U.S. Team holds strong at Liberty National

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Notes and observations from the U.S. Team in Friday’s second round of the Presidents Cup, where the home team took an 8-2 lead. For more coverage from Liberty National, click here for the Daily Wrap-Up. THOMAS, FOWLER BRING IT It was the first time since the PGA Championship that Justin Thomas’ exuberance gave him a hoarse throat. Just as he did at Quail Hollow, Thomas holed out from off the green and it looks like come Sunday he’ll be hoisting another trophy. The FedExCup champion has brought his domination to the Presidents Cup. Thomas, who won five times this season, holed out a bunker shot on the 14th hole and executed two more deft short-game shots on the back nine of Friday’s Four-Balls victory with partner Rickie Fowler. They won, 3 and 2, over the International Team’s top duo, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen. Grace and Oosthuizen were 5-0 until running into a new U.S. duo that could be dominant for decades to come. “I told Rickie on the first tee today, I’m like, ‘Come on, we need to bring it today,’â€� Thomas said. “They are great players. But man, we just kept fighting. To get that win was huge for us.â€� Thomas and Fowler, who are neighbors in Jupiter, Florida, are the only U.S. team to go 2-0 in the Presidents Cup’s first two sessions, helping the United States to a record-setting advantage. The home team leads 8-2, the largest lead a team has ever held after the first two sessions. Thomas, one of the TOUR’s best iron players, impressed with a strong short game Friday. His tee shot sailed well left on the drivable par-4 12th, but he executed a deft bump-and-run that stopped 13 feet from the hole. He made the birdie putt for a crucial halve that kept his team 2 up. Two holes later, he holed out a bunker shot for another halve. It was so good that, like his chip-in at Quail Hollow, he raised his arm in celebration several feet before the ball found the hole. Thomas birdied the 15th hole and his bunker shot at the next hole hit the flagstick. “We enjoy this so much,â€� Thomas said. “We’re going to play 15, 20 more years of this stuff, and if we continue to be partners, there’s going to be rounds where we really rely on the other one. (Fowler) really held us in the start when I wasn’t playing very well, and I made a couple birdies there later.â€� Thomas and Fowler have played just 30 holes in their two matches. They beat Charl Schwartzel and Hideki Matsuyama, 6 and 4, in the tournament’s opening match. They have lost only three holes, and trailed for only one hole. CALL OF THE DAY MICKELSON MAKING IT For the second consecutive day, Phil Mickelson stood on the 18th green with a birdie putt for the win. He made it this time. Mickelson holed a 12-foot birdie putt to win the 18th hole in his Friday Four-Balls match. He and partner Kevin Kisner beat the International Team’s Jason Day and Marc Leishman, 1 up, in a rematch of Thursday’s Foursomes match that ended all square after Mickelson missed an 8-foot par putt on the final hole. Kisner and Mickelson celebrated Friday’s finishing birdie with a celebration straight from “Three Amigos,â€� a 1980s comedy starring Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. “I thought we biffed it when we were doing it, but when I looked back and saw the replay, I think we kind of nailed it actually,â€� Mickelson said. “But I get that I can’t dance. I get that I can’t take selfies, but I can putt, and it was nice to roll that last one in.â€� CHAPPELL, HOFFMAN CAME TO PLAY Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman had to wait an extra day to make their Presidents Cup debut. It was worth the wait, as they teamed to score a 6-and-5 victory over Anirban Lahiri and Charl Schwartzel. It is the largest winning margin this week. Despite teeing off in the fourth match of the day, Chappell and Hoffman scored the United States’ first point. The day’s other four matches all went to at least the 16th hole. Hoffman and Chappell were only all square when they stepped to the first tee. They won the match’s first two holes and lost just one hole, the par-3 10th. “We were just grinding,â€� Hoffman said. “We didn’t know we got the first point. I wasn’t paying attention to the scoreboards or leaderboards or anything. Chappy and I were just trying to get the job done.â€� Hoffman, 40, is the second-oldest member of this year’s U.S. Team (only Phil Mickelson is older). Chappell, 31, holds the course record at Liberty National; he fired 62 in the third round of the 2013 THE NORTHERN TRUST. SHORT SHOTS Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth didn’t win Friday, but they kept their undefeated Presidents Cup record intact. The indomitable American duo used a late comeback to earn a halve against Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin. Spieth and Reed, who are now 2-0-1 as a Presidents Cup team, were 2 down through 14 holes. Reed made birdie on the 15th hole, and Spieth followed by knocking his tee shot stiff on the par-3 16th to square the match. Spieth lipped out a 19-foot birdie putt on the last hole. He and Reed are 6-1-3 in international team competition. The United States won Friday’s Four-Balls session, 4 ½ – ½. It was the first time since 2007 that a team failed to win a single point in a team-play session. There have been 46 team sessions in the history of the Presidents Cup; this was just the sixth in which a team failed to score 1 point. The last time before Friday was in 2007, when the U.S. Team shut out the Internationals in Day 3 Foursomes. All three teams that were kept intact for the first two sessions are undefeated. Fowler and Thomas are 2-0, while Spieth-Reed and Mickelson-Kisner are both 1-0-1. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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