U.S. Is Getting Blown Away

Now the Americans know why the International team wanted the Presidents Cup out of the United States.

Confused by a scorching hot wind out of the north that radically altered the strategy of Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the U.S. team won only one alternate-shot match Friday morning and were headed toward a sizable deficit at the end of the first day.

Frank Nobilo led the International charge with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that rocked Royal Melbourne and sent Mark O’Meara and David Duval to their first defeat in Presidents Cup matches.

“When you’re up against a great team, you need something to go in your favor,” said Nobilo, paired with fellow New Zealander Greg Turner for a 1-up victory. “These were conditions we really needed on the first day. I think we were more comfortable.

“The thing with Kiwis is we will nip at someone’s heels all day for 18 holes,” Nobilo added. “And eventually we will take the leg off.”

The International team held a 3 1/2-1 1/2 lead after the alternate-shot matches in the morning, and it increased to 5 1/2-1 1/2 after the first two afternoon matches were completed.

The only U.S. lead in the best-ball matches belonged to Duval and Phil Mickelson, who were 1-up over Ernie Els and Nick Price through 15 holes.

What a change--in wind, in weather, in scenery and on the leaderboard--from the first two Presidents Cup matches.

In both those events, the Americans charged to a commanding lead after the first round of matches and went on to win the cup.

The only U.S. victory Friday came from Fred Couples and Woods, who got a boost when their scrambling bogey enabled them to halve the par-three eighth hole, and they went on to crush Els and Vijay Singh, 5 and 4.

Davis Love III and Leonard pulled out a tie against Price and Stuart Appleby when Leonard hit his approach on the 18th to about four feet and Love made the birdie putt.

Greg Norman, the player most responsible for getting the Presidents Cup moved out of the United States, teamed with Steve Elkington for a 2-up victory over John Huston and Jim Furyk, while Craig Parry and Shigeki Maruyama, two short but powerful players, rolled to a 3-and-2 win over Lee Janzen and Scott Hoch.