Tiger makes cut but fails to make move up board

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Notes and observations from the third day at the Presidents Cup, where the International Team is on the brink of a heavy defeat. The U.S. Team dominated morning Foursomes 3.5-0.5, then were almost as impressive in afternoon Four-ball matches to the tune of 3-1. They are just a point away (14.5-3.5) from clinching the Cup in Sunday singles. For more from Liberty National, click here for the Daily Wrap-up.  PLAYING FOR PRIDE AND PRICE The odds of the International Team winning all 12 singles matches on Sunday to win the Presidents Cup are around 15,000/1. As such, Sunday becomes mostly about pride and about the future. It also is about the past. With Captain Nick Price likely finishing up his term having now overseen three Cups, the focus is on where to from here. “We may be down, but we are not out,â€� Price said “We’ve given it our best shot this week. We’ve just come up against a juggernaut of an American Team that has not put a foot wrong, it seems like, in three days. They have had all the momentum and we’ve had nothing. “There’s an outside shot tomorrow, and the guys all know that. They are going to go play for their pride, they are going to play for themselves, they are going to play for the team and they are going to play for us (captains). “They are going to do their best. You’re not going to be able to take the spirit away out from our team, that’s for sure.â€� Anirban Lahiri, who with Si Woo Kim provided the only International Team win on Saturday, said the side would play with freedom and a determination to send Price out on a better note. Price has been the most popular International leader in some time and the score line has cut the Zimbabwean deep. “We can compete. We haven’t this week but going into tomorrow, I think we have to enjoy ourselves a little more,â€� Lahiri said. “It’s difficult to do that when you’re down the way we’ve been but I think all of us are going to go out there and try and play our best. We’ve got a mountain in front of us, but nothing to lose. “All 12 of us, caddies, and everybody, we feel terrible about this being Nick’s last captaincy, and we’ve not played well. This is not the way we’d like him to leave. We want him to go out on a happy note. So we are going to give him our all and we are going to play for our pride and for him.â€� LAHIRI REDEMPTION KEEPS SLIMMEST OF HOPES ALIVE Two years ago Anirban Lahiri had a 4-foot putt to give the International Team at least a share of the Presidents Cup. It missed. And they eventually lost the Cup by a point. Since that moment the Indian star had wanted a chance for redemption and while his impressive efforts on Saturday didn’t clinch the Cup, they did stop a dominant U.S. Team from doing so. Si Woo Kim and Lahiri sat all square with Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell through 15 holes before Lahiri buried a 16-foot birdie putt, pointing it into the hole as it dropped, to go 1 up. But the drama was far from over. On 17 Hoffman’s approach came up short of the green while Lahiri sat 19-feet from the hole. Hoffman chipped in and celebrated like he’d won the Cup, chest bumping Chappell and running around in euphoria. Once the deafening noise subsided Lahiri lined up his putt – and drained it – ensuring Sunday’s singles would not be dead rubbers. “I think the Americans have done it all week. They seem to make the turn, just around the clubhouse, which is the 14th, and they make birdies down the stretch. They make putts; they hole shots,â€� Lahiri said. “I was sitting in the morning when I came in, and I said one of us or some of us have got to try and do the same. We have to try and make those putts and make those birdies coming home. I guess that was just a good seed in my head when I started out today.â€� On 18 he was left with a 3-foot par putt to secure the 1-up win but as he lined it up Chappell conceded it in a display of good sportsmanship. The International Team had been privately upset at some of the American antics, including Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner’s three amigos dance on Friday. “There has not been as much sportsmanship as there should be up until those last two holes,â€� Lahiri added. “So I think that should kind of demonstrate to everyone here how we really should play the game, with the right kind of spirit.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Since 2015 Jason Day has won eight PGA TOUR events including a major and a WGC – Dell Match Play Championship. Unfortunately, his past two Presidents Cups in that time frame have not been as prolific. Day is now 0-7-2 in the last two Cups combined. He plays Charley Hoffman in singles on Sunday as he tries to get an elusive win. The 11-point lead by the U.S. Team heading into Sunday’s Singles Matches surpasses the previous record of nine points; the International Team led by nine points in 1998 and ended up beating the U.S. Team 20.5 to 11.5. The largest overall margin of victory in Presidents Cup history after all sessions is 11 points, when the U.S. defeated the International Team 21.5 to 10.5 in 2000. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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MEXICO CITY — Rickie Fowler was penalized one shot Friday in the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship for dropping from the wrong height, a new rule he expects to be changed. Fowler hit a shank on his second shot of the round from the 10th fairway. He got a ball from his caddie and instinctively held out his arm at shoulder-height, then played his next shot to the green. The modernized Rules of Golf that began this year require drops to be knee-height. It’s not unusual for players to use a method that had been in place since 1984 — before Fowler was even born — but in all but one occasion on the PGA TOUR, someone noticed and the player was able to re-drop. In this case, neither Jon Rahm nor Patrick Reed watched him go through the drop, and his caddie was looking at the yardage book. Fowler said someone mentioned to Reed that the drop was shoulder-height, and that’s when Fowler realized what he had done. “It’s on me. I took the shot. It was no big deal,” Fowler said. “But I think with the new rules that have been put in place, it’s not doing any favors for our sport.” With the shank out-of-bounds and the penalty for the incorrect drop, he made triple bogey and shot 73. He called the knee-length drop a “terrible” change, adding, “I definitely think it will get changed.” Rules officials from tours around the world, led by the USGA and R&A, spent five years overhauling the rules to make them simpler and easier to understand for pros and recreational players alike. The change in the drop received most of the attention, mainly for the optics, as some players couldn’t figure out a smooth motion to get their hands at knee-length. This is Fowler’s third tournament of the year, and he said he had no problem the first time he had to take a drop because of all the attention. “We have been making fun of the knee drop for so long that it was ingrained that my first drop was going to be from the knee, like this iconic moment,” he said. “I get to drop from my knee and look stupid.” Fowler said he also didn’t like the rule that a ball dropped from the knee could not roll more than two club lengths away, which was a previous rule for some drops. Because the ball is only falling from the knee, the new rule says it must stay in a relief area one club length in a semi-circle. MUST READS: Round 2, WGC-Mexico Championship Tiger climbs leaderboard after second-round 66 That was the idea behind the change. When balls were dropped from the shoulder area, there were nine things that would have led to dropping again. Rules makers thought that by dropping from knee level, players would be able to get the ball in play quicker. “Maybe there’s a minimum at the knee — you can drop from the shoulder, whatever,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to gain some sort of advantage.” That’s been a common theme among PGA TOUR players, that the drop should be allowed from the knee to the shoulder without penalty. Fowler sees no reason why a shoulder-length drop that stays in the relief area shouldn’t count. The new rule (14.3b) says it must be knee high. “I haven’t heard many of the guys say that the drop from the knee has been a good thing, or that it looks good,” Fowler said. It was the second time this year Fowler has had a tough ruling. The other was on the 11th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, when after two drops on a slope next to the green, he was able to place the ball. After it was in play, and as Fowler was studying his shot by the green, the ball rolled into the water hazard. That rule has been part of golf for years and was not part of the overhaul. “I know that they’re going to bring up that rule, as well, when you’re getting assessed penalties for nothing, really,” he said.

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