US dominate foursomes

The United States swept the morning foursomes to open a commanding seven-point lead at the Presidents Cup.

The International team took the honours on Friday to fight back to within two points of the US team but momentum swung back the other way on a crisp morning at Royal Montreal.

The Americans won all five matches, most of them convincingly, to go ahead 12-5 with only 17 points still up for grabs.

“We have to keep up our guard,” said American captain Jack Nicklaus, recalling that the Internationals went 6-0 ahead during the day three fourballs at the 2003 Presidents Cup.

Phil Mickelson and the intense Woody Austin set the tone for the Americans by whipping Retief Goosen and Stuart Appleby 5 and 4, posting the first victory of the morning.

Not long afterwards, Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk closed out their match, beating Ernie Els and Adam Scott 4 and 3. It was a welcome result for Woods and Furyk, who were thrashed in Friday’s fourballs.

The US posted another victory when Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan outlasted Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman 2-up.

Lucas Glover and Scott Verplank beat Mike Weir and Vijay Singh 2 and 1, before Zach Johnson and David Toms prevailed by the same margin in a relatively tight match with Geoff Ogilvy and Nick O’Hern.

The International team had no time to regroup, with five afternoon fourball matches scheduled to start at noon.

The event will finish with 12 singles matches on Sunday. If the Americans maintain their lead, they will make history, posting their first victory outside the United States.