U.S. Team leads International Team 3 ½ - 2 ½

In San Francisco at Harding Park Golf Course the Americans, led by Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker took a slim one point lead over a strong selection of worlwide players(Europeans excluded).

Six matches were played on Thursday in the difficult foursomes format in which the players alternate to play the same ball.These were the results of Day 1:

It looked like the Americans would take a commanding lead when Furyk and Leonard reached the par 5 18th hole 1 up on Goosen/Yang.Goosen made his putt for birdie and Leonard,after some confusion,missed a 3-footer to tie the hole and the match and gave ½ a point to the ITN’l Team for a final 3 ½ -2 ½ USA lead. “I just hit a bad putt”said Leonard,making no excuses as it looked like Goosen had concided the putt. U.S. captain Fred Couples said Goosen later spoke to him and Leonard and apologized for any misunderstanding. “He didn’t mean anything by it,and Justin didn’t have a problem”said Couples “No one has a problem with it.”

The U.S. Team is 5-1-1 overall in The President’s Cup and only once has a team recovered after trailing in the first session,the Americans in 2005. However INT’l captain Greg Norman is satisfied with Thursday’s results and the half in the last match of the day gives his team hopes for the next sessions.

Norman’s controversial pick Adam Scott proved worthy of his mentor’s confidence taking a valuable point with Ernie Els in a 2-1 win against Hunter Mahan/Sean O’Hair. “Any victory is important,but personally for me,it feels great”said Scott “But more importantly,we need it for the team.”

The President’s Cup continues Friday with six Four-balls matches:

In the Four-ball format two players play their own ball against the other twosome two balls with the better-ball score winning the hole.Players look for birdies on every hole as par has little chance to win.

Woods and Stricker are paired together again on Friday to face long hitters Ogilvy and Masters champion Cabrera. Although Woods has a well below average in Four-ball matches,he’s 7-13-0 combined in President cup and Ryder cup competitions it’s hard to think that any pair can beat the Stricker/Woods combination particularly after their impressive performance on Thursday.

It will be interesting to see as the Asian rookie twosome Yang/Ishikawa will fare against veteran Kenny Perry and young upcoming player Sean O’Hair.Kenny’s experience in this type of competition should be a major factor to settle down O’Hair possible nerves, and the Asian can only count on their talent and will have to stay focuse if they want to stand a chance in this matchup.

It’s half a day of golf on Friday,the International Team has to keep the deficit to a minimum to have an opportunity to come back on Saturday and Sunday. There is still 28 points for grabs in the next three days and a lot of things can happen.The INT’l Team is only trailing by one point,they have to come back or keep it this close in the Four-balls on Friday.

Golf matchplay team-competitions are a lot of fun to watch and bet on,check out the lines at BetPhoenix.com and back your favorite twosomes.