JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Americans came within one match of winning the Presidents Cup.

On Saturday.

Anirban Lahiri made two clutch birdies that only delayed the inevitable. This is a powerful U.S. team playing to its full potential, and the result is the biggest blowout since these matches began in 1994.

Lahiri and Si Woo Kim had the only victory for the International team over two sessions. From the sun rising over the Manhattan until the chilly twilight at Liberty National, the American poured it on. They had a 14 1/2-3 1/2 lead and need only one point Sunday to win the cup for seventh straight time.

Phil Mickelson set a Presidents Cup record with his 25th victory, breaking the record set by Tiger Woods. Mickelson hit two wedges into birdie range in the morning foursomes session with Kevin Kisner, when the Americans won three matches and halved the other.

Jordan Spieth’s best intentions cost him a hole in a ruling rarely seen in match play, though that didn’t matter. All that did was inspire Spieth and Patrick Reed to win yet another match. They are 8-1-3 as a partnership in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

Justin Thomas made another big birdie on the 14th hole and cupped his hand to his ear, covered by a beanie in the chill, to fire up a crowd that didn’t need much help. Even in the lone loss of the day, the Americans made it hard on them. Charley Hoffman chipped in from short of the 17th green and body-slammed partner Kevin Chappell, a celebration that lasted only long enough for Lahiri to match his birdie with a 20-foot putt.

Lahiri and Kim were 1 up playing the par-3 18th, and when Lahiri chipped to 3 feet and both Americans were in the bunker, they chose not to concede Lahiri’s putt until after Chappell had made par.

It was meaningless in the big picture, yet it illustrated clearly – along with all the celebrations – that no victory is too big for this U.S. team.

Hoffman was aware that his match could have ended it.

“We knew what was on our shoulders,” said Hoffman, the 40-year-old who had never been in a team competition as a pro. “I didn’t have my best stuff all day long, but I had a chance. Got to give it up to Lahiri. He made some great birdies coming down the stretch, and they knocked us off.”

The 11-point margin is the largest going into the 12 singles matches, breaking the International record of nine points set in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, the only time it has ever won the Presidents Cup. The 2003 matches ended in a tie.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin will square off against Phil Mickelson at 1:54 p.m. local time

While the outcome was inevitable, this day still had its moment, none more peculiar than the 12th hole.

Jason Day was already down for a birdie. Spieth had 12 feet for his birdie, while Louis Oosthuizen hit his drive behind the green on the reachable par 4 and had a shot at eagle. The ball raced by the hole and was headed down the slope with water on the other side, and the partisan American crowd was urging it to keep going.

Spieth had heard enough and reached over and scooped away the moving ball with his putter.

Match referee Andy McFee, a top rules chief on the European Tour, stepped in and informed Spieth that it was a violation of the first rule in golf (Rule 1-2): “A player must not take an action with the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play.”

No player would ever do that in stroke play (though John Daly and Kirk Triplett did it to their golf balls on U.S. Open greens). Spieth figured the International team already had its birdie. Even so, the rule meant Spieth was disqualified from the hole, even as Oosthuizen and Day protested.

“I’m sorry for trying to do the right thing,” Spieth said to McFee, a mixture of sarcasm and frustration.

That gave Day and Oosthuizen a 1-up lead that lasted only three holes. Spieth birdied the 15th to square the match, Reed hit a tee shot into the wind and along a ridge to 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Spieth birdied the 17th to close them out.

Day went 0-4-1 in the Presidents Cup two years ago. He heads into singles with a 0-3-1 mark at Liberty National. Hideki Matsuyama has failed to win a match. Adam Scott is 0-3 and sat out the Saturday afternoon session.

Dustin Johnson extended his record to 4-0 this week, teaming with Matt Kuchar for an easy victory in foursomes and riding U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and his hot putter for a 3-and-2 victory that put the Americans on the cusp of victory.

