good putts that didn't go in and it kind of affected my confidence."
After stumbling with a late bout of nerves in Thursday's opening foursomes, the Internationals showed huge grit to grind out three tense victories to square the day's ledger at the end.
Aaron Baddeley gained a measure of redemption following his meltdown at the 18th tee on Thursday, calmly sinking the winning putt on the last after carrying his wayward playing partner Jason Day to a one-up victory over Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson.
"Yesterday was very disappointing, even though we still got a half," the Australian Baddeley said. "But it was great to bounce back today and like Jason said, we are a team and I feel like we feed well off each other and we get on great out there."
Geoff Ogilvy also showed nerves of steel to roll in the winner on the 18th against Bill Haas and Nick Watney, after both he and South Korean KJ Choi made a meal of their drives.
US captain Fred Couples had split Woods and partner Stricker after they slumped to a stunning 7&6 defeat in the opening foursomes. The move paid off well for one half, as Stricker watched his playing partner Matt Kuchar notch four birdies in his first 12 holes to propel the US's penultimate pairing to a crushing 4&3 victory over Australia's Robert Allenby and YE Yang of South Korea.
Kuchar's round featured one of the day's highlights, rolling a 40-feet putt from the apron of the 12th which burned the edge of a greenside bunker before sparking a huge roar from a packed gallery when it finally dropped into the cup.
Presidents Cup rookies Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson made it two wins in a row over South Africa's Ernie Els and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, sealing a 3&1 victory on the 17th hole and begging captain Fred Couples for more.
"Yes, I do, he's doing good right now, I'm riding his coat-tails pretty good right now so that's how we got two Ws (wins) out of it," answered Watson when asked whether he hoped to be paired with Simpson again.
Goosen, who scowled his way through to defeat with Allenby on Thursday, was a picture of tranquility in arms with US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel as the pair took early control over Hunter Mahan and David Toms and cruised to a 2&1 victory.
Both captains were pleased with their teams' performances in the conditions, which saw players watch horrified as their putts were repeatedly blown off the greens.
"I'm proud of all of these guys," said Couples. "We hung in there, we won three points, we did not lose any ground ... I like where we sit."
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