INCHEON, South Korea – Jordan Spieth made 7-foot putts on the final two holes to complete the biggest comeback all week and allow the Americans to escape with a split of the foursomes matches Saturday morning in the Presidents Cup.

The Americans had a 7 1/2-6 1/2 lead going into the four matches of fourballs in the afternoon.

The lead could easily have belonged to either team during a final hour at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea that featured clutch putts and big blunders.

The only match that lacked any drama was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, the International juggernaut this week. They stayed undefeated for the week in a 3-and-2 victory over Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed.

Spieth and Dustin Johnson were 3 down at the turn to Jason Day and Charl Schwartzel and still two holes behind when Schwartzel came up short and into a creek with a wedge from the 14th fairway. It was the first of two big mistakes by Schwartzel.

Johnson hit his tee shot to 7 feet on the par-3 17th, and Spieth poured in the putt to square the match. Both teams missed the fairway, and Schwartzel tried to reach the green from a bunker. He missed it so badly that the ball barely left the ground, smacked into the base of the lip and stayed in the bunker. The International team made bogey.

Spieth, however, played overly cautious with a wedge that left Johnson a 30-foot putt that was extremely fast at the hole, and he ran it 7 feet by. Spieth had to make that par putt for the win, and one of golf’s best putters left little doubt.

“We could have made it a little easier from 90 yards out. I could have gotten us below the hole,” Spieth said. “But man, what a comeback we had there. That was a great fight. And it was a huge point in The Presidents Cup.”

The Americans lost chances to pick up wins in the other two matches.

Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes looked a like a sure winner when Watson hit the green on the par-5 18th shot with his second shot, while the International team had to lay up and Leishman’s third shot with a wedge was some 30 feet short.

Holmes ran the long eagle putt about 5 feet by the hole, and Scott was furious with himself when his birdie putt – that seemed to be the best chance for a halve – ran about 8 feet by the hole. Leishman made his putt for par, and Watson missed the 5-foot birdie putt for the win.

The Americans had control of the other match, too, going 1 up on the par-3 17th when Bae Sang-moon’s touch chip failed to reach the green, allowing Bill Haas and Matt Kuchar to go 1 up heading to the 18th.

Hideki Matsuyama hit his second shot to about 25 feet for a certain birdie. Haas went over the green with his second shot, and Kuchar’s chip wasn’t strong enough and failed to reach the green. The International team won with a birdie for a half-point.

For the fourballs session, U.S. captain Jay Haas kept Watson and Holmes together for a fourth straight match, while Johnson sat out the session and Spieth was with Reed, his partner from the Ryder Cup.

Scott had his fourth partner in four matches, this time going with Anirban Lahiri.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Jessica Korda took a two-stroke lead Saturday in the LPGA Malaysia, shooting a bogey-free 6-under 65 in sweltering conditions.

Korda missed a birdie chance on the par-4 18th when her 6-footer slid by on the left side, leaving the 22-year-old American at 12-under 201 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Fellow American Stacy Lewis and South Korea’s Ha Na Jang were tied for second.

“These last two days have been the hottest days I think I’ve ever played golf in,” Korda said. “You feel it, you really do. Luckily, there was not a lot of sun out there today, but the humidity was really, really high.”

Korda has only one top-10 finish this season, a tie for second in January in Florida in the season-opening event. The three-time LPGA Tour winner is 50th in the world ranking and 56th on the money list, barely enough to get a spot in the tournament.

“It’s been such a long time and I’m so happy,” Korda said. “I’m very pleased to be back on top of the leaderboard. I definitely wasn’t expecting all my hard work to be paying off this quickly, first week out in the Asia swing, but I’ll take it wherever I can.”

The third-ranked Lewis has rebounded with rounds of 66 and 65 after opening with a 72.

“This golf course is just a shootout,” Lewis said. “It’s just who is going to make the most birdies at the end of the week. … But you can’t go on this golf course and try to make birdies. The moment you try to make a birdie you’re short-sided in the bunker.”

