Presidents Cup 2015: Match results, live updates, and scores from Saturday in Korea

The Presidents Cup cannot match the current appeal, competitiveness, and tension of the Ryder Cup. It’s the neglected little brother of these international team match play competitions. I will not argue that it’s the peer of the Ryder Cup, but I still cannot trash it. It’s fun to watch the most famous players in the world play a completely different game and format and have to rely on a partner. If the Internationals can actually make it competitive, the event would take off in the same way the Ryder Cup delivers each fall.

Here’s some background info and a primer on this 2015 Presidents Cup in Korea, as well as a full match board which we’ll update as the event progresses.

There will be Sunday singles session at the Presidents Cup that’s not largely irrelevant. This event has failed to gain the traction of the Ryder Cup because it’s been so one-sided through its short 20-year history. The International team has not only won just once, but they’ve repeatedly failed to keep things close from the very start. By the time it got to Sunday singles, even a 12-point session wasn’t going to be enough to make the final day competitive and worth monitoring closely.

This year in Korea, however, the Internationals have pushed the heavily favored and loaded American roster for three straight sessions. The opening session on Thursday was a disaster as Nick Price’s group fell in a three-point hole and it looked like this was going the way of all the other Presidents Cups. But they cut into that deficit on Friday and then halved both sessions on Saturday. As a result, we got to Sunday singles with the US in front by a point at 9.5 to 8.5. It’s the smallest margin this deep in the event since it was tied at the start of singles in 2005.

An interminable double session Saturday in Korea ends with the USA holding the same Presidents Cup lead they had before any ball was struck. Both sessions were an even split and the USA will go to Sunday singles with a one-point lead at 9.5 to 8.5. It’s the smallest margin for the Americans, who have owned this competition with a series of laughers, since it was tied going to singles in 2005.

Jordan Spieth preserved that margin with a clutch putt on the last hole of the last match of the morning session (a review of the morning foursomes can be found here). In the afternoon, it was more Spieth, a little Phil Mickelson and two International power-pairings. The details from afternoon four-ball:

For the first time in a decade, the International team is pushing the heavily favored USA roster at the Presidents Cup. This is going to be close going to Sunday singles, and if not for the No. 1 player in the world, the US would probably be behind.

Spieth preserved the American lead in the morning four-ball session by drilling a nerve-exposing eight-footer on the final green of the final match. And that putter, which we just watched post one of the best seasons ever on tour, is on fire again in the afternoon session. Spieth is playing with Patrick Reed for the first time this week. That was the USA’s top team last year at the Ryder Cup, the rookies taking on all comers as underdogs in Scotland. The match in this Presidents Cup, however, has been all Spieth.

The International team is now taking the fight to the heavily favored U.S. roster. Three of Saturday’s foursomes matches went the full 18 holes and the USA was fortunate to escape with a split session, each team earning 2 points. The session came to a finish with Jordan Spieth, the USA’s best player, draining a putt on the 18th green to keep the U.S. advantage at one point, 7.5 to 6.5. A review of the morning alternate-shot matches on Day 3:

International wins, 3&2 -- The International team’s most reliable duo were at it again, wiping the floor with some of the USA’s top young players. South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace are unstoppable right now and they put Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed down early and never gave them much of an opening the entire back nine. The USA pair pulled it all-square on two different occasions, but that only lasted a hole.

Saturday at the Presidents Cup started with a one-hour delay and perhaps more menacing weather in the forecast for the event’s only double session day. That posed a potential problem for getting the eight match, sun-up to sun-down Day 3 in before darkness but the morning session has avoided the weather in the area following that one-hour delay at the start.

The morning foursomes session has been a back-and-forth battle that probably won’t create much distance for either team when it’s all over. That’s good for the Internationals. The Americans started with a one-point lead after the Internationals charged back on Friday, and they’re keeping it close again in the morning session on Saturday. They could even have this tied up or in the lead by the time the afternoon four-ball tees off at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea.

Phil Mickelson has become the team leader and mascot on the American side of these recent match play events. This year is no different, as he lit up the International side late Friday night by taunting two of their best players and continues to be a father figure force in the team room. He’s sitting on the bench Saturday morning but that doesn’t mean he’s not involved in all the matches out on the course.

It seems he’s providing a little bit of luck out on the course and letting everyone, caddies too, rub his belly for good luck. And it’s working.

Maybe the biggest weapon in all of golf is the driver of Bubba Watson, so that’s not a good sight when he’s due on the first tee for the USA team in about 10 minutes. Bubba is the biggest hitter on the PGA Tour and that unmistakable pink driver is most responsible for his Tour success.

Watson’s pink driver snapped on the range in Korea while he was warming up for Saturday morning’s foursomes session. Foursomes is also known as the alternate shot format, but Bubba was scheduled to hit the tee ball on the 1st. HIs partner, J.B. Holmes, is just as big a hitter and could have switched in with his driver but the pair decided to keep Bubba driving on the odd holes and Holmes on the even holes.

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.