The celebration will have to wait. Lahiri missed a 3 1/2-foot putt on the 18th hole that cost the International team a rare victory in South Korea two years ago. This time he saved his team, if only for a day.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Spain’s Belen Mozo will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour’s New Zealand Women’s Open after a 1-under 71 Saturday helped her hold off challenges from Canada’s Brooke Henderson and American Brittany Lincicome.

Mozo, who led by five strokes after the second round, had a three-round total of 15-under 201 on the newly-established Windross Farm course.

Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., had a 67 to move into second place. The biggest mover on the day was Lincicome, who had a 66 to be tied for third, four strokes behind. Also four back was China’s Jing Yan, who shot 69.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp shot a 66 to enter a tie for 31st.

Local favourite Lydia Ko shot 70 and was seven strokes behind Mozo.

Mozo had a bogey at the 164-meter, par-3 13th, where she had a hole in one on Friday.

The hole exemplified how difficult the layout became on Saturday when the wind began to blow and temperatures fell.

It had been one of the easiest holes on the course over the first two days but became one of the hardest on Saturday. Mozo’s bogey allowed Henderson, playing ahead of her, to narrow the lead to one stroke but Mozo responded by sinking a 30-foot birdie putt at the 14th to restore a two-shot buffer.

“It was a grind-out day for sure. I had to talk to my caddie in the middle of the round because obviously I couldn’t compare the golf I was playing today with the golf that I played yesterday under perfect conditions,” said Mozo. “I was able to manage bad shots better than yesterday, and converted a not-so-good round into an under-par round, so that’s fine.”

Henderson had birdies at 14 and 15 to put pressure on the Spanish player, who hasn’t won since joining the LPGA Tour six years ago. But Mozo played solid golf over her last five holes to retain her lead, finishing with a scrambled par at the 18th.

“There are a lot of players around me that could shoot a low number so everyone has to go out and shoot a lot of birdies,” said the 20-year-old Henderson. “It depends a lot on the conditions but if it is like today, then 5-under or 6-under will probably win tomorrow.”

Lincicome had four birdies and an eagle in conditions she described as “yukky.”

The 34-year-old Florida native said she felt support close by and from home.

“My dad and husband are both at home but I’ve got Mom here cheering for me which is nice,” Lincicome said. “It’s just cool to be playing well so I’m on television a little bit and they can see me.”

Henderson played aggressively on a day on which the wind made several holes play long and on which flag placements were challenging.

“Very tough conditions, so to shoot 5-under was great,” Henderson said. “My game is in a very good spot so I’m excited to play tomorrow.”

Ko is in a tie for 11th at 8-under. The former No. 1 started and finished with birdies at the first and 18th holes but struggled to move up with one bogey and one birdie in between.

“I started with a bang, finished with a bang,” Ko said. “I’m kind of fortunate that the ball went in on the last because it was going by pretty quickly.”

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Sam Saunders followed his opening 12-under 59 with a 66 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend in the Web.com Tour Championship.

Arnold Palmer’s grandson, Saunders closed with a double bogey on his home Atlantic Beach Country Club course a day after shooting the seventh sub-60 round in Web.com Tour history.

“It’s the fact that you start feeling disappointed with pars,” Saunders said. “You make good pars on holes that you know are pars, and you have to tell yourself you’re fine. It feels like you’re playing so bad compared to yesterday. I parred the first three holes today and I felt like, ‘OK, I’m still playing good golf. It’s not time to panic.”’

Saunders is trying to regain his PGA Tour card in the four-event Web .com Tour Finals after finishing 129th in the FedEx Cup standings. He entered the week 24th in the race for 25 PGA Tour cards with $27,900 – the winner Sunday will get $180,000 – in the first three events.

On the par-5 18th, he blocked his second shot right of the green, and hit third into a plugged lie in a greenside bunker. He needed two shots to get out of the bunker and missed a 10-foot bogey putt.

“I’m not going to let making a bogey out there, or a couple of loose shots that got away (bother me),” Saunders said. “That happens. Golf is hard. You can’t shoot 59 and expect to shoot 62. … What’s important is the final score after two days, and I would have taken that my whole life.”

