The second round of the President’s Cup was halted late Friday to end a day that was filled with delays.
Competition was hindered for the second time in as many days in Dublin, which caused four of the six matches to halt play at dusk, as the other two finishing play at the 15th hole. The U.S. holds a 4.5 to 3.5 lead against the International team.
Play will resume at 7:35 a.m Saturday, with third round pairings being made at 8 a.m, with the hope of teeing off the third round at half past the hour.
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley closed out the International duo composed of Jason Day and Graham DeLaet four-and-three after ahead by as much as six points on the back nine and it wasn’t until the fifth hole, when Mickelson made a putt for eagle, when the Americans found their rhythm.
“[It] reminded me of the Ryder Cup last year,” Bradley said, “just kind of getting excited and hitting a lot of great shots and feeding off each other and never allowing them to get a hole. If they were going to beat us, they were going to have to make birdie or better, and we are very difficult to beat when we do that.”
Ernie Els and Brendon de Jonge showed a similar pattern of domination, closing out U.S. players Bill Haas and Hunter Mahan four-and-three. The Internationals did not lose a hole in this match.
“This guy [de Jonge], he played beautiful and we both played well today,” Els said. “He kept it in play for most of the time, and hit a lot of greens and had a lot of looks at birdie.” The duo had six birdies and one eagle in the 15 holes they played.
Just after three o’clock, horns signaled a delay of competition, which lasted until play resumed at 5:45 p.m. Of the four remaining matches, leads increased for either side.
Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth continued to roll over rookies Branden Grace and Richard Sterne, ending the day three-up going into the par-5 15th hole. A birdie on the par-3 12th hole gave the Americans a four-up advantage, but were quickly subdued the following hole to an International birdie.
Perhaps the closest match on the course is between Angel Cabrera and Marc Leishman versus Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker, as the Internationals hold a one-up lead heading into the 14th hole of play. After losing drastically on Thursday to Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods, the International team is looking to capitalize come Saturday morning.
“Angel [Cabrera] and I, we don’t want to lose our first two matches,” Leishman said. We do need to finish this one off for ourselves and the team.”
The two final matches proved less thrilling, though, as each were split between the U.S. and the Internationals. Woods and Kuchar hold a three-up lead heading into the 13th hole and Internationals Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama are four-up on the 12th green.
@ColinHanner
ch115710@ohiou.edu
