The US recovered from a stunning collapse by Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker to take a 4-2 lead in the Presidents Cup at the end of yesterday’s opening foursomes as the nervous hosts stumbled late in the day.
Woods and former caddy Steve Williams had moved to defuse tensions following the New Zealander’s recent racial slur, the pair shaking hands at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club’s first tee on the opening day of the biennial tournament.
However, the former world No. 1 and playing partner Stricker looked far from comfortable thereafter, as they crashed to a 7&6 loss to Australia’s Adam Scott and South Korean K.J. Choi.
The US made light of the pair’s struggles, however, and it was their opponents who crumbled in front of packed galleries when the heat was on.
Having led in five of the six groups, the Australian-stacked Internationals faltered late in their rounds as their traditional weakness in foursomes came back to haunt them.
Their team trailing 3.5 points to 1.5, the final all-Australian pairing of Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day blew the chance to take the last point against Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar.
Baddeley burned the rim on a short putt that would have sealed the win on 17, then duffed his tee-shot into the right rough on the last as the nerves set in. Johnson calmly sank a six-footer to steal a half-point for the defending champions.
The pairing of Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy and Charl Schwartzel surrendered a two-up lead in the last holes to halve their match with Bill Haas and Nick Watney.
US captain Fred Couples paid tribute to the grit his players displayed late in the day, but would also have been delighted with the performance of his first pair, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.
The Presidents Cup debutants were a model of composure as they hauled in Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa to give the US a 1-0 lead.
The Americans quelled early jitters to come back from two-down after the first four holes and post an emphatic 4&2 win when Els conceded the match after missing a long birdie putt.
Iskandar Johor OPEN
AFP, JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia
Joost Luiten of the Netherlands continued his rich vein of form by shooting a scintillating eight-under-par 63 to take the clubhouse lead in the first round of the Iskandar Johor Open yesterday.
Luiten, who finished tied fifth in Singapore last week, birdied the last hole for a one-shot lead over title holder and three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Australian Marcus Fraser and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club.
South Korea’s Charlie Wi led the Asian charge with a 66 to share fifth place with James Morrison of England and Nicolas Meitinger of Germany at the US$2 million event.
The first round was called off after lightning stopped play. No players from the afternoon session finished their round, meaning 78 players will return today to resume play.
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