Argentina’s Julian Etulain was second at 15 under after a 63. He was 46th in the money chase with $11,348 after finishing 161st in the FedEx Cup standings.

Bronson Burgoon (63), Jonathan Byrd (65) and Roberto Castro (64) were four strokes back at 13 under. Steve Wheatcroft, like Saunders an Atlantic Beach member, had a 68 to top the group at 12 under.

Burgoon, in the series field on a special medical extension, entered the week 15th with $42,812 – enough to secure a card. Byrd and Castro need strong finishes to regain their cards. Castro, 172nd in the FedEx Cup, is 54th at $8,526. Byrd, 170th in FedEx Cup, is 66th at $5,480.

Wheatcroft is 23rd with $29,025 after finishing 179th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Hunter Mahan missed the cut by a stroke with rounds of 70 and 68, costing the six-time PGA Tour winner a chance to regain his card in the series. He entered the week 33rd with $21,320 after finishing 182nd in the FedEx Cup standings.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner rehearsed the dance from “Three Amigos.” The only question was whether to use it at the Presidents Cup, and as the veteran of 23 team events, Mickelson concluded it would need to be a big moment.

Their match was all square on the 18th hole Friday. Mickelson was 12 feet away for birdie. A victory would give the Americans a record lead.

“If this putt goes in,” Mickelson said he told his rookie partner, “we’re going to dance.”

This turned out to be one big dance party for an American team that has gone nearly two decades without losing. They hammered the International teams on the back nine to go unbeaten in fourballs and build an 8-2 lead, the largest margin after two sessions since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

Mickelson had his 24th match victory to tie the Presidents Cup record held by Tiger Woods, and he set a record with his 10th victory in fourballs.

As for that dance ?

It looked a little awkward, though Mickelson did slightly better than when he cropped most of his face out of a selfie he took during the opening ceremony with the last three U.S. presidents.

“I’m clearly the worst selfie taker. I’m the worst ‘Three Amigos’ dancer,” Mickelson said. “But I can putt.”

So can his teammates, who have followed the script set out by U.S. captain Steve Stricker to win every session. They won handily in the other three matches. The other match was a halve, but even in that one, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin had a 2-up lead with four holes to play until Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed rallied. The Americans nearly won that one, too, except that Spieth narrowly missed birdie putts on the last two holes.

“Our guys stepped up again,” Stricker said. “They have a knack for doing that. To finish like that is huge for us going into tomorrow.”

Mathematically, the International team could be done Saturday, the first day of a double session – four matches of foursomes in the morning, following by four matches of fourballs in the afternoon. The Americans are 7 1/2 points away from clinching the cup.

“I think we saw the strength of the U.S. team come out today,” Price said.

He also saw his team play its worst golf on the back nine at Liberty National. The Americans won 13 holes on the back nine. The Internationals won three.

Price was not about to give up, hopeful of gaining some momentum in the morning and riding it into the afternoon ahead of the 12 singles matches on the final day.

“We’re only 10 points through 30. There’s 20 points left,” Price said. “We are not laying down. These guys are going to come out fighting over the next two days, and especially tomorrow.”

Justin Thomas, already with a big year behind him as a major champion and the FedEx Cup champion, teamed with Rickie Fowler for another easy victory. They have trailed only one hole in their two matches, and they became the first partnership to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.

They took the lead for good when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole, and then Thomas produced the loudest cheer of the afternoon at a pivotal moment on the 14th hole. Oosthuizen hit his approach to 6 feet, while both Americans missed the green. From the left bunker, Thomas blasted out perfectly and watched it drop in for a birdie that kept the International team from cutting the deficit to 1 down.

Thomas birdied the next hole, and his bunker shot on the 16th hit the pin and somehow stayed out.

