Presidents Cup: Day 3 match recaps

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Here are the recaps from the completed matches in Saturday’s two sessions at the Presidents Cup. Foursomes are being played in the morning at Liberty National with Four-ball matches set for the afternoon. MORNING FOURSOMES MATCH 11: USA wins, 4 and 3 Jordan Spieth/Patrick Day (U.S.) def. Jason Day/Marc Leishman (International) Holes won: USA 6, International 2 Holes led: USA 8, International 2 Recap: The powerhouse American duo won the final four holes to break open a tight match and continue their domination in these team events. Spieth and Reed are now 2-0-1 this week and 7-1-3 in team events (including Ryder Cup results). Meanwhile, the Aussie partners are 0-2-1 this week, with Day now 0-6-2 in his last eight Presidents Cup matches. Day did have the biggest highlight for the Internationals, chipping in for birdie to win the 7th hole and put his team 1 up. But the Americans responded two holes later with a birdie at the par-5 ninth to square the match. They then dialed it up a notch on the back nine. A terrific approach by Reed set up a tap-in birdie at the 12th. A Spieth approach set up a Reed 7-foot birdie putt at the 13th. The Internationals lost the 14th with a bogey after Day found the bunker with his tee shot. And then Spieth’s approach to 7 feet at the 15th set up Reed for the match-ending birdie. QUOTES Jason Day: “I didn’t do Leish any favors hitting driver off the tee on 12. I didn’t do too well hitting a driver off on 14, as well, obviously putting him in a bunker there wasn’t a go, and then Jordan hit a great bunker shot out of there. I mean, it is what it is. Unfortunately we just didn’t have it today, more so myself. Leish played great. You know, it sucks.” Marc Leishman: “I didn’t hole the putts today that I needed to hole. I teed off the holes where you need to be holing them and wasn’t, but they just played too good. You know, today is a day where you’re going to make a few mistakes, and we did, but they outplayed us, so credit to them.” MATCH 12: USA wins, 4 and 3 Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (U.S.) def. Adam Scott/Adam Hadwin (International) Holes won: USA 8, International 4 Holes led: USA 13, International 0 Recap: The Americans won six of the first nine holes, thanks in large part to some poor International play, and maintained control the rest of the way. Pars were good enough for the U.S. to win hole Nos. 1, 3 and 6, and the Americans even won the fifth hole with a bogey. The Internationals suffered another double bogey at the seventh, but the U.S. won it with a 17-foot birdie putt from Johnson. DJ also won the ninth with a 7-foot birdie putt, putting the Americans 4-up at the turn. Hadwin started the Internationals’ rally with a 24-foot putt to win the 10th and also made an 8-footer to win the 13th. But a third double bogey cost them the 14th and stopped any momentum. QUOTES Dustin Johnson: “We play a lot of practice rounds together, and we really enjoy playing this alternate-shot together. It’s a fun format, especially on a day like today. It’s tough out there. I thought we played really solid.” Matt Kuchar: “I love playing with this guy. I think anybody would do well playing with this guy. I’ve been a lucky recipient a number of times. We make a great team and it’s really been a fun ride.” MATCH 13: USA wins, 2 and 1 Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner (U.S.) def. Jhonattan Vegas/Emiliano Grillo (International)  Holes won: USA 5, International 3 Holes led: USA 6, International 1 Recap: In one of the most well-played matches of the day, the Americans led off with a birdie at the first hole and went 4 under to beat back the steady new South American tandem of Vegas/Grillo. Mickelson and Kisner improved their record to 2-0-1 this week. The Internationals briefly took the lead when the U.S. bogeyed the 7th, but the Americans responded with a birdie to square the match and never trailed again. A terrific approach by Mickelson won the 15th, and his approach at the 17th to 7 feet set up Kisner to close out the match. MATCH 14: Halved Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace (International) halve with Justin Thomas/Rickie Fowler (U.S.) Holes won: International 4, USA 4 Holes led: International 5, USA 2 Recap: The South African duo remained the strongest pairing for Nice Price’s team, claiming a half-point in the final match against the red-hot American pairing which had rolled through the first two sessions. Oosthuizen and Grace won three of the first six holes and were 2 up at that point, Oosthuizen having set up Grace for a 7-foot birdie putt at the sixth. But the U.S. won the next two holes with a par and a birdie and were 1 up through 10. Oosthuizen rolled in a 38-foot putt at the 11th to square the match and the two sides halved the rest of the holes. AFTERNOON FOUR-BALLS Match 15: Louis Oosthuizen/Jason Day (International) vs. Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed Match 16: Jhonattan Vegas/Hideki Matsuyama (International) vs. Justin Thomas/Daniel Berger Match 17: Anirban Lahiri/Si Woo Kim (International) vs. Kevin Chappell/Charley Hoffman (U.S.) Match 18: Marc Leishman/Branden Grace (International) vs. Brooks Koepka/Dustin Johnson (U.S.)

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