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The International Team will enter Saturday’s play with a three-point advantage in the Presidents Cup, but the margin could have been nearly insurmountable if not for late putting heroics by the United States in Friday’s fourball matches.

Trailing 6-1 in the 13th Presidents Cup and having been dominated in the first two matches completed on Friday, the U.S. was tied in two matches and trailed in the third remaining at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Cantlay ignites fuse U.S. needed

While Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland were battling back from a 2-down deficit with three holes to play in the final match of the day, Patrick Cantlay provided the spark the U.S. had been desperately seeking through the first two days of competition.

The world’s seventh-ranked player took advantage of partner Xander Schauffele’s excellent approach shot on the 18th hole of their all-square match, draining a birdie putt to give the U.S. a critical point against Canadian Adam Hadwin and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann.

The normally-reserved Cantlay walked his putt into the hole with a fist pump that reverberated to the rest of the U.S. players still on the course.

#USTeam wants it Caaaaantlay 🎶@patrick_cantlay & @XSchauffele put the Red, White and Blue on the board! pic.twitter.com/mSFGmIPqqx

— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) December 13, 2019

Captain Tiger and J.T. take the queue

In the next group through, U.S. captain Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas were locked in a back-and-forth duel with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An that also came down to a putting contest on the 18th hole. After the Internationals missed their lengthy birdie putt, Thomas faced his own from just outside of where Cantlay was.

Just like his teammate moments before, Thomas converted his opportunity to secure the full point for the U.S. Thomas let out a very audible, “Let’s go!,” before embracing Woods.

How bout that, huh?!@JustinThomas34 & Playing Captain @TigerWoods get one for the #USTeam! pic.twitter.com/INShDdXrJW

— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) December 13, 2019

“I don’t know, I’m speechless,” Thomas told the Golf Channel moments later. “It’s, uh … I’ve been fortunate to make a lot of big putts and I’ve hit a lot of big shots.

“But to do it with my captain, and an unbelievable teammate, to win the match and hopefully turn the tide of this Presidents Cup … That was awesome.”

Meanwhile, Fowler and Woodland had reeled off consecutive birdies to square their match against South Korea’s Sungjae Im and Australia’s Cameron Smith entering the final hole. Fowler flared his approach well right of the flag, but was given a second chance when Im’s birdie putt missed. Fowler, only on the team as a replacement for injured No. 1 Brooks Koepka, was able to earn the half-point for the U.S. by hitting his par putt after Woodland knocked his birdie attempt a few nervous feet past the hole.

International Team still in control

The late heroics brought some drama back to an event the International Team was threatening to run away with. After winning four of the five four-ball matches on Thursday, they won the first two matches Friday and were poised to potentially pick up another two or three points before settling for a split on the day.

“This is the beast. Sometimes it bites you,” International captain Ernie Els told the Golf Channel. “You want to put a spear in it, but it fights back. That’s the nature of this Cup.

“This is probably good what happened in the last couple of holes, so the guys can understand what can happen in the Cup. And saying that, we’re in the lead.”

The International Team will still enter Saturday with a three-point lead in an event they own a 1-1-10 record in.

Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen meet with media to discuss the 6.5-3.5 International Team lead. https://t.co/konlW0HkMV

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 13, 2019

“It’s perspective, isn’t it?” said Els. “I’ve got to look at where we are, it’s easy to look at where we could have been … it was looking really unbelievable. But, historically we’ve lost a lot of foursome matches against this side. We tied this afternoon, so we’re in a really good position.”

Can the U.S. ride the wave of momentum?

The U.S. has plenty of work to do, but will begin Day 3 riding significant momentum.

“Stuff can change so quickly in this format,” said Thomas. “I heard that P.C. hit a great putt to win the hole to flip their match as well. I know one thing, I like our chances a lot more getting those two points as opposed to the other way around.”

Woods, who selected himself with a captain’s pick, is now 2-0 for the week. In the process, he tied Phil Mickelson for the all-time lead with his 26th point in the Presidents Cup, and passed Mickelson with his 12th win in foursomes.

“We were just competing, we were just fighting,” he said. “J.T. and I, we got in our own little bubble. We were up early, and they flipped it on us and then we were kind of fighting, clawing our way back. And J.T. steps up and pours it in on the last hole … it gives me absolutely chills, man.”

The team leading after the second session has gone on to win 10 of the previous 11 Presidents Cups, and this marks just the fourth time the International Team has led or been tied after the second session.

But what appeared to be heading for a route regained significant drama with Cantlay and Schauffele beginning the rally by coming back from a hole down with four to play.

“Ours was a hard-fought match today,” said Cantlay. “And we need to flip the script a little bit, we need to get going.”

NOTES

Mickelson is not competing this week after having being a member of the U.S. team for the first 12 editions of the President Cup. … China’s Haotong Li is the only player to have sat through each of the first two sessions. All players must play in at least one of the three team sessions leading up to Sunday’s singles matches. … The only win for the International Team (excluding Europe) came in 1998, when the event was also held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. … The 12-man teams will compete Saturday in four four-ball matches in the morning and in four foursomes in the afternoon. The final day will feature 12 singles matches. … All matches are worth one point. . … There is no prize money, but the PGA Tour contributes to charities, which are nominated by members of both teams. The PGA Tour distributed $10.7 million in 2017.

–Derek Harper (@DerekAHarper), Field Level Media