The shortest match of the day belonged to a pair of American rookies, Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman, who sat out the foursomes matches in the opening session. They were 3 up after four holes against Charl Schwartzel and Anirban Lahiri and never let up in a 6-and-5 victory.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, close friends and the last two U.S. Open champions, took their first lead on the par-3 10th with Koepka’s birdie, and Johnson showed rare emotion on his final two birdies in a 3-and-2 victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

Scott set a record of his own – it was his 19th loss in the Presidents Cup, breaking the record held by Ernie Els.

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their only loss coming in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. But it has at least been close after the opening two sessions, with neither side leading by more than two points since 1998.

“We’re going to keep the pedal down,” Hoffman said. “These guys are going to keep pushing us. We’re not going to get complacent where we’re at right now.”

Few could have predicted the wild finish that took place on Friday for the World Junior Girls Championship at The Marshes Golf Club.

In thrilling fashion, the Spanish team fired a collective 4-under par (140) to erase an eight-stroke deficit, forcing a playoff with the Korean squad. As light rain began to fall, both teams headed back to the par-4 18th in pairs to conduct the first playoff in World Junior Girls Championship history.

The Spaniards kept their foot on the gas, with two of the first three team members making birdie on the hole to put the trio at 2 under. The Korean team was then forced to hole out for eagle to continue the match, but their approach missed the green to the right.

“If I would not have made that putt, my teammates might not have been as motivated as they were,” said Elena Arias, the first Spanish team member to birdie the playoff. “I just hit the putt like the other times I had played the hole. It just looked so clear to me and went in but I was so nervous.”

Dimana Viudes followed in the second playoff group, capping her 3-under bogey-free round with a birdie of her own.

“It is like Elena said, her putt really gave me confidence because knowing that we already had a birdie was a great start,” said Viudes, who finished in fourth place individually. “I was very nervous but at the same time calm as well. I was just lucky enough to pull off the shot.”

The win marks the first World Junior Girls Championship medal for Team Spain, which is something not lost on the team’s coach.

“This is a dream come true. To beat a strong team like Korea is something else,” said Nacho Gervas, Team Spain coach. “They are so strong that at times you feel like you are playing for second place. I told them (Spain) they had the game to do well today and if we played our game you never know what can happen.”

Republic of Korea’s Seo-yun Kwon, the 54-hole leader, headed into the final round with a two-stroke advantage over Italy’s Alessia Nobilio. Kwon had built a clear advantage on the day before running into trouble on the par-5 14th with a triple-bogey.

Nobilio took advantage of Kwon’s mishap by making birdie on the 14th to briefly hold a one-stroke lead, until giving a stroke back on the next hole. The pair took scores of 9 under to the last hole, forcing another playoff to be commenced after the team event was decided.

With Korea losing the team event, Kwon was determined to come out on top. The 16-year-old missed the green on her approach but went up-and-down for par, beating out Nobilio who slipped with a bogey.

“At first I was angry with myself because I was leading by a few strokes and made one mistake,” said Kwon. “Even though I won the individual medal, I am a little disappointed in myself because if I had done a little more, we could have won the team championship so it is bitter sweet. This is my first win at an international tournament so right now I am so happy.”

A big round of ?? for Korea’s Seo-yun Kwon??, who hung on for the wire-to-wire individual title at the World Junior Girls Championship #WJGC pic.twitter.com/vOXAzuHWvB

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) September 29, 2017

Rounding out the team medallists was the trio from Sweden, who finished the tournament at 9 under par, five strokes shy of Spain and Korea. Spain’s Blanca Fernández took home the individual bronze medal, posting a final-round 71 to close the tournament at 7 under par.

Céleste Dao from Notre-Dame-de-L’Île-Perrot, Que., finished as the low Canadian with a share of 24th place at 6 over for the tournament.

In 2018, the World Junior Girls Championship will return to the Ottawa area at Camelot Golf and Country Club next September.

Additional information and full results from the competition can be found here.

Photos from the fourth annual World Junior Girls Championsip can be viewed here.

