2013 Presidents Cup: Team International Blows Saturday Momentum On Sunday Morning

Team International led all five matches in the Saturday Foursomes at the 2013 Presidents Cup, but darkness forced a stoppage of play at Muirfield Village, and Sunday morning was not good to them. The alternate shot match, which will set the final score before the Sunday Singles can get underway, will see Team USA with a sizeable lead for the closing event. You can’t forget what happened last year at the Ryder Cup at Medinah, but this International team doesn’t have an Ian Poulter……Stay Tuned!

The marquee match that provided the drama early on Sunday morning was the Phil Mickelson Keegan Bradley match with Jason Day, and Graham DeLaet. It took all 18 holes for Phil and Keegan to dig themselves out of a 3 down hole, but Phil hit a phenomenal approach shot at the final hole, and Keegan made a nine foot putt to tie the match.

DeLaet had chipped in from just off the green, and after all the high-fiveing was done, Keegan calmly stroked the left-breaking putt into the center of the hole. Match is halved.

The other gift from the Golf God was Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson beating arguably Team International’s best team. 2010 Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen and 2010 Masters Champ, Charl Schwartzel had a 3 Up overnight lead when everyone went to bed Saturday night, but the American team came out Sunday morning with guns blazing.

Three unanswered consecutive points at 13, 14, and 15 tied the match, and a birdie at 17 put the match away for Team USA. It appeared that the hole shrunk overnight for the South Africans, and putts that were dropping on Saturday were lipping out on Sunday morning. Team USA wins the match 4 & 3.

The only Foursomes loss came from Tiger Woods, and Matt Kuchar. Once again, Brendon de Jonge was able to play like a veteran down the stretch, and carry his partner, Ernie Els to a win. This was the first loss for the newly formed Woods/Kuchar team,

Tiger and Matt never led in the final match of the day, but were able to get two points back at the 15th, and 16th holes to get within one of tieing it up, but Els and de Jonge held on for the one hole victory.

The only match that was never really in doubt was the Steve Stricker/Bill Hass matchup against Masters champ, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama. They were down 2 & 1 at the fourth hole, but scored four unanswered points enroute to the four point rout.

In my opinion, Steve Stricker has been the anchor for this American Team. He carried a struggling Jordan Spieth to three wins before Captain Fred Couples sat the youngster down for the final team match. Stricker made clutch putts throughout the competition to either win or half holes, and rallied his team to four victories. Finally getting paired with a veteran like Bill Haas he was once again able to showcase the type of solid player he is.

Team USA will begin the Sunday Singles with a 14 to 8 lead. They need only three points this afternoon to retain the Cup for another two years. The matches will begin around 8 AM with the TV coverage starting on NBC at noon.

You can follow Les on Twitter @Spin_47 and in the Golf Community at Google +