More great play from Retief Goosen and Adam Scott helped the International team keep their slim lead over the US 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 capitalize on great opportunities at the 18th hole, both of them settling for halves.
PHOTO: AP
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 3 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 1-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 8-foot birdie putt to stay 1 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 4-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 6-iron on the par-3 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 2 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 2-up lead, then reached the par-5 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 3-foot birdie.
Next up is a battle of the unbeatens -- Verplank and Leonard against Goosen and Scott in the first match Saturday.
Dean Wilson shot an 8-under 62 to take the lead and David Duval made his first 36-hole cut this year.
Wilson, best known for playing with Annika Sorenstam at the 2003 Colonial, had a 12-under 128 total after two rounds at the LaCantera Golf Club, one stroke in front of Jeff Maggert and John Senden and nine in front of Duval, the world's former No. 1 player who had missed 18 straight cuts and broken par just once this year before shooting a 1-under 69 on Thursday.
"It was a cycle that needed to be broken," said Duval, whose previous cut was in the Michelin Championship last October. "I've been number one and number 1,000, but I've hit bottom and I'm coming back up."
Wilson, who had Friday's lowest round, finished third in this tournament last year.
Maggert, a Houston-area resident, was exhausted at having his infant twins, young son and wife in one hotel room after fleeing Hurricane Rita. He was content with the second-round 66 that kept him in the hunt for his first US PGA Tour title in six years.
"Hopefully we can get an extra room for the weekend," Maggert said.
"I'm just glad we're all together."
With Hurricane Rita shifting further east, no rain is expected in San Antonio over the weekend, but winds could still peak upward of 56kph today.
Taiwan's Lu Wei-chih battled to a two-under-par 70 yesterday to grab the lead after the third round.
Lu, 27, will enter Sunday's final round at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club just one stroke ahead of countryman Lu Wen-teh, who is 15 years his senior.
The elder Lu is the only player in the tournament's history to win the title twice -- in 1994 and 1996 -- and he remained in contention after a roller-coaster 70.
American Ron Won, playing in his rookie season on the Asian Tour, charged into the title frame with a blistering 66, the day's lowest score, for a share of third place alongside overnight leader Lin Wen-tang, who carded a 73.
Australian Kurt Barnes returned a 71 to sit three off the pace on 213, while a further stroke back was Wei-chih's older brother, Lu Wei-lan (70).
Defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, who won last week's Taiwan Open, failed to keep up pace, shooting a 73 which left him six shots adrift.
Lu Wei-chih said he didn't want to become overconfident.
"I want to win but I must try to not get ahead of myself," Lu said. "It's the first time that I'm leading into the last day of an Asian Tour event and I will try to treat tomorrow as another day," he added.
Lu will be looking for his maiden victory after turning pro in 2002.
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