“We need to win this”, Oosthuizen said.
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Another crucial leg will be the second when Rickie Fowler takes on Adam Scott.
Scott struggled with the short putter all week, until Sunday.
Thongchai Jaidee and Charl Schwartzel, International, def. Bill Haas and Chris Kirk, United States, 2 and 1. Day squared it with a birdie on the 15th. Bowditch drove into the water and Leishman found the rough and couldn’t get home in two on the par 5.
That’s all the worldwide team ever wanted.
Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes, United States, halved with Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, International.
Holmes and Watson have yet to trail this week, although this match was a tight one. Matsuyama judged the distance flawless to 3 feet. On the 18th, Bae missed the green and chipped to 12 feet, and he poured in the birdie putt for the win. He caught up to Watson when the two-time Masters champion three-putted from long range on the 17th. Kirk’s chip ran 15 feet by. Walker missed a birdie putt from the fringe and conceded. They had no trouble getting their first win at the Presidents Cup. The rules committee made a mistake by telling Mickelson he couldn’t finish the hole, and Day won it with a birdie. Schwartzel gave away six holes by failing to make par. He also was unbeaten in 2005 and 2009. They birdied three straight holes starting on No. 2 for a 3-up lead, lost the next hole with a bogey, but the global team got no closer the rest of the way. They later won the 13th and 14th holes to seal the win, 4 and 3.
On the American side, the game’s top player Jordan Spieth was his normal dominant self.
Oosthuizen paid tribute to Grace, who closed out their match after a majestic approach into the par five 18th hole in near darkness set up the winning birdie. 4 and 9 to square the match. The global led 1 up with two holes to play when Johnson hit a tee shot to 7 feet and Spieth made the birdie to square the match. He poured it in the middle of the cup.
Granted, as of writing, it’s not even midway through Day 2 of the event.
Branden Grace joined Shigeki Maruyama (1998) as the only worldwide player to go 5-0 by easily beating Matt Kuchar.
“A moment I’ll never forget”, US captain Jay Haas said, so choked up when it ended that he couldn’t speak.
The Americans never looked like they were going to lose for so much of the day. Grace followed with a 15-foot birdie on the ninth and a 20-foot birdie on the 10th for a 2-up lead. From there, it was a matter of time.
The last three morning matches all went to the 18th hole.
The South African duo not only won their third straight match, they still haven’t had to play the 17th and 18th holes in competition.
Bill Haas, United States, def. Sang-moon Bae, International, 2 up. Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 2009 are the only US team to do that. The final match. And it was deciding match.
The incident seemed to fire up the 45-year-old, who needed a captain’s pick this year for the first time since 1994, and he delivered a shot-of-the-day contender at the 12th when his fairway bunker shot from 136 yards dropped near the pin and span sideways into the hole.
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Jordan Spieth suffered an uncharacteristic collapse in Friday’s Presidents Cup four-ball match.
