MELBOURNE, Australia — The Americans are in a big hole at the Presidents Cup, and there’s nothing Tiger Woods is doing about it.
Whatever momentum they had going into the double session Saturday at Royal Melbourne vanished as Abraham Ancer and the International team filled the scoreboards with their black-and-gold colors and built a 9-5 lead after three sessions.
Tony Finau birdied the last two holes to at least get a half-point from the final fourballs match for the U.S. team.
Woods, the first playing captain in 25 years and a winner in the two matches he played with Justin Thomas, took himself out of the lineup on Saturday morning for fourballs. And then in a surprise, he sat himself in the afternoon.
“You have to do what’s best for the team,” Woods said. “And I’m getting ready for the singles tomorrow.”
The decision even surprised International captain Ernie Els, sitting on the other side of the table from him and fully preparing to set his foursomes lineup based on where Woods was going to play.
“Yes, especially the way he’s been playing with J.T.,” Els said. “I thought Tiger would play this afternoon.”
Thomas instead headed back out with Rickie Fowler, the lone bright spot for the Americans in the morning when they took down Marc Leishman and Haotong Li with relative ease.