U.S. hangs on to slim lead

Another rain delay cut short some exceptional golf Friday at the Presidents Cup.
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley shot 30 on the front nine at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, an astounding performance in foursomes. Only some sloppy play allowed the match to go 15 holes in a 4-and-3 win over Jason Day and Graham DeLaet.
“We were down but, boy, on 5 we just turned it on and played some of our best golf,” Mickelson said.
Right behind them, Brendon de Jonge began to emerge as a star of the International team. He teamed with Ernie Els in a 4-and-3 win over Hunter Mahan and Bill Hass. They were 8 under when the match ended at the 15th.
“This guy, he played beautiful and we both played well today,” Els said.
The Americans had a 4-3 lead, although four matches were in progress when darkness descended on Muirfield Village.
For the second day in a row, storms interrupted play for almost three hours and left a bleak outlook for finishing Sunday.
The other four matches the Americans were up in two, the International led the other two were to resume this morning.
Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar were 6 under through eight holes and still only had a 1-up lead over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Oosthuizen missed a short par putt on the ninth to lose another hole, and the former British Open champion made an even greater blunder on the par-3 12th. After Woods went long of the green, Oosthuizen’s 7-iron leaked to the right and hopped into the water. The Americans won with a bogey and were 3 up with six holes to play when they stopped.
Steve Stricker and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth finally seized control of their match when Spieth made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth, and the Texan made another key birdie on the 12th. They were 3 up with four holes remaining. Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman overcame an early deficit and were 1 up with five holes remaining against Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker. The International team had control of the other match. Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott lost only one hole and were 4 up with seven holes remaining against Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner.
Today is the busiest day for the Presidents Cup, with five fourballs matches early and five foursomes matches late. It concludes with 12 singles matches Sunday, although the forecast is not any better, especially for Sunday.