Presidents Cup delicately poised
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 The Presidents Cup | Day Two | 10 Oct 2009
For the second consecutive day the 18th green at the Harding Park Course in San Francisco has provided the International Presidents Cup team with a late boost, Tim Clark’s 14 foot eagle putt securing a win against the team of Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink and taking his team within one point of the USA side. At the completion of day two it is 6½ to 5½ to the Americans.
Unlike the opening day when the Internationals enjoyed an early lead only to lose that advantage late, today it was the Americans who took the early advantage. They lead in four of their matches and it appeared for much of the day as if they would enjoy a significant margin at the completion of the second day. Then came the fight-back from the Internationals.
The first to gain a point on day two was when Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard defeated Adam Scott and Retief Goosen with a ten foot Leonard birdie at the 16th to win 3&2. For Leonard it provided some consolation for his slip at the final hole on day one. The Americans were 8 under when the match finished at the 16th so the Internationals were hardly disgraced.
The second point decided on day two went to the Internationals when Y.E. Yang and Ryo Ishikawa made no race of it against Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair. A birdie at the first by Yang saw the Internationals go one up and although the Americans staged a mid round rally, birdies at the 13th and 14th by Yang saw the point go to the Internationals 4&3. Ryo Ishikawa played his part with four birdies of his own to take the overall total to 4½ to 3½.
Ernie Els earned his second point of the week when he teamed with Mike Weir to win the final two holes with a birdie at the 17th and an eagle by Weir at the last to win 2 up over Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim. It was then 4½ points apiece but when Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker blitzed Geoff Ogilvy and Angel Cabrera the Americans again had their nose in front, albeit narrowly.
The Robert Allenby/Camilo Villegas match against Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson had the Americans ahead from the second hole and although the International pairing played stayed in touch, the Americans held their advantage until their match was closed out at the 17th.
At that point it the overall score was 6½ to 4½ but Tim Clark and Vijay Singh birdied the 17th after Singh had driven the green in their match against Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover and that match headed to the final hole all square. The next ten minutes would prove crucial to the outcome of the day and perhaps the outcome of the overall event.
The par five last saw Clark find the green with his approach from 240 yards or so and not only did he find the green, he finished just 14 feet from the hole. Cink created an opportunity for a birdie but before he could convert Clark holed a curling right to left putt for eagle and the all important point went the way of the Internationals.
The day had been halved with three points each but the Internationals will feel they have built some late momentum after recovering from an early deficit.
In tomorrow morning’s Foursomes Greg Norman has stood down Australian Geoff Ogilvy and Angel Cabrera while Fred Couples will give Anthony Kim and Lucas Glover a rest.
The event is now delicately poised and given what we have seen in the opening two days it is now anybody’s race.
