US leads International by three

SAN FRANCISCO – Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were perfect as Presidents Cup partners, and they got enough help from US teammates Saturday to put the Americans in position to stay perfect on home soil.

With an improbable rally by Woods in the morning and pure putting by Stricker in the afternoon, they became the first partnership in the Presidents Cup – and the first in 30 years of any team competition – to go 4-0.

Their performance helped the Americans to a 12-1/2 to 9-1/2 lead going into Sunday’s singles.

Phil Mickelson had a chance to join them with an undefeated record using different partners. Mickelson and Sean O’Hair, who won their match handily in the morning, each had a birdie putt inside 15 feet on the final hole for the win, but had to settle for a halve.

The International team walked away from Harding Park the last two days with momentum from keeping close, but the deficit looks daunting.

No team has rallied from three points behind on the final day to win the cup outright, and the Americans have lost only one singles session in the seven previous Presidents Cup matches.

“Last time we had a five-point mountain to climb in Montreal, and it looks like we will have something to climb,” Geoff Ogilvy said after collecting his first point of the week in teaming with fellow Australian Robert Allenby. (AP)