She’s also winless this season.

“I haven’t been there in a while,” Lewis said. “It’s been a little bit of a frustrating year. It’s nice to be back. Hopefully, I can put another good one together tomorrow.”

Jang had a 71 after taking a one-stroke lead into the round. She had a double bogey on the par-3 15th, saved bogey with a 20-footer on the par-5 16th and rebounded with a birdie on the par-3 17th.

Second-ranked Lydia Ko was three strokes back at 9 under along with defending champion Shanshan Feng and Xi Yu Lin.

Playing alongside Korda, Ko bogeyed the 18th for 68. The 18-year-old New Zealander is coming off consecutive victories in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and Evian Championship, where she became the youngest major champion.

“Obviously, a little disappointed to finish up with a bogey, but I don’t feel that bad,” Ko said. “I felt I holed some really good putts that maybe didn’t even deserve to go in.”

Feng had a 69, and Chinese compatriot Lin shot 71.

Top-ranked Inbee Park, the 2012 winner, was 8 under after a 71. The South Korean star won two of the five majors this year and is tied with Ko for the tour victory lead with four.

Morgan Pressel had a 63, the best round of the week, to get to 6 under. U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Michelle Wie also was 6 under after a 69.

The event is the first of five straight in Asia. The LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship is next week in South Korea, followed by stops in Taiwan, China and Japan.

CARY, N.C. – Bernhard Langer shot a 7-under 65 in windy conditions Friday to take a two-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s SAS Championship.

The 58-year-old German star had seven birdies in a bogey-free round at Prestonwood Country Club. He won the Senior Players Championship in June for his 24th victory on the 50-and-over tour.

“It was great not to make any bogeys because there’s lots of opportunities to make bogeys,” said Langer, the 2012 winner at Prestonwood. “I got off to a nice start with two birdies right away. I played some solid golf, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and gave myself some opportunities.

“I never really struggled for par. It was stressless golf in a sense where I just kept the ball in play and took my chances and made the odd putt here and there.”

Gene Sauers, John Riegger and Scott Dunlap shot 67, and Kenny Perry was another stroke back along with Tom Lehman, Duffy Waldorf, Kevin Sutherland, Rod Spittle, Greg Kraft and Olin Browne.

“It’s one of the windier days I’ve played out here, so it was a challenge right out of the box,” Waldorf said.

Langer is third in the Charles Schwab Cup points race, 388 points behind leader Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert with four events left. Montgomerie was tied for 17th after a 70, and Maggert was tied for 36th after a 72. The tournament winner will get 315 points. Langer is trying to become the first three-time Cup winner after taking the season titles in 2010 and 2014.

Langer skipped the last Champions Tour event in September at Pebble Beach to play in the European’s European Open at a course he designed in Germany.

“The goal is to draw closer to the two guys or maybe even pass them, but that’s a big challenge,” Langer said about Montgomerie and Maggert. “They’re both very good golfers. They’ve had fantastic years. So, it’s not going to be easy, but today was a good start.”

Maggert has a tour-high four victories this year, winning major titles in the Regions Tradition and U.S. Senior Open. Montgomerie successfully defended his title in the Senior PGA Championship.

WOBURN, England – Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen joined England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick at the top of the British Masters leaderboard on Friday after both reached a 9-under total of 133 at the halfway stage.

Kjeldsen, who won the Irish Open earlier this year, made a 3-under 68 in his second round, while Fitzpatrick, the sole leader on day one, shot a 2-under 69.

Kjeldsen holed out from a greenside bunker 40 yards from the flag on the third hole, a par-4, which was his highlight of the round.

“It was not stress-free today,” Kjeldsen said. “I got off to a slow start and didn’t make the putts, then I hit a bad second shot on three and found the bunker but holed it.

“I focus on the sound when the club hits the sand. Straight away I felt I had a lovely sound to the shot and I managed to get up on the hill and watch it disappear.”

