MELBOURNE, November 17, 2011 (AFP) - Defending champions United States clawed back from early deficits to seize the momentum and a 4-2 lead after the opening day foursomes at The Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne on Thursday.
For the third straight event, the Americans claimed the early advantage after the opening foursomes as they look to extend their dominance in the biennial teams event.
The non-European International team let slip leads in four of the six matches to relinquish a promising start as they chase only their second victory in nine Presidents Cups.
The Americans' defiant fightback came despite the pairing of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker crashing to a seven and six thrashing at the hands of Australian Adam Scott and South Korea's K.J. Choi.
But the US team finished the opening day of the four-day teams event in charge after wins by Bubba Watson/Webb Simpson, Hunter Mahan/David Toms and Phil Mickelson/Jim Furyk.
Bill Haas/Nick Watney and Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar fought back from behind to halve their matches and take the steam out of the Internationals, who were enjoying home support from large Australian galleries.
"It did not look like 4-2 an hour and a half ago," US team captain Fred Couples said.
"Bill Haas fought hard, he and Nick Watney did a great job and Kuchar and Johnson got a little lucky to win the last two holes.
"They had tough teams and we had tough teams. We still fought hard and a 4-2 lead, I'll take that any day."
Captain Greg Norman said his International team had to put the opening day disappointment behind them and look to bounce back in Friday's fourballs.
"We had a good opportunity to really push all the way through today, and we didn't square all the matches and we are behind," Norman said.
"We have to forget about what happened today. It's like any golf tournament, you have to look forward, not back. We have the ability to go out there and win more points."
Australian Geoff Ogilvy and his South African partner Charl Schwartzel were two up with four holes to play only to bogey the 16th and 18th holes to allow Haas and Watney to square the match.
The all-Australian pair of Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day were leading two up with two holes left but faltered with a bogey-bogey finish to halve their match.
The Internationals' only major scalp was the unexpected big win over Woods and Stricker, who were unbeaten at the 2009 Cup.
"We were just obviously slightly off," Woods said. "It's one of those things where we got down a little bit early, tried to make up some shots and these guys were playing well."
Scott, who now has Woods's old outspoken caddie Steve Williams carrying his bag, was relatively low-key after the significant victory.
"KJ and I didn't get it out of position today, which is a good thing on this golf course. We both played very well, and they didn't play their best.
"A good win because they were a tough team last time, took a lot of points off us, so it was pleasing to get one up there."
The Americans set up victories at the previous two Presidents Cups by winning their opening foursomes in Montreal (2007) and San Francisco (2009).
Scores on the first day of the USA v Internationals Presidents Cup match play golf tournament at Royal Melbourne Thursday:
USA 4 Internationals 2
Foursomes
Bubba Watson/Webb Simpson (USA) bt Ernie Els/Ryo Ishikawa (RSA/JPN) 4 and 2
Adam Scott/K.J. Choi (AUS/KOR) bt Tiger Woods/Steve Stricker (USA) 7 and 6
Hunter Mahan/David Toms (USA) bt Kim Kyung-Tae/Y.E. Yang (KOR/KOR) 6 and 5
Phil Mickelson/Jim Furyk (USA) bt Retief Goosen/Robert Allenby (RSA/AUS) 4 and 3
Bill Haas/Nick Watney (USA) v Geoff Ogilvy/Charl Schwartzel (AUS/RSA) halved
Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (USA) v Aaron Baddeley/Jason Day (AUS/AUS) halved
Presidents Cup Pairings
MELBOURNE, November 17, 2011 (AFP) - Pairings for Friday's fourball matches at the USA v Internationals Presidents Cup match play golf tournament at Royal Melbourne:
Fourball
Bubba Watson/Webb Simpson (USA) v Ernie Els/Ryo Ishikawa (RSA/JPN)
Tiger Woods/Dustin Johnson (USA) v Aaron Baddeley/Jason Day (AUS/AUS)
Phil Mickelson/Jim Furyk (USA) v Adam Scott/Kim Kyung-Tae (AUS/KOR)
Bill Haas/Nick Watney (USA) v Geoff Ogilvy/K.J. Choi (AUS/KOR)
Steve Stricker/Matt Kuchar (USA) v Y.E. Yang/Robert Allenby (KOR/AUS)
Hunter Mahan-David Toms (USA) v Charl Schwartzel/Retief Goosen (RSA/RSA)