Americans in charge at President's Cup

The American side flexed its muscles in the morning session to storm into a 9 1/2 to 6 1/2 lead against the International team on the second day of the Presidents Cup at Fancourt.

But hometown favourite Ernie Els was quick to warn that his side would be back with a vengeance on Saturday to make it a close contest for Sunday’s singles showdown.

“We just had a very good team meeting tonight and the spirits are still high in the team,” said Els.

“There are still 18 points to play for and therefore a lot of golf left.

“We got ourselves into a little bit of a hole but it is not over by a long shot.

“If we play good golf tomorrow then we will still have a good shout at it.”

The US side finds itself having the luxury of going into Saturday’s fourballs with the pressure off.

The Americans handled Friday’s inclement weather while the Internationals struggled. American Kenny Perry starred and, like hometown resident Ernie Els, has now won all three matches.

The big-hitting Perry hit 77% of fairways and alongside Jerry Kelly stormed forward to open the day with a 2 and 1 victory over KJ Choi and Peter Lonard.

Justin Leonard and Jim Furyk took their match 5 and 4 over world number two Vijay Singh and Canadian Mike Weir in an International disappointment.

Leonard and Furyk played down their round.

“We both played very well yesterday and we struggled on the last three holes and we lost that one.

“We were really determined not to let that happen today,” Leonard said. “This golf course played as tough today as it did all week and I was lucky to make a few putts early on.”

Furyk put the bad weather into perspective and pinpointed a difference between the two sides.

“It made it a lot tougher,” the US Open champion said.

“There are a lot of spots where the wind is calm and you can freewheel it a bit, but if you just miss a few fairways or a couple shots a little left or right then you find yourself right in this grass.”

Fred Funk and David Toms also prospered over Robert Allenby and Stephen Leaney, winning 4 and 3.

Tiger Woods and Charles Howell III Held off a late charge by rookie Tim Clark and Retief Goosen to win one-up.

It was heavy going as Goosen’s approach on the 18th fell 20 metres short but bumped off the fairway and ran onto the green, turning to land about eight feet from the hole.

Clark, after his heroics in the morning, could not sink the eagle he needed, while Woods holed a six footer to share the hole with a birdie and claim the match one-up.

The shot of the day belonged to Els, who had to chip in from the underneath the back cusp for eagle to ensure his team won the hole.

“I needed to get the shot close to the hole because Chris and Phil were in close,” said Els.

“I had a similar shot yesterday from the back of the green so I was quite familiar with the kind of shot that I have to play and it was simply one of those little shots which comes out perfect and rolls into the hole.

“It’s a nice way to finish because we had them on the ropes earlier on and we could have turned five up but I missed some putts but we came up with the goods when it mattered.”

Earlier Clark was the home side’s hero as he stole the show from crowd favourites Els and Woods to give the South Africans a 5 and 3 victory.

But even his heroics could stop the Americans negating the slim overnight International lead and sending the sides into the afternoon foursomes tied at five and a half points each.

Clark is a rookie but the Durbanite enjoyed the spotlight as he birdied one, five, seven and nine to blow away the Americans on the front nine.

Els was largely quiet, before scoring birdies on 10 and 11 to ensure his side kept their edge over the pairing Jack Nicklaus called his “strongest”.

“Tim was great today,” Els said. “I think I helped him on three holes and he played well from the first hole and put Tiger and Charles under a lot of pressure. He’s a great player and has a great future.”

Clark put his good form down to his opening tee shot.

“I was pretty comfortable knowing that Ernie was my partner. It was important that I got off to a good start and I hit a good tee shot from the first and that was it. I felt comfortable right from there,” Clark added.

Clark has been paired with Els again Saturday against the in-form duo of Furyk and Jay Haas.