The 21-year-old Fitzpatrick again birdied 17 and 18 to maintain his first-place position on the leaderboard.

“It was pretty tough out there today for me, I didn’t feel like I hit it my best,” Fitzpatrick said. “I scored well coming in to shoot 69 and stay at the top.”

Fitzpatrick is chasing his first professional victory on the European Tour but is primarily focused on improving his world ranking of 111.

“I wouldn’t say it is something I am concentrating on (a first win), it is more one hole and one round at a time,” Fitzpatrick said. “If the one doesn’t come this week, but I keep moving up the world rankings, that is good enough for me.”

England’s Richard Bland, who needed treatment on the course for a back injury, is a shot behind, alongside Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Bridgestone Invitational winner Shane Lowry, of Ireland, is also in contention going into the weekend. He is two shots off the lead with 135.

“I’m pretty happy, I could have been a few shots better but I am in a good position going into the weekend,” Lowry said. “The two par-fives on the back nine were my front nine today and I didn’t make birdie, which is a little bit annoying.”

Tournament host Ian Poulter is five shots behind on a 4-under total of 138.

INCHEON, South Korea – Bae Sang-moon never felt the kind of pressure that weighed on him Friday at the Presidents Cup.

He only made news in South Korea this year during a failed bid to extend his waiver for mandatory military service. He wasn’t sure what kind of reception he would receive at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. And as Bae stood over a 12-foot putt that was critical to the International team’s rally, half his teammates were on the edge of the green and thousands of Koreans were watching in the gallery.

“I’m pretty sure he was nervous. I was nervous watching him,” Danny Lee said. “So he had to stand up and man up, and hit that golf ball.”

The celebration when the putt dropped was raw emotion, a defining moment for Bae and the International team in its bid to finally give the Americans a worthy fight.

Bae teamed with Lee for a 1-up fourballs victory over Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker, and the Internationals won their first team session in four years to pull within a point of the Americans. Next up is a double session Saturday of eight matches that will shape the final round.

“That putt Sang-moon made on No. 18 today was probably the highlight of the last two days for us,” International captain Nick Price said.

Price had other reasons to cheer.

Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace made three big putts around the turn and sailed to a 4-and-3 win over Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, while Charl Schwartzel and Thongchai had little trouble against an American team of Chris Kirk and Bill Haas that went 13 holes of nothing better than par.

The Americans, up 4-1 after the opening session, had their lead cut to 5½-4½.

“I think the U.S. team after yesterday, they probably thought it was going to be a walk-off,” Grace said. “We put our chests out and we went full heart. We’re in a good position now. We’re just one point back, and you know, a lot can happen.”

The U.S. lead might have been slightly larger if Phil Mickelson had known the rules.

A penalty that baffled even the captains – the match went from all square to 2 up in one hole – began when Mickelson was not aware of the one-ball rule.

Players must stick with the same model of golf ball for the entire match in fourballs and singles. That didn’t cross Mickelson’s mind until after he switched to a firmer golf ball on the par-5 seventh to help him reach the green in two. Only when he saw U.S. captain Jay Haas did he ask him to make sure it was OK.

It wasn’t.

“It’s my responsibility to know that,” Mickelson said. “I should have at least asked about it before I teed off.”

The penalty in this format is known as a one-hole adjustment – one hole is awarded to the other team. The rules committee made it worse by mistakenly telling Mickelson that he was out of the hole, and so Mickelson picked up his ball. Only later did the committee realize that Mickelson should have been allowed to finish the hole because the penalty already had been assessed.

Jason Day made birdie to win the hole, and the International team got credit for another hole because of the penalty on Mickelson. It made a difference in the end when Day made an 8-foot birdie putt to halve the match. Based on scores for each hole, the Americans would have won.

“I didn’t realize you could lose two holes on one hole,” said Adam Scott, who played with Day.

