After hanging tight over the opening two days at a wet Muirfield Village Golf Club, the International team has fallen into a hole after the morning four-ball session of day three at the Presidents Cup.
Down a point heading into the session, the Internationals are now trailing 10.5 to 6.5 against the USA, making an upset result a very tough prospect as they head to the afternoon foursomes session.
Needing 17.5 points to win the event, the Americans made a run by winning four of the five matches in another rain-interrupted session, leaving the Internationals with just one win.
It came thanks to Australian Jason Day and Canadian Graham DeLaet who were able to take down Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth 2-up.
The International pair trailed early but fought back, winning the 16th and 18th holes to ice the win.
“It is very stressful out there. Strick and Jordan played great and so did myself and Graham,” Day said.
“We gave ourselves a lot of opportunities on the greens.
“Graham was clutch on 16. Just to stick it in there; close like he did, we needed that one.
“And then to hit my seven iron close on 18 was nice to get the win.”
But the rest of the session was all red, white and blue.
Adam Scott and Japanese rookie Hideki Matsuyama led through the first 12 holes against world No.1 Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar but stumbled late, losing the 13th, 14th and 15th holes.
While Matsuyama made a huge birdie on the 16th to give them a chance it wasn’t enough as they dropped to a critical 1-up loss.
Despite leading 2-up through seven holes, South African Ernie Els and Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge stumbled to a 2 and 1 loss to Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley.
The all South African pairing of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel battled hard but never had a lead against Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker as the Americans prevailed 2-up.
Argentinian Angel Cabrera battled back stiffness and was a virtual passenger teaming up with South African Branden Grace as they were handily dismissed 4 and 3 by Bill Haas and Webb Simpson.
The Internationals will now need to battle a poor history in the alternate shot format to claw closer before Sunday’s singles.
