Ruthless United States on brink of Presidents Cup win

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey - The International team's Presidents Cup hopes were hanging by the slimmest of threads after the United States claimed six of eight matches in a cut-throat display on Saturday to sit on the brink of a seventh successive title.

Only a one-up victory by India's Anirban Lahiri and South Korea's Kim Si-woo over Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman denied the United States a sweep of the afternoon four-balls to put celebrations at a breezy Liberty National on hold.


It also kept the Internationals of suffering the ultimate embarrassment of watching the trophy claimed on a Saturday for the first time.

The United States have a commanding 14-1/2 to 3-1/2 lead and need just one point from Sunday's 12 singles matches.

"We've just come up against a juggernaut of an American team that has not put a foot wrong," said International captain Nick Price. "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.

"You're not going to be able to take the spirit away out from our team, that's for sure."

Despite failing to clinch, it was another ruthless performance from the U.S., who won three of four foursomes matches and halved the other then followed up by prevailing in three of the four-ball contests.

The U.S. had looked poised to run the table on Saturday after Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed claimed a 2&1 decision over Australian Jason Day and South African Louis Oosthuizen, before Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas beat Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama 3&2.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka then secured a 3&2 victory over Australian Marc Leishman and South African Branden Grace before the spotlight fell on Chappell and Hoffman in the last match of the day.

With the Americans clinging to a one hole lead, Kim sent a charge through the chilled crowd when he drained a nervy seven-foot birdie putt at the 15th to leave the match all-square.

Lahiri rolled in a 16-foot birdie effort on the next hole to take the lead.

Chappell generously conceded a four-foot birdie to Lahiri at the last, handing the Internationals just their second match victory.

U.S. captain Steve Stricker sent out British Open champion Spieth and Reed first who overcame a rules blunder at the 12th that appeared to open the door for the Internationals.

With their match all-square Spieth was disqualified from completing the hole and denied an opportunity to match Day's birdie putt when Oosthuizen's eagle attempt scooted past the cup and he scooped up the ball before it had stopped.

The error allowed the Internationals to grab a one-up lead but in the end it proved only a minor setback as Spieth and Reed rallied with three birdies from the 15th to steal the point.

Spieth assured there will be no such complacency when they arrive at Liberty National on Sunday.

"Our goal is still to stay focused," said Spieth. "It's easy to get complacent with the way things are right now and it's easy to come out tomorrow lazy."

(Editing by Andrew Both)

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Hoffman charges to one stroke lead at Canadian Open

Charley Hoffman rolled in six birdies in a seven-under 65 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final day at the Canadian Open.

Hoffman was one ahead of fellow American Kevin Chappell (66), who bogeyed the last hole after finding water, with Gary Woodland and Robert Garrigus a further stroke behind.

Garrigus's round of 62 tied a course record.

Hoffman, who is 17-under overall, said staying aggressive and making birdies was key to winning the tournament, which would be his first victory since his Texas Open win last year.


"Making pars on Sunday out here is not going to get me anywhere," he said in a television interview after the third round.

"I'm going to keep my same game-plan -- a bunch of drivers, hit a bunch of wedge shots close and hopefully make some putts."

Low wind, receptive greens and plenty of sunshine led to a shootout at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, with 30 players boasting overall scores of 10-under or better heading into Sunday.

World number one Dustin Johnson appeared poised to take the lead until his second shot on the 11th hole landed in the water, leading to a double-bogey.

He finished the day with a 68 and sits five strokes behind Hoffman.

"I just hit a terrible shot," said Johnson, who also misjudged several putts including a birdie chance at the 18th.

"I missed quite a few putts today but I feel like I'm rolling it well. I just need to go out tomorrow and see a few go into the hole," he said.

Former world number one and 2004 winner Vijay Singh failed to continue his sizzling play from Friday, shooting a 71 that had him tied with seven other players at 11-under.

The 54-year-old is seeking to become the oldest winner in PGA Tour history.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Ian Ransom)

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Chappell survives gusty winds to lead Texas Open by one

American Kevin Chappell moved closer to an elusive breakthrough victory when he survived windswept conditions and an error-strewn front nine to earn a one-stroke lead after the third round at the Texas Open on Saturday.

Chappell, who quietly finished seventh at the Masters two weeks ago, struggled most of the day before picking up three birdies in the final five holes for a one-under-par 71 at TPC San Antonio.

He posted an eight-under 208 total, with South African Branden Grace (70) and American John Huh (71) the closest challengers at seven-under heading into the final round.