The ruling overshadowed Mickelson’s great rally – a birdie on the 11th, holing a 142-yard bunker shot for eagle on the 12th – to get his team back in the match. And while it likely cost the Americans a half-point, Mickelson didn’t seem too bothered.

“I feel like we spotted the International’s best team two holes, and they still couldn’t beat us,” Mickelson said. “Just saying.”

Day didn’t bite on Mickelson’s barb. The International team was happy to be back in the match. Price said he spoke to his team Thursday night about trying to relax, and he saw enough of that to give him hope going into the weekend.

The lone American victory came from J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson, the big-hitting duo who has not lost this week.

The biggest blow for the International side came from Oosthuizen, when he rolled in a 70-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole to square the match. Grace followed with a pair of birdies for a 2-up lead, and the Spieth-Johnson tandem didn’t put up much of a fight. They made only two birdies, none over the final eight holes.

“We both played very poor rounds of golf and we didn’t have many chances,” Spieth said. “So it was ‘Merry Christmas’ to the other guys.”

It sure felt like it to Bae, who made his debut in the Presidents Cup one to remember.

“The first time for me to play in The Presidents Cup, and I have already very good memories,” Bae said. “And I’m very happy about that.”

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – South Korea’s Ha Na Jang used a late three-hole birdie run to take a one-stroke lead Friday in the LPGA Malaysia.

The 23-year-old Jang shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 to reach 10-under 132 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. She made a downhill 10-footer on the par-4 14th, holed a right-to-left curler from 15 feet on the par-3 15th and ran in a 12-footer on the par-5 16th.

A six-time winner on the Korea LPGA, Jang lost a playoff loss to Chella Choi in July in the Marathon Classic for the second of her three runner-up finishes in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour.

China’s Xi Yu Lin was second after a 68.

Top-ranked Inbee Park, Alison Lee and Yani Tseng were another stroke back.

Park, the 2012 winner, had a 68. The South Korean star won two majors this year and is tied with second-ranked Lydia Ko for the tour victory lead with four.

Lee, tied with Lin for the first round, bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16 en route to a 69. The 20-year-old American is playing her first event since her emotional Solheim Cup debut.

Last month against Europe in Germany, she was in tears after Suzann Pettersen called for the American to be penalized for picking up her ball when she mistakenly thought a short putt had been conceded in the completion of a fourballs match. Infuriated, the U.S. rallied for the biggest comeback in event history, with Lee winning her singles match.

Tseng had a 68.

Defending champion Shanshan Feng was 7 under after a 69. She made a double bogey on the par-4 18th after chunking her approach into the water in front of the green.

Ko was tied for 18th at 6 under after a 65. The 18-year-old New Zealander is coming off consecutive victories in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and Evian Championship, where she became the youngest major champion.

Michelle Wie, a stroke out of the lead entering the round, birdied three of her last six holes to salvage a 72. She dropped into a tie for 18th at 4 under.

Pettersen, also playing her first event since the Solheim Cup, was tied for 72nd in the 74-player field at 12 over. The competitive Norwegian had her second straight 77, making a quadruple bogey on 15 and a double bogey on 18.

The event is the first of five straight in Asia. The LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship is next week in South Korea, followed by stops in Taiwan, China and Japan.

INCHEON, South Korea – Phil Mickelson has played 49 matches in the 21 years since the Presidents Cup began.

And he learned something new Friday.

For starters, Mickelson was not aware of the one-ball rule in fourballs and singles matches, meaning that players can’t change the model of their golf ball during the match. He also didn’t realize that a match could go from all square to 2 up in just one hole.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that happening,” he said.

It turned out to be a costly mistake when Mickelson and Zach Johnson halved their fourballs match with Jason Day and Adam Scott, and that allowed the International team to pull within one point of the Americans going into Saturday.

There’s rarely a dull moment around Mickelson, and that was the case Friday at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. For the second straight day, he holed a bunker shot that helped to turn his match around. For the second straight day, tensions were high coming to the final green.

