US team one up at Presidents Cup

October 5, 2013. The American team is comfortably placed with 4.5-3.5 lead over the International team after a rain drenched Friday’s game at Muirfied village. The match was called off with four of six matches yet to complete.

The Friday’s game saw return of form in last year’s Ryder Cup pair, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley who won the top match 4 and 3 against Jason Day and Graham DeLaet.

But just moments later Ernie Els and Brendon de Jonge of  the International team beat Bill Haas and Hunter Mahan by the same score to reduce the deficit.

[highlight] Saturday will be an enormous but long day with those four points still up for grabs, and then 10 more points spread out over two more sessions [/highlight]

A long rain delay, though, means that the other four matches on course will have to be completed when play resumes on Saturday morning with both teams up in two.

Mickelson and Bradley lost the opening hole after Day and DeLaet recorded a birdie three, but then returned in style by winning four consecutive holes from the fifth – all of them with birdies. That put the duo three up after eight and Mickelson could have increased that lead on the ninth but saw his birdie putt come up just short as the hole was halved.

Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth were one up on Branden Grace and Richard Sterne after seven when the rain came, although the South African pair had trailed by two before winning the sixth with a par. Birdies at eight, ten and 12 saw the Americans surge out to a four up lead before the Europeans clawed a hole back on 13.

Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar continued their unbeatable pace, even against a Charl Schwartzel/Louis Oosthuizen team that was on fire early. Woods and Kuchar went out in 30 on the front nine at Muirfield on Friday.

Here’s where things stand on the match board, with four more matches resuming at 7:35 a.m. ET on Saturday. It will be an enormous but long day with those four points still up for grabs, and then 10 more points spread out over two more sessions

Phil Picture Credit to Callaway