Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee have helped the Internationals to a shock 7-3 Presidents Cup lead over the USA with an incredible sweep of the foursomes matches.
The Australian pair were mighty in giving the Internationals a golden opportunity to win the Cup for the first time since 1998 as Geoff Ogilvy’s underdogs claimed all five points on day two in Illinois.
Scott had his long wand weaving magic in teaming with South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout for a 3 and 2 win over Justin Thomas and Cameron Young.
Lee partnered New Zealand Cup debutant Ryan Fox to a clutch 1 up win over the American pair of double major winners Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.
Reigning Open champion Fox sealed victory on the 18th green after Lee’s supreme driving proved a feature of the day at Medina Country Club.
Canadians Corey Conners and Nick Taylor set the tone for the Internationals with a nerve-shredding 1 up win over world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.
Adam Scott has played every Presidents Cup since 2003. (Getty Images: Luke Hales)
Clinging to a one-hole lead heading up the last hole, Taylor’s errant drive placed the duo under extreme pressure but he replied with a magical approach to two feet after Conners was forced to lay up 148 yards short of the green.
Conners duly holed the putt to leave tie the scores up at 3-3 after Team USA won three of the five day-one four-ball matches.
A 4 and 3 victory for Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim over Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay and a 3 and 2 win for fellow South Korean Sung-jae Im and Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama over Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman completed only the Internationals’ second-ever foursomes whitewash.
With 20 points still up for grabs, the 13th edition of the Presidents Cup is realistically only one-third through.
But the Americans will still need to collect 12.5 points from the remaining three sessions to pull off a comeback victory.
There will be eight more team matches on Saturday (Sunday AEST) before 12 last-day singles encounters.
AAP