All that was overlooked because Mickelson didn’t know the rules – and in this case, neither did the rules committee.

It was a double blunder, and it started when Mickelson reached into his bag for a golf ball with a slightly harder cover that he thought would help him reach the green in two on the par-5 seventh hole. Mickelson found the fairway and was sauntering to his ball when he noticed U.S. captain Jay Haas following them.

“I was talking with Jay and I just thought, ‘Gosh, I’m going to ask. I’m sure it’s not an issue,'” Mickelson said. “And it turns out that there was a one-ball rule and it was an issue. As a player, you need to know that. You need to know the rules, and if you have a question, you do it beforehand.”

No one knew the ramifications.

The penalty for violating the one-ball rule is called a one-hole adjustment, meaning the one hole is awarded to the other team.

But the rules committee erred when it told Mickelson that he was out of the hole, and Mickelson picked up his ball. Because the one-hole adjustment already had been assessed, Mickelson should have been able to finish the hole. He was in the fairway just over 290 yards from the hole, which he could have reached with a good shot.

But he never got that chance. Day made birdie and won the hole, so the International team went 2 up heading to the eighth hole.

“The weird thing was I’ve never heard of a match adjustment penalty,” he said. “I just thought, ‘OK, if I hit the wrong ball, no big deal. Zach will cover me on this hole’ But obviously, that’s not what happened.”

Mark Russell, the senior vice president of rules and competition for the PGA Tour who took the blame for the mistake, said the committee could not go back and let Mickelson finish the hole because “allowing a correction could potentially undermine the strategy” with players on both teams having already hit their shots.

Mickelson had reason to be confused.

The Ryder Cup does not have a one-ball rule when it is played in America, nor does the PGA Championship. So he thought nothing of using a different ball, especially one day after a foursomes match (alternate shot) where teams can switch golf balls on every hole.

Asked to comment on his match, Mickelson smiled and said, “Zach and I had a very uneventful day. We walked away with a tie.”

He took the blame, even though it was shared with the rules staff, saying that he never should have put the staff in that position if he had known the rule. And Mickelson wasn’t bothered that his team had to settle for a halve.

“I feel like we spotted the International’s best team two holes, and they still couldn’t beat us,” he said. “Just saying.

The new Scotty Cameron Futura X7 and X7M putters make use of face-sole core technology with advanced perimeter weighting to offer increased stability and forgiveness throughout the stroke, in addition to providing easy alignment and a soft, sure feel.

Futura X7 and X7M are the next evolution of Scotty Cameron’s tour-proven Futura X line, a putter family defined by modern contours that deliver high-MOI performance through advanced perimeter weighting.

“The motivation behind Futura X always has been to help golfers make a more stable, more balanced, more consistent, more confident stroke,” Cameron said. “We’ve enhanced those benefits with X7 and X7M through larger, multi-material constructions that make alignment simple. For the golfer, that translates into higher MOI for stability, a bigger sweet spot for forgiveness, easier alignment for a more confident setup, and a better, softer feel.”

Futura X7 is a large, modern wingback mallet with horizontal and vertical sight lines, while Futura X7M offers a unique pop-through bar-back mallet design for additional MOI and stability. Futura X7M Dual Balance combines the X7M head style with tour-proven Dual Balance technology for added stability.

Each Futura X7 model features a lightweight aluminum face-sole core surrounded by a stainless steel frame. “The key feature is the two materials,” Cameron said. “Basically there are two constructions involved here. The feel and sound of the lightweight midsection are married together with the heavier surrounding heel, toe and back to be more forgiving, for better performance.”

On this side of the pond, we’re very concerned about score for some reason. I don’t know when that became the norm, but we would do well to flip this thought and consider some great alternate forms of play on a regular basis. Want to have more fun? Try Match Play, Stableford, or combine both in a four-ball whether that be Stroke Play, Stableford or Match Play! No idea what we’re referring to, or why these are cool? Read on.

