By DOUG FERGUSON By DOUG FERGUSON ADVERTISING AP Golf Writer DUBLIN, Ohio — Nick Price and Fred Couples stood behind the seventh green, just long enough to get a snapshot of the exceptional golf Friday at the Presidents Cup. Jordan
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
DUBLIN, Ohio — Nick Price and Fred Couples stood behind the seventh green, just long enough to get a snapshot of the exceptional golf Friday at the Presidents Cup.
Jordan Spieth’s 40-foot eagle putt grazed the edge of the cup. Branden Grace made a 25-foot birdie putt to halve the hole. Both captains gave high-fives and back slaps to players and caddies as they headed to the next hole.
It was like that all afternoon at Muirfield Village. Too bad it didn’t last very long.
Fifteen minutes later, the horn sounded to stop play because of thunderstorms for the second straight day. Because of a delay that lasted nearly three hours, only two of the six foursomes matches were completed — big wins for each side. The Americans still had a one-point lead, and each team had the lead in two matches still on the course.
“It’s going to be a long weekend, that’s for sure,” Adam Scott said.
The second session was to resume this morning, with hopes of completing two sessions — five fourballs matches, followed by five foursomes matches — before sundown, provided the sun even shines. More storms were in the forecast, especially for Sunday.
The first Monday finish in the Presidents Cup was in play.
Golf was played for just over three hours, and it was a treat.
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley shot 30 on the front nine at Muirfield Village, an astounding performance in foursomes. Only some sloppy play allowed the match to go 15 holes in a 4-and-3 win over Jason Day and Graham DeLaet.
“We were down but, boy, on 5 we just turned it on and played some of our best golf,” Mickelson said.
Right behind them, Brendon de Jonge began to emerge as a star of the International team. He teamed with Ernie Els and they never trailed in a 4-and-3 win over Hunter Mahan and Bill Hass, going 8 under when the match ended at the 15th.
“This guy, he played beautiful and we both played well today,” Els said.
The Americans had a 4½-3½ lead with four matches still to be decided to complete the second session.
Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar were 6 under through eight holes and still only had a 1-up lead over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Oosthuizen missed a short par putt on the ninth to lose another hole, and the former British Open champion made an even greater blunder on the par-3 12th. After Woods went long of the green, Oosthuizen’s 7-iron leaked to the right and hopped into the water. The Americans won with a bogey and were 3 up with six holes to play when they stopped.
Spieth and Steve Stricker finally seized control of their match when Spieth made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth, and the Texan made another key birdie on the 12th. They were 3 up with four holes remaining.
What looked to be the decisive match of the foursomes session was Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman, who overcame an early deficit and were 1 up with five holes remaining against Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker. The International team had control of the other match. Scott and Hideki Matsuyama lost only one hole and were 4 up with seven holes remaining against Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner.
One thing was becoming clear through the relentless appearance of clouds — the course Jack Nicklaus built has been groomed for birdies.
Nicklaus stood at the back of the press center peering at the scoreboard, and he couldn’t believe the scores he saw from both sides. “They say this golf course is tough,” Nicklaus said, although he knows better. The greens are among the most pure on the PGA Tour, and they are soft because of the rain. In match play, with 24 of the best players from every continent except Europe, Muirfield Village doesn’t stand much of a chance.
“They are not protecting the course like they might do on a Sunday of the Memorial,” Els said. “So they are setting up the course where you can make some birdies if you play properly.”
It was a big change from two years ago at fast, fiery and frightening Royal Melbourne. In 80 holes on Friday, there were 51 birdies and two eagles. That’s good for the fourballs format — rarely for alternate shot.
“People want to see birdies,” Mickelson said. “We don’t want to be playing defense. We want to be playing offense. And when you do that, you’re winning holes because of great shots, not because of other’s mistakes. And I think that’s exactly the way it should be in these team events.”
Mickelson and Bradley, coming off their first loss in four matches as a team, fell behind early and needed a pair of big putts from Bradley to keep from falling further behind. It took a 15-foot eagle putt by Mickelson just to square the match on the par-5 fifth. But there was no stopping them from there. They followed with three straight birdies and won three straight holes on the back nine with pars.
Mickelson tried to hole out a pitch just short of the 13th green — an up-and-down was all he needed — and it hit the hole and spun 4 feet away. Bradley missed the par putt, bungled the 14th for another bogey and they halved the 15th with birdies.
Even so, they made six birdies and an eagle in 15 holes of alternate shot.
“I just think that when Phil and I get rolling in this alternate shot, we complement each other so well,” Bradley said. “I think that we both really enjoy kind of showing off in front of each other.”
De Jonge and Els opened with two quick birdies through three holes and never gave Mahan and Haas much of a chance. They didn’t lose a single hole.
“Brendon played awesome,” Els said. “He played great yesterday. Actually, he even played better today.”
The Zimbabwean, in his first Presidents Cup, said Els contributed in his own way.
“Don’t let Ernie give me all the credit,” de Jonge said. “He’s by far the most calming influence I’ve ever been on the golf course with. It’s nice to play with a Hall of Famer who hits it in the middle of the fairway and middle of the green. He makes it very easy.”