Mississauga, Ont. – The CGSA and Bayer have announced Greg Holden from the Clear Lake Golf Course in Onanole, Man., as the CGSA/Bayer Superintendent of the Year for 2017.

The CGSA/Bayer Superintendent of the Year award recognizes a member of the CGSA who has held the position of golf course superintendent for a minimum of five years and who has distinguished her or himself through dedication to the profession, performance as a golf course superintendent and contributions to their profession and their community.

“Greg Holden is probably known as the most adventurous Golf Course Superintendent and truly one of the most vigilant of the environment,” said Jim Flett, AGS, CGSA president. “I had the privilege of calling Greg to inform him of winning this award and with this being Greg’s final season as Superintendent at Clear Lake Golf Course before retiring, what better way to add to his already astounding career.”

Greg has been a CGSA member since 1999 and was the President of the CGSA in 2010. He is one of the most innovative superintendents and the only Superintendent in Manitoba that collects up to 10,000 + litres of used cooking oils from shops and resorts around town to make Bio-Diesel to run 7 pieces of equipment.

Holden has experienced many adventures throughout his life thus far.  Everything from being a cameraman on a six-month journey crossing the Pacific Ocean on a rafting expedition from Ecuador to Australia, co-owning and operating the Mooswa Resort with his wife Linda in Riding Mountain National Park for 15 years, to operating a small organic farm on his property prior to stepping into his current position as Superintendent at the Clear Lake Golf Course.

His distinguished career began back in 1993 when he got the opportunity to work for the Clear Lake Golf Foundation. At that time, they were in the process of submitting a bid to Parks Canada to run the golf course in Riding Mountain National Park. Mr. Holden was instrumental in the writing of the environmental section of that bid that ultimately won them the contract to operate the course for Parks Canada over a 25-year period.

Holden has won him and his course many awards including the Eco Network Environmental Stewardship Award; was a finalist for the 2009 Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award and was the Manitoba Golf Superintendents Association (MGSA) Superintendent of the Year Award winner in 2012 for his outstanding contributions to the industry.

Mr. Holden will receive the CGSA/Bayer Superintendent of the Year award at the 2018 CGSA Awards Ceremony in Quebec City as part of The Canadian Golf Course Management Conference.

The award is funded by Bayer – a ssponsor of the CGSA.

The CGSA represents golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents, equipment technicians, and others involved in golf course management across Canada. CGSA was founded in 1966 and has over 1,000 members. Its mission is to promote excellence in golf course management and environmental responsibility through the continuing professional development of its members. For more information please visit www.golfsupers.com.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Spain’s Belen Mozo shot an 8-under 64, including a hole in one on the par-3 13th, to take a five-stroke lead after two rounds of the New Zealand Women’s Open on Friday.

Mozo finished strongly with a birdie on the 18th after a double-bogey on the 17th after hitting her tee shot into the water.

She had a 14-under total of 130 on the newly-established Windross Farm course.

Three golfers shared second place – Emily Tubert of the United States, who shot 65 Friday, Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden (67) and Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., the co-leader after the first round who had a 70 Friday.

Local favourite Lydia Ko shot 68 and was eight strokes behind Mozo.

The four other Canadians in the tournament include Alena Sharp of Hamilton, who fired a 73 to sit tied for 69th to just make the cut.

But Maude Aimee-Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., and Lorie Kane of Charlottetown each shot rounds of 76 and missed the cut, as did Calgary’s Jennifer Ha, who carded a 74.

Mozo used a seven iron on the 164-meter 13th. The ball pitched on the apron of the green and rolled straight into the hole.

Mozo, who hasn’t won an LPGA event since joining the tour in 2011, kissed the billboard depicting the luxury car she would have won if she had aced the hole on Saturday or Sunday.

“It is karma,” Mozo joked. “The last hole-in-one I found out someone had got one just before me so I missed the prize. This one the car is for the weekend. It is my fifth hole-in-one in competition.”

