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Tiger Woods will not play at the Presidents Cup on Saturday morning, with Justin Thomas set to partner Rickie Fowler in the four-ball session.
Woods has won both matches he has played alongside Thomas so far in the tournament, accounting for two of the 3.5 points the U.S. Team has accumulated so far at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.
The Americans and the International Team split points in the foursomes on Friday, which left the latter ahead by 6.5 points to 3.5.
Despite the fact the U.S. Team trails by three points going into the third day of play, Woods has opted to give himself some rest.
The 15-time major winner explained the decision was not motivated by an injury issue, but had been planned in advance.
"That was kind of the game plan,'' the 43-year-old golfer was quoted as saying by ESPN.
"It would be hard for me to go all the sessions. I've been fortunate enough to go out there with J.T. [Justin Thomas] and we've gotten two points. J.T. [Justin Thomas] played great and Rickie played awesome [with Gary Woodland] this afternoon.
"They have been looking forward to playing with one another. They have had success before [at the Presidents Cup], and send them back out.''
Woods and Thomas won the opening match of Thursday's four-ball matches, defeating Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann 4&3, but that was the U.S. Team's only win on the day as the International Team roared back to take the remaining four games.
Things began on a similar tone on Friday, with Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson losing the opening foursome 3&2 against Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen, before Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay defeated Niemann and Adam Hadwin.
Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson then lost 3&2 to Leishman and Abraham Ancer, before Woods and Thomas defeated Hideki Matsuyama and An Byeong-hun and the final foursome ended all square.
Woods praised his team's resilience after going down 5-1 early on Friday.
"At one point, we were down in four and even in one, and so it looked pretty bleak, but the guys turned it around," Woods was quoted as saying by NBC Sports.
"They played phenomenal coming in. It was important for us to end the way we did and it totally changed the last hour."
Saturday will see the two teams competing in four matches of the four-ball format followed by four of foursomes, with the pairings for the afternoon session to be decided at the end of the morning.
The International Team has won the Presidents Cup just once, in 1998, when the event was also held at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
While home advantage is a loose concept for a team containing players from nine different countries, International Team captain Ernie Els suggested fans on the course could still make the difference.
"The crowd were brilliant today," he said.
"I got on them a little bit yesterday. Today, we didn't have to do anything. They were really supportive, and I think they were very fair to the U.S. team.
"This is a home game for us. Although we have nine different nationalities representing our team, this is our home game. So we want the fan support. I have some really young players in my team and they are learning as they go along."
About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more