Seven others are two shots back, including halfway pacesetters Tony Finau and Bud Cauley, who both shot 74.

Nobody carded better than 68 after a cold front blew through and brought with it winds gusting to 30 miles per hour (48 kph), sending the average score soaring to 74.3 strokes.

Chappell finished runner-up four times on the PGA Tour last year, and is still seeking his maiden victory in his 180th start.

He was in full survival mode early and was delighted with the way he hung tough.

“The golf course hit me in the chin real hard early,” he told PGATour.com. “I just couldn’t find a rhythm. To make the turn only two over after some of the places I hit it, I was confident if I could get to the 14 tee at two over par or better, that I could post a score.

“To birdie 14, 16 and 17 obviously felt sweet and a couple of good par saves on 15 and 18 I showed a little emotion and showed that it meant something to me.”

World number 21 Grace, a low-ball hitter, described the conditions as similar to the first two rounds at the Masters, where cold temperatures and strong winds also wreaked havoc.

“That was brutal,” he said. “It was really tough, just trying to stay alive, trying to make birdies, even the pars were tough.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene Cherry)

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No. 1 Day takes wire-to-wire Players triumph

MIAMI -- World number one Jason Day overcame a sluggish start Sunday to win the US PGA Players Championship, firing a final-round one-under-par 71 to complete a wire-to-wire victory.

Day matched the TPC Sawgrass course record with an opening-round 63 and followed with a 66 on his way to a 72-hole total of 15-under 273 for a four-stroke victory over American Kevin Chappell.

"This is up there," Day said when asked the magnitude of his 10th career US PGA triumph in a tournament often seen as golf's unofficial fifth major.

"I just wanted to win this so bad. This could possibly push me over to get into the Hall of Fame one day and I'm just glad I managed to win it."

The 28-year-old Australian took a top prize of $1.89 million (1.67 million euros) at the $10.5 million event, collecting his seventh win in 17 starts -- his fifth in a row when leading after 54 holes.

"I'm going to hold this memory for a long time," Day said.

The Aussie made bogeys at the sixth and ninth holes to carry only a two-shot edge onto the back nine, but responded with key birdies at 10 and 12 and another at the par-5 16th to hold off a host of rivals.

"I was really nervous on the front side and it showed," Day said. "Then on the back side I was able to hold on."

Chappell fired a 69 to finish second on 277, one stroke ahead of fellow Americans Justin Thomas, Ken Duke, Matt Kuchar and Colt Knost with Italy's Francesco Molinari and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama sharing seventh on 279.

It was the second start-to-finish triumph of the season for Day, who also led after every round in taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Since 1980, only Tiger Woods has had two wire-to-wire US PGA wins in the same year.

Day's impressive victory run over the past 10 months includes his first major title at last August's PGA Championship, the Barclays and BMW Championship in last year's US PGA playoffs and this year's World Golf Championships Match Play.

Day, who stretched his margin over second-ranked Jordan Spieth after the American missed the cut, has top-10 finishes in the past four majors and will try to add to his major win total by dethroning Spieth in next month's US Open at Oakmont.

"I'm very motivated to stay at number one," Day said. "This definitely gives me that extension on the gap between one and two and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the year."

The victory made Day the third reigning world number one to capture the Players, joining Woods and Greg Norman, and the fourth Aussie to win the event after Norman, Adam Scott and Steve Elkington.

- Caddie: Day like F1 racer -

Day's caddie for a decade, Colin Swatton, said his man battled his instincts down the stretch to claim the victory.

"All day it was just stay patient, pick your moments and let the course come to us. He's like a Formula One (guy). He wants to have the hammer down all the time. It's hard at times for him not to hit the driver. It showed a lot of confidence, patience and trust."

Day's four-shot lead when the round began was halved as he made the turn, at which point he was the only player not to have a broken par on any hole in the last round.

The Aussie stumbled to 12-under while Thomas birdied three of the final five holes to shoot 65 and reach the clubhouse on 10-under with five rivals on 9-under as Day's back nine loomed.

Day answered the challenge by sinking 17-foot birdie putts at the 10th and 12th holes to reach 14-under -- four shots ahead of Duke, Knost, Kuchar, Molinari and Thomas.

Day sank a four-foot birdie putt at 16, parred the tricky par-3 17th with its island green and parred the 72nd hole to claim victory.

Third-ranked Rory McIlroy shot 70 to share 12th on 281.

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