MATCH PLAY:

The beauty of this game is only understood by playing it. In Match Play, each hole is a game in itself, and a hole is won by the side that completes the hole in the fewest strokes. When applying the Handicap System to Match Play events, the lowest net score wins the hole. Generally, a match is won by the side leading by a number of holes greater than the number of holes remaining. In singles match play, Golf Canada recommends using 100 per cent of the course handicap (CH). The percentage is known as a Handicap Allowance, and allowances exist to provide equity in handicapped events. The higher-handicapped player receives the full difference in Course Handicap between the two players; and the lower-handicapped player plays from scratch (0). At Golf Canada we receive an extraordinary number of inquiries about Match Play, and the two most frequent questions asked are:

1. An alternate allowance is being used in singles Match Play (75 to 80 per cent); and
2. Each player in the match should take their full CH, and not bother applying the difference between the two players (each player takes their strokes as they would fall).

Although it is certainly up to a Committee conducting an official competition to determine allowances, we use this example when responding to singles match play allowances: If 80 per cent is taken, a 1 handicapper becomes a 0.8 which rounds to 1, and 80 per cent of a 30 handicapper is 24 (6 strokes less). Does that setup really provide equity? Second, in singles matches, it is not permissible to allow each player to use their handicap and apply it fully to the allocation table. This is because the majority of handicap stroke holes are established to maximize the number of halved holes in a match by assigning strokes where higher handicapped players most need them. If matches are conducted by taking full CR, the lower handicapped player has a slightly greater advantage, and the result is more holes won on those higher stroke holes by the lower handicapped player. That’s a fact, and you’ll have to trust that some very smart people set up the system for equity, and differing substantially from their recommendation breaks the model down (and believe me these guys have run serious statistical data modelling to base their decisions from).

As a quick aside, there are some unique Match Play formats that allow you to play your partner’s ball, or take a total score for your team on each hole. I recommend reading Section 9-4 of the Golf Canada Manual that outlines many formats/games in detail.

STABLEFORD:

Our friends in Australia use Stableford more than any other golfing nation. Scoring is simple, points are awarded in relation to a fixed score (usually par or net par) on each hole. Points are accumulated and the highest point total at the end of the round wins. Have a look at the table for the point breakdown.

An alternative is Modified Stableford, which the PGA TOUR has glamourized, that uses the following point system:

• Double Eagle: 8 pts
• Eagle: 5 Pts
• Birdie: 2 Pts
• Par: 0 Pts
• Bogey: -1 Pt
• Double Bogey or higher: -3 Pts.

FOUR-BALL:

Would you like a partner to help out once in a while? If yes, then this is your game. Four-Ball is also known as “Better Ball” where you and your partner both play your own ball but the lowest score between partners counts for the team. At times, you’ll find having a partner to rely on a relief, and you may even putt a little bolder knowing you have a backup. Partnered events are great for strategy, camaraderie and fun. And, a four-ball game can be played as stroke play or match play. Fourball is a fairly popular format played in Member/Guest events.

What’s the coolest thing about playing Stableford, Match Play, Four-Ball games, or combining them? For one, these forms play fast (that’s a fact). Think about it, you don’t have to grind out a messy hole for a high score. If you aren’t able to score any points or better your competitors or partners score, just pick your ball up knowing you start fresh on the next hole. That equates to a good pace of play (in competitions or fun play). For clubs struggling to get participation in some of your Club Championships, especially in higher handicapped flights, try using Stableford; it will help participation/sign-ups. Second, we believe new golfers and higher handicapped golfers will appreciate being introduced to these partnered formats. They certainly won’t feel as much pressure or intimidation knowing they have a partner to rely on, or that they could pick up their ball with no real harm.

Let’s start a movement towards team play and match play. In one of your upcoming rounds, try one of these formats or make a push to try it at your club, league, men’s/women’s night. We think it will add to the enjoyment of your round. These games are all used on Tours in one shape or form whether it’s in the PGA TOUR’s President’s Cup, LPGA’s Solheim Cup, or the Ryder Cup. Don’t those players look like they’re having fun?

