JERSEY CITY:
Anirban Lahiri
will get an opportunity to play a role in Friday's
Fourball matches
as the Internationals look to bounce back from their opening Foursomes loss.
Captain
Nick Price
was hoping for a fast start to the
Presidents Cup
this year at
Liberty National Golf Club
in Jersey City, but that did not happen as the United States continued its stranglehold in the Fourballs (alternate shots) format. They won the opening session for the sixth straight time, and more ominously, have never lost the premier team tournament when leading after day one.
It could have been 4-1 instead of the 3.5-1.5 scoreline but veteran
Phil Mickelson
missed a seven-foot par putt on the par-3 18th hole to halve his match with partner Kevin Kisner against the all-Australian pairing of
Jason Day
and
Marc Leishman
.
Starting in front of three past Presidents - Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama - the Internationals were in trouble from the word go when Charl Schwartzel pushed his tee shot way right. Eventually, he and Hideki Matsuyama, the highest ranked International player, were handed a crushing 6 and 4 loss by Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.
Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed followed in Match 3 with a 5 and 4 win over rookies Emiliano Grillo and Si Woo Kim. Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson trailed Jhonattan Vegas and Adam Scott for the first half, but a crucial win on the 16th hole saw them get a 1-up result.
The lone bright spot for the Internationals was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, who continued their fine form from Incheon in 2015 and improved to 5-0 as partners with a 3 and 1 win over Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka.
Captain's Pick Lahiri, who sat out the opening session, will partner Schwartzel against Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman.
Speaking after the pairing was announced, Lahiri said: "I am really looking forward to this. In fact, I have been waiting for this for the past two years."
Lahiri famously missed a short putt to halve his match on the 18th hole against Chris Kirk in Korea two years ago - a crucial half point would have resulted in only the second tie in the history of the tournament.
On a day when windy conditions made it a battle of attrition for players, Price was delighted with the comeback, especially with the US leading in four matches and all square in the fifth midway through the session.
"Obviously, the day was a brutal day to play golf. Club selection was so difficult, and we got behind the eight-ball pretty early with a few of our guys being 2-down, 3-down at the turn," said the Zimbabwean.
"But the guys rallied back great. I thought the back nine, one stage, it may even look like we may get a 3-2 lead, or maybe 2.5-2.5, but we winded up with just a 1.5.
"But it was, like I said, a tough day. I think we're one point better than we were two years ago, and you know this, was probably, even though we're two points behind, it was one of our strongest starts in foursomes on a Thursday. So the team is not discouraged at all. They are raring to go tomorrow and just hoping for some better weather for all of us."
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