Internationals cling to 2-point lead in Presidents Cup

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

The International team has the lead going into the final day of the Presidents Cup for the first time in 16 years, and it has a trio of rookies to thank for that.

Marc Leishman and unbeaten rookie Abraham Ancer staged a remarkable rally yesterday afternoon in foursomes, going from 5 down with eight holes to play to earn a most unlikely halve against Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.

Byeong Hun An and Joaquin Niemann never led in the final match and scratched out another half-point against Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau.

That gave the Internationals a 10-8 lead going into today’s singles, and a real chance to win the Presidents Cup for only the second time in its 25-year history.

“We’ve given ourselves ... a great shot to win the session tomorrow (today) and win this cup,” said Adam Scott, who has been part of one tie and seven straight losses. “I think we’ve got to be pretty happy about that. Come out tomorrow, leave it all on the golf course.”

Nothing inspired the Internationals more than to watch the final two teams on the course scratch out a half-point despite never leading at any point in the match.

“For us to scratch and scramble for one point, the guys were very excited about that,” Els said.

It looked as though it could have been even larger, when the Internationals built a 9-5 lead after the morning session.

The Americans finally showed some fight, even with captain Tiger Woods sitting out for both sessions. And the caddie of Patrick Reed might have shown too much fight. He confirmed in a statement to the Barstool Sports podcast ‘Foul Play’ that he shoved a spectator whom he felt got too close to Reed while cursing him.

Kessler Karrain, who is also Reed’s brother-in-law, will not be on his bag for the final session.

FOCUSED ON WINNING

Reed said in a statement he respects the tour’s decision and that everyone was focused on winning the cup.

It was the second straight week of scrutiny for the Reed camp, following his rules violation of scooping sand out of the way in the Bahamas that led to a two-shot penalty.

There was plenty of drama yesterday, and all that did was set the stage for 12 singles matches.

Woods put himself out first against Abraham Ancer, who got his first taste of a big stage when he was grouped with Woods at the World Golf Championship in Mexico City in February.

Reed, a target of the fans all week, will play C.T. Pan in the third match. The International team needs six points from the 12 matches to claim the cup for the first time in 21 years.

Reed and Webb Simpson lost matches each of the first two days. Woods sent them out again yesterday morning, and they delivered a dud by making only one birdie in four balls and losing, 5 and 3, to Hideki Matsuyama and Pan.

Even more curious was Woods, who won matches each of the first two days with Thomas, benching himself in the morning and the afternoon, and saying it was best for his team.

Finally, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland took down Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen in the lead match in foursomes. California rookies Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay rallied from 3 down through 5 holes by winning three straight holes and pulling away at the end over Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im.

It was only the third time in 13 events that the International team had the lead after team matches.