INCHEON, South Korea – The Presidents Cup wasn’t an hour old when Nick Price looked at the scoreboard and had that sinking feeling.

It was filled with American red.

And there wasn’t much Price or the International team could do about it Thursday in an opening session that ended just like so many others in this one-sided affair.

Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson capped off a performance that was as businesslike as their handshakes, and the Americans had a 4-1 lead after foursomes in which they never trailed in any match except the one they lost.

“A tough day for us,” Price said. “Having said that, we are only five points into 30. We still have another 25 points left out there. So we’ve got a long way to go, and that’s that I told my team. Just to keep their chins up and do the best they can tomorrow.”

The International team was adamant that the number of matches be reduced – it was lowered from 34 to 30 – to keep it a close contest. After one day, maybe having one less match on Thursday helped.

It could have been worse.

The Americans, who have lost the Presidents Cup only one time since it began in 1994 and are going for their sixth straight victory, had a lead after the opening session for the fifth straight time. The margin was their largest since a four-point lead in 2007 at Royal Montreal.

That makes the five matches of fourballs on Friday even more critical.

U.S. captain Jay Haas put Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson in the first match, followed by Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker.

“He’s going for the kill,” Price said. “If we get momentum going, it can change things.”

All the momentum belonged to the Americans on Thursday.

Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes ran off four straight birdies early in their match against Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, and that set the tone. They wound up winning a tight match when Scott and Matsuyama missed key putts and ended it on the 16th hole.

“That was my whole goal,” Watson said. “Get out there fast, change the color so the other guys see that and it sparks them going forward.”

Watson and Holmes didn’t deliver the first point. That came from Fowler and Walker, who are unbeaten as a team but picked up their first win. They halved their three matches at the Ryder Cup last year, and they had the shortest match at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, 5 and 4, over Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee.

The lone International victory came from Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace of South Africa, who took advantage of some sloppy play by Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed in a 3-and-2 victory. Kuchar hit a tee shot into the water on No. 11, and he hit a wedge so far on No. 14 that it didn’t even reach the creek.

Grace went 0-4 in his Presidents Cup debut two years ago, and the South Africans gave the International team at least some hope.

“I know we’re behind,” Grace said, glancing at a scoreboard behind him. “But one point is better than none.”

The Americans got help from top to bottom.

Spieth, coming off a year of two majors, the FedEx Cup and the No. 1 ranking, and Dustin Johnson made for a formidable duo. They set the tone early when Spieth holed a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 2, and Johnson stepped up on the next hole and hammered a tee shot nearly 350 yards.

They halved that hole, but a message was sent.

“Me hitting bomb drives, Jordan holing putts,” Johnson said. “That’s what you want to get in their heads.”

Johnson had a few wild drives, too, but they restored their cushion early on the back nine and coasted to a 4-and-3 victory.

Mickelson had to rely on a captain’s pick for the first time since the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. Players wanted him on the team for his experience and enthusiasm, and the Hall of Famer showed he was more than capable with a club in his hand. Mickelson holed a bunker shot on the par-3 13th to go 2 up, and he came up big with a key drive on the 18th with water down the right side.

Jason Day, coming off a five-win season that included his first major, did his part to extend the match. Day holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to keep alive hopes of at least earning a half-point. But on the closing par 5, Mickelson’s big drive set up nothing more than a 7-iron for Zach Johnson, and he put it 10 feet below the hole.

Day’s eagle putt from about 18 feet slid by on the left, and he and fellow Aussie Steven Bowditch conceded the eagle to Mickelson for a 2-up U.S. win.

“It’s tough when you go out there and you see all the red and we’re down,” Price said. “I’m certainly not despondent about the whole thing. I think this team is going to bounce back a lot quicker than maybe any of the other teams we’ve had. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.”