US on brink of Presidents Cup win

A ruthless United States showed a shattered International team no mercywinning three of the four foursomes matches yesterday to sit on thebrink of a seventh straight Presidents Cup title.The US began the day with a commanding 8-2 lead, their biggest everafter two days of Presidents Cup competition, and stretched it to analmost insurmountable 11 1/2 — 2 1/2 advantage after the morningmatches.Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed set the tone with a 4&3 win over theAustralian duo of Jason Day and Marc Leishman in the first match.Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar pushed the reeling Internationals into adeeper hole with a 4&3 decision over Canada’s Adam Hadwin andAustralian Adam Scott.Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner turned the screws even tighter with a2&1 win over Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Argentine EmilianoGrillo.Only South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace prevented a USsweep when they halved their match with Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.The US would clinch the trophy a day early with a sweep of the afternoonfour-balls, which would turn Sunday’s 12 singles matches into deadrubbers.The US have won nine of 11 Presidents Cups, including the last six fromthe International team, comprised of players from the rest of the worldexcept Europe.“It doesn’t look like we are trying but we are trying very hard,” said dejected International captain Nick Price.“The guys obviously are a little down but like I said yesterday, there’s still a long way to go but it’s tough.“The momentum has swung against us.“Yesterday, and then again today, losing the first two matches (it)would have been great if we could have posted a point with one of thefirst two matches, but you know, we’ve just got to keep plugging along.“We’re not going to lay down.”Needing to mount an early charge to battle back into contention, theInternational team instead got the day off to a foreboding start whenLeishman sent his opening tee shot into the water in the alternate shotevent handing Spieth and Reed a 1-up lead.Mickelson, meanwhile, becomes the all-time leader in Presidents Cup matches won with 25, surpassing Tiger Woods.“Team USA is playing really well and they have all year,” said Stricker.“They came into this event riding a lot of momentum, a lot ofconfidence, and they really get excited to play these team events andit’s showing.”