Mozo started the day in a share of third place after a first-round 66 and took the lead Friday with six birdies in her first nine holes.

“When you score like this, everything seems so easy,” she said. “I got perfect weather but you still have to perform well. I struck the ball really well and overall I was in a very calm state of mind.”

The 25-year-old Tubert, a native of Burbank, California, was a three-time all-American at the University of Arkansas and was the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion in 2010.

She considered quitting top-level golf while still at college, before joining the LPGA Tour this year.

With a new coach and caddie the 487th-ranked Tubert, with earnings of $23,654 this season, has begun to find her form. Her round Friday was bogey-free and featured a 40-foot birdie putt on the 13th.

“Things got off to a slow start but I stayed patient after I didn’t make any birdies early,” Tubert said. “I made some good putts and just tried to enjoy cold, misty New Zealand. It’s refreshing because it’s been a long time since I played good golf. ”

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, shot a 12-under 59 on his home course Thursday in the first round of the Web.com Tour Championship.

Saunders birdied his final six holes at Atlantic Beach Country Club – the Jacksonville-area club where he became a member this year – for the seventh sub-60 round in Web.com Tour history.

With wife Kelly and 8-year-old son Cohen looking on, Saunders made an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth and closed with a 10-footer on the par-4 ninth.

“It was dead centre. I saw it going in from a few feet out,” he said about the final putt.

Stephan Jaeger set the tour record of 58 last year in the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, California, and Notah Begay III, Doug Dunakey, Jason Gore, Will Wilcox and Russell Knox also shot 59.

“Honestly, I was excited because my wife and my son, Cohen, who is really getting into golf, got to watch,” Saunders said. “He’s only watched me play three full rounds of golf probably. He’s watched me fail in golf a lot, which is good, that’s a good lesson for him. For my wife, Kelly, to be there; she’s watched the ups and downs of this whole deal. I’m really glad that they got to be out there and watch me do that.”

Saunders had 13 birdies and a bogey. Opening on No. 10, he birdied the first three holes and added a birdie on 14. He bogeyed the par-3 15th, taking two shots to get out of a bunker, and birdied 15 and 18 to make the turn in 5 under. He birdied No. 2 and Nos. 4-9 for a 7-under 28 on his final nine.

On the par-3 fifth, the 30-year-old former Clemson player holed a 40-footer from well over the green with a shaved bank and pond looming beyond the hole.

“You’re dead. You’ve got no shot there,” Saunders said. “I putted it up the hill and it was going Mach 1, it would’ve been 30 feet past the hole and it hit dead centre.”I was just hoping for it to hit the pin. When I saw it was about 2 feet away, my heart rate went down thinking I was at least going to hit the pin. Then it when it went in I was embarrassed because it was a horrible shot, but you need to get some luck sometimes.“

Saunders is trying to regain his PGA Tour card in the four-event Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 129th in the FedEx Cup standings. He entered the week 24th in the race for 25 PGA Tour cards with $27,900 in the first three events. He tied for 11th in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, tied for 40th in the Albertsons Boise Open and missed the cut in the DAP Championship.

“I’ve been pretty tired in these Web.com Tour Finals, so it was nice to get home and get some rest and not over-practice coming in,” Saunders said. “But, on Tuesday I had a really good warm-up session and was able to figure things out. It comes back to putting, and I made everything today. That’s how you go low.”

Saunders was paired with fellow Atlantic Beach member Steve Wheatcroft, who had a 62 for a share of second place with Matt Atkins.

“It was a good time out there and it was a real special day, certainly memorable. I played with my buddy Steve Wheatcroft and we kind of fed off each other,” Saunders said. “Honestly, it just felt like a regular day at home playing our little money game and I got into a good rhythm. It was a blast.”

Wheatcroft entered the week 23rd with $29,025 after finishing 179th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Tyler Duncan and Canadian Ben Silverman shot 63.

