2015 Presidents Cup results: USA loses its commanding lead as Internationals fight back

After a dominating first session, the USA team had an opportunity to put the Presidents Cup out of reach in Friday’s four-ball session. The Internationals had to get at least three of the five points available to stay in it before the weekend, and they managed to get out with 3.5 to make it a game again. There are 20 more points up for grabs on the weekend and the US could still run away with it, but at least it’s intriguing again. The three-point International deficit from Thursday is now just a one-point deficit at 5.5. to 4.5, so there’s hope for the future of this event again.

International wins, 4&3 -- American captain Jay Haas made it clear he was going for the jugular in this second session when he put the power pairing of Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson in the leadoff match. International captain Nick Price, however, had his strongest and most cohesive two-man unit going, in South African duo Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace. They were the only International pair to win a point on Thursday, so this was supposed to be a strength vs. strength match that would go the distance.

But Spieth and DJ looked shaky from start to finish, missing putts and hitting a variety of loose irons and wild drives. Grace and Oosthuizen, meanwhile, kept their form running throughout the match. Oosty bombed in the deepest putt of the matches so far, something we’re used to getting from Spieth:

Spieth and DJ kept it competitive through the front nine, but the South Africans then turned it on and took advantage of the US pair’s mediocre play to close it out on the 15th green. Expect Price to keep his headliners together for both sessions on Saturday. The American superstar pairing, which would still be heavily favored in any matchup, may be broken up by Haas.

International wins, 1-up -- Fowler and Walker looked like the USA’s most reliable pair through the first 27 holes of their two matches. Rickie did most of the work with his putter, draining everything on Thursday. But that streak ran out on the back nine on Friday, and the Korean-born duo delivered an enormous point for the International side on the very last stroke of the match. The two never lead, but Bae, the only Korean national on the International team, stood over a putt to steal a last-second one-up victory. He put it right in the center:

Bae, a world-class talent who has made millions on tour, is about to start a two-year military obligation back home in Korea and this Presidents Cup is his last event. The pressure had to be enormous in front of the home crowd and, even if you were a US fan, it was amazing to watch him deliver with that final stroke on the final green. It was obviously a crucial late point for his team and seemed to swing the entire session.

Halved match -- This was, by a good margin, the most action-packed and dramatic match of the session. It involved rules drama and an unprecedented penalty, a wild hole out from a fairway bunker, bombed putts and a full 18 holes to resolve it.

First, the sideshow: Phil Mickelson, playing in his 21st team match play competition for the US, made a horrible rules gaffe and rookie mistake. He changed the model of his golf ball on the 7th tee, which violates the one-ball rule. The penalty for this violation, however, was completely botched by the rules committee. Phil was told he was DQ’d from the 7th hole so he picked up his ball. Then on the next tee, there was a “match adjustment” assigned for the violation. Zach Johnson, who played by himself against Jason Day and Adam Scott, lost the hole. This “adjustment” added another hole deficit, so the USA team essentially lost it twice. The match came to the 7th green all square, and then the USA left it 2-down. The blow-by-blow of the sequence is here but it threw the match and session into confusing chaos.

The 2-down deficit brought on by that incident and rules mistake did seem to ignite Mickelson and Johnson. They wiped out the deficit by the 11th hole, and then went 1-up when Phil pulled off one of the more memorable shots in this event’s history.

A Day birdie at the par-5 15th pulled it back to all-square and the nerves were exposed on every shot over those final three holes coming into the house. With the Internationals taking two points off of two of the USA’s stronger teams, having Day -- the clear-cut leader of his team -- clinch a third would have ensured the overall competition went to Saturday all square. Day got no help from Scott, who is lost with the un-anchored putter and may need to sit down on Saturday. He still managed to get half a point by matching Johnson’s birdie on the 18th green.

USA wins, 2-up -- Holmes and Bubba, the country-ass bombers, were the only American team to go back-to-back and get two full points out of the first two days. Holmes is looking like a great captain’s pick and fill-in for the injured Jim Furyk. Bubba specifically requested Holmes as a partner when he was added to the roster late last week, and the pair has worked out perfectly. They never trailed against their Aussie opponents and clinched the final point of the day to put the USA in front 5.5 to 4.5 heading to the weekend.

International wins, 2&1 -- On paper, this was the least exciting match with some of the lesser-known and lower ranked players on each side. The fireworks up ahead largely obscured the anchor match, but the Internationals put their third point of the session on the board thanks to the Schwartzel-Jaidee team.

Haas and Kirk were the two American players to sit on Thursday and they did not exactly come to the course on Friday and light it up. Neither made a birdie in this best-ball format until Haas chipped in at the 14th. That’s hard to do in best-ball but every player has to play two matches before Sunday singles so we’ll see them again, maybe not together, on Saturday. Schwartzel poured in a lengthy putt on the 17th to finish it off and momentarily pull the matches all square at 4-4.