The good ship USA was listing, it was taking on water on day two at the Presidents Cup matches at Royal Melbourne.
After a 4-1 first day thrashing by the International squad, Tiger Woods’ American team was once again getting slapped upside its collective head in those difficult alternate shot (foursomes) matches.
At one point on the back nine, the Internationals led in all five matches and for even longer, led in four of the five.
Then, suddenly, with things looking quite bleak, the tide turned.
The score ran to 6-1 quickly with Adam Scott and Louie Oosthuizen easily handling Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar in the day’s first match, 3-and-2. Abraham Ancer played lights out with partner Marc Leishman and they put a 3-and-2 beat-down on Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson. It was Reed’s second straight defeat with the home crowd loving it.
Out on the course, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas were locked in a heated battle with Hideki Matsuyama and Ben An, Xander Schauffele and Pat Cantlay were struggling against Adam Hadwin and Joaquin Neimann while Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland were getting thrashed by Sungjae Im and Cameron Smith.
Momentum flipped to the U.S. when Cantlay holed a 16-footer at the 18th to get his team a 1-up victory.
Then came the day’s biggest celebration.
Woods and Thomas were even at the 18th when Tiger hit a gem of an approach and left Thomas with a 15-footer for the win. Thomas had struggled most of the day, missing several short putts that cost his team. But when the chips were down, J.T. poured in the winner.
Tiger and J.T. were both screaming, chest bumping and going nuts. J.T. later revealed what they shouted.
“There’s a video of Terrell Owens (former NFL wide receiver), just T.O. being T.O., but he yells ‘I love me some me!’” Thomas explained. “And I showed it to the guys this morning, they hadn’t seen it, and I said, ‘If I make a big putt today, I’m yelling it.’ And that was about the biggest putt I could make, so I figured it was a pretty appropriate time to yell it.”
How familiar was Woods with the cry? “Very familiar with it,” he deadpanned after the round. “We were looking at it, and we had our moment on the last hole, and we both said it at the same time.”
Instead of a potential route, things tightened up on the scoreboard.
Out on the course, Fowler and Woodland put a rally together and came up with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to square their match. At 18, after the Internationals were in with par, Fowler made a clutch five-footer for par and the critical half-point.
By day’s it, instead of a possible 8-2, it was 6 1/2 to 3 1/2.
It is still a shocking score.
“I think they (US team) came in here thinking they were gonna clobber these guys (International team). That’s simply not the case,” said former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger.
Els was bullish despite the late American rally.
“We’re in a very good position. This is the nature of this cup. I believe it was good for them (his team) to see what can happen. My guys learned a lot.”
On the other hand, Woods and Thomas were fired up for their team.
“I’m speechless. Hopefully this turned the tide of this Presidents Cup,” said Thomas. “I like our chances a lot more after getting those two points.”
Woods was relieved. “It looked pretty bleak, but the guys turned it around. They played phenomenal coming in. It was important for us to end the way we did and it totally changed the last hour.”
What the U.S. team has discovered is that this International team came to play.
The stage is set for a weekend brawl, no doubt about it.
Day Two Foursomes Results:
MATCH 6: 7:02 p.m.: Louis Oosthuizen/Adam Scott (INT) def. Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (USA) 3 and 2
MATCH 7: 7:15 p.m.: Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (USA) def. Adam Hadwin/Joaquin Niemann (INT) 1 up
MATCH 8: 7:28 p.m.: Marc Leishman/Abraham Ancer (INT) def. Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed (USA) 3 and 2
MATCH 9: 7:41 p.m.: Justin Thomas/Tiger Woods (USA) def. Byeong Hun An/Hideki Matsuyama (INT) 1 up
MATCH 10: 7:54 p.m.: Gary Woodland/Rickie Fowler (USA) tie Sungjae Im/Cameron Smith (INT) TIE
Day Three Four-Ball Pairings:
MATCH 11: 3:02 p.m. (Friday): Justin Thomas/Rickie Fowler (USA) vs. Marc Leishman/Haotong Li (INT)
MATCH 12: 3:16 p.m. (Friday): Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (USA) vs. Sungjae Im/Abraham Ancer (INT)
MATCH 13: 3:30 p.m. (Friday): Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed (USA) vs. Hideki Matsuyama/C.T. Pan (INT)
MATCH 14: 3:44 p.m. (Friday): Matt Kuchar/Tony Finau (USA) vs. Adam Scott/Byeong Hun An (INT)
Day Three Foursomes Pairings: To be announced.
