Players praised after 'brutal' day
Presidents Cup captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman showered their players with lavish praise after the United States and the Internationals battled against "brutal" conditions to earn an even split of Friday's four-ball matches.
"I think I'm proud of all 24 players as a witness to this," US skipper Couples told reporters after the teams shared the points 3-3 in hot gusty conditions to leave the defending champion Americans leading 7-5 into the weekend.
"It was not much fun out there, I'm sure, for any of them.
"Obviously there were three teams that won on each side, so they had fun. But it was brutal."
Having proved challenging during Thursday's opening foursomes, the Royal Melbourne course transformed into a horror show off the tees and on the greens as northerly winds turned two-foot putts into knee-knocking ordeals.
Players watched aghast as gusts of wind caused drives to plunge into bunkers and gentle putts tumble past the cups, gather pace and roll clear off the green.
Norman said his Internationals had a spring in their step after they showed grit and determination to reel in the Americans with three late wins after the tournament had threatened to get away from them.
"We got a huge amount of confidence in the room right now," he added. "Yesterday took it out of us; today, we got it back again, with a little bit more energy and gusto in us this evening."
Norman elected to rest South Koreans YE Yang and Kim Kyung-tae for Saturday's final foursomes after the pair were thrashed 6&5 by Hunter Mahan and David Toms on the opening day, but has persevered with Ryo Ishikawa and Ernie Els's partnership despite their second straight loss to Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.
"Well, Ernie asked for (Ishikawa) actually," Norman said. "We talked with Ernie about it. We gave him other options. He really... at the end of the day, he has no problem, he's completely comfortable with him."
Couples has given Nick Watney and Steve Stricker the morning off, ensuring no repeat of the Woods-Stricker partnership that was blasted 7&6 by Australian Adam Scott and South Korea's KJ Choi in the opening foursomes.
A greater concern for Couples might be his captain's pick, Woods, the only US player yet to score any points over the first two days.
The US skipper drew criticism for choosing Woods as one of his two picks months before the cut-off date and despite the former world No 1's improved display in a one-up loss with Johnson on Friday, the decision remains under scrutiny.
"He laughed about it," Couples said, referring to Woods's barren run. "Not many times where he doesn't win a point through a couple of rounds.
"But you know what, we are up by two points, and that's really all I care about at the moment. And I would say Tiger does the same."