Duncan came into the tournament 13th with $43,158, more than enough to secure a card. Atkins and Silverman have already earned PGA Tour cards as top-25 finishers on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list. They are trying to improve their status.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The opening ceremony at the Presidents Cup was unlike any other in golf with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton on the first tee.

The results were all too familiar.

The Americans led at some point in all five of the foursomes matches Thursday at Liberty National. They won the first three. And when they jumped on a ferry to take them across the New York Harbor to their Manhattan hotel, they had the lead.

The U.S. Team surged into the lead after Day 1 of the @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/M1DOLBsqQi

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 29, 2017

Behind a new tandem of Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, and an old one of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, the Americans jumped out to a 3 1/2-1 1/2 lead. It was the sixth consecutive time they led after the opening session in an event they haven’t lost in two decades.

“Jordan mentioned that this first session is pretty critical and we need to go out there and take care of business,” Fowler said. “I feel like as a team, we did a really good job of that. If we can do the same thing tomorrow and win another session, it puts us in a great position.”

Thomas and Fowler lost only two holes in a 6-and-4 victory over Hideki Matsuyama and Charl Schwartzel. Spieth and Reed improved to 6-1-2 as a tandem in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. Spieth holed a 35-foot putt on the 11th hole right when it looked as if Emiliano Grillo and Si Woo Kim might gain some momentum. Instead, the match was over three holes later, 5 and 4.

Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar remained unbeaten in four matches, not taking the lead until the 16th hole and making it stand in a 1-up victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

“We’ve been off to poor starts for a while on Thursdays,” International captain Nick Price said. “We have a resilient team. They have this ability to come back and bounce back, and they have done it. They did it last time in Korea.”

Indeed, the Americans had a 4-1 lead after the first session two years ago, and that Presidents Cup came down to the final match.

Phil Mickelson, playing in his 23rd consecutive team competition, ended the tough, wind-swept afternoon at Liberty National by missing an 8-foot par putt, or the U.S. lead would have been even greater. He and Kevin Kisner were 1 down with two holes remaining to Jason Day and Marc Leishman, so a half-point wasn’t bad.

Mickelson’s only complaint was that he botched his selfie with the presidents, with barely his head showing.

For the most part, everything else went the Americans’ way.

The lone bright spot for the International team was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, who improved to 5-0 as a tandem. The South African duo pulled away for a 3-and-1 victory over U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.

“Listen, we’re a half-point better than last time, so that’s a big up for us,” Grace said. “We’ve got a great team. We all want it really badly. … I’m sure we’re going to have a good night and then going to come back tomorrow blazing.”

The stars on this day didn’t hit a shot.

The leader of every country where the Presidents Cup is held are invited to be honorary chairman, but this was a first – three U.S. presidents together at this event, sitting together in a box on the first tee and then posing with the trophy, the players and their wives.

“I was looking forward to this Presidents Cup for a very long time, and I didn’t expect all the presidents to be there,” Schwartzel said. “Just to get to meet them was a dream come true for me. Then to hit that first tee shot with the wind pumping off the right was quite intimidating.”

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their lone loss in 1998 at Royal Melbourne a few weeks before Christmas.

The gusts topped 20 mph and felt even stronger on exposed areas of Liberty National, which sits across New York Harbor from Manhattan.

The par-3 10th hole was so difficult to judge the wind that Scott hit a tee shot that sailed over the green into a hazard, while Spieth in the match behind him came up some 60 feet short of the hole in a bunker.

Johnson and Kuchar didn’t make a single bogey, remarkable in the format and in the wind, and they still didn’t take the lead until Johnson’s tee shot on the par-3 16th with a strong wind at his back stopped 5 feet away. Scott came up short, and then missed a 6-foot par putt.

“In alternate shot, in these conditions, not to make a bogey and for us to just win 1 up, that’s a heck of a battle that we had with those guys,” Kuchar said.

Friday features five matches of fourballs, followed by a full day of foursomes and fourballs Saturday and the decisive Sunday singles.

“There’s still a long, long ways to go,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “But we very much liked the day and the way it started.”