Americans’ Alternate Plan Gives Them 10-5 Cup Lead

On a day of two spirited comebacks, Tiger Woods, Kirk Triplett and the rest of the Americans saved their best golf for the toughest format Friday afternoon, and the Presidents Cup was right back where it started.

Hours after getting blindsided by the International team in the best-ball format, the Americans restored their five-point lead with a birdie blitz to win four of the five alternate-shot matches at Gainesville, Va., and move closer to reclaiming the cup.

“Each team, when they have the onus on them, they seem to come back and play well,” Woods said.

Woods and Notah Begay, routed in the morning, won the first six holes against the slumping star pairing of Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Triplett continued to hole one big putt after another as he and fellow rookie Stewart Cink won a crucial point late in the day.

Almost everyone else followed suit with a birdie binge unheard of for alternate shot.

* Triplett and Cink, trailing by one with six holes to play, birdied the next three and were six under in a 2-and-1 victory over Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby.

* Loren Roberts and Paul Azinger, captain Ken Venturi’s wild-card selections, birdied five of their last six holes in a 5-and-4 victory over Carlos Franco and Shigeki Maruyama. It was the Japanese star’s first loss in seven Presidents Cup matches.

* Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman, both losers in the morning, birdied five of the first seven holes and never came close to a bogey in their 3-and-2 victory over Michael Campbell and Retief Goosen.

The only match that prevented another clean sweep in foursomes was Phil Mickelson and David Duval, who were beaten 5 and 4 by Nick Price and Mike Weir.

The Americans’ 10-5 lead was their largest ever in three Presidents Cup matches at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, and they went on to win the other two.

The International players, in a state of shock as they left the course in fading sunlight, were down and possibly out. Five best-ball matches follow today before 12 singles matches Sunday.

Trailing, 5-0, after the opening session Thursday, the International team made short work of such a big deficit. It won the first four best-ball matches in the morning, none of them reaching the 18th hole.

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Carl Paulson shot a five-under-par 66 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Tampa Bay Classic at Palm Harbor, Fla. Paulson had a 10-under 132 total.

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Nancy Scranton used another dazzling iron display to take a two-stroke lead over Karrie Webb in the AFLAC Champions at Mobile, Ala. Scranton shot a three-under 69 for a 10-under 134 total. . . . Bruce Summerhays shot a five-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over five players after the first round of the EMC Kaanapali Classic in Hawaii.