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Presidents Cup Day 2: United States battles back late with clutch birdies

Well. This was unexpected.

The United States was a heavy favorite coming into this Presidents Cup, the same way they’ve been heavy favorites in almost all these matches. After all, the U.S. owns a 10-1-1 record in this competition; another win would be easy, right?

Guess again. Potentially vexed by jet lag, definitely flummoxed by Royal Melbourne, overmatched by International captain Ernie Els’ wicked strategic deployments, the United States stumbled to a 4-1 deficit on Day 1, and Day 2 — Friday in Australia, Thursday in the United States — didn’t start much better. At one point, the Americans seemed in real danger of going down an unbelievable 9-1. But some clutch putting down the stretch helped the U.S. split the session, 2 1/2 apiece, to put the score at the halfway mark at 9 1/2 to 6 1/2, Internationals.

Here are the key moments:

Justin Thomas comes through on 18

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas took an early lead against Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An, watched it slip away, and then found themselves on the 18th with a chance at victory. With one of the finest putts of his life, JT won the match 1up and inspired a gloriously goofy putter-dropping celebration with Woods:

Patrick Reed makes no friends

“Captain America” has been struggling in international competition of late, and he rolled into this week under a cloud of suspicion following a strange little incident in a Bahamas bunker. Reed has drawn more than his usual share of boos this week as a result. When a fan shouted “Miss it!” prior to one of Reed’s putts, he responded by “shoveling” some virtual sand. Not exactly the move most people would make when down two holes en route to an eventual loss, but hey, that’s what makes Reed, Reed.

Secret weapon: Abraham Ancer

One of Ernie Els’ most valuable rookies has been Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who’s been nails in his first-ever Presidents Cup. Steady at every turn and unafraid of Royal Melbourne’s firm greens, he helped partner Marc Leishman finish off Reed and Webb Simpson, 3&2.

Patrick Cantlay stops the bleeding

At one point in Day 2’s matches, the U.S. was down in all five matches. All five! That’s astounding from any angle. The Internationals captured the first two points of the day, and Patrick Cantlay stood on the 18th green facing a 10-footer to win his match. He and Xander Schauffele had battled Joaquin Niemann and Adam Hadwin right down to this final putt ... and Cantlay sank it, winning the match 1up and getting the U.S. its desperately needed second point of the tournament.

Closing out Day 2

Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen continued their strong play, and Dustin Johnson — paired on Day 2 with Matt Kuchar — continued to struggle, as the Internationals won the first match of the day 3&2. And in the day’s last match, Rickie Fowler holed a 10-footer to halve the match alongside Gary Woodland against Cam Smith and Sungjae Im, an impressive achievement given that they’d been two down with three holes to play.

The Presidents Cup resumes on Friday afternoon, United States time, at 3 p.m. with four matches each of foursomes and fourballs. We’re headed for the most interesting weekend of Presidents Cup golf in the history of the event.

Ernie Els and crew are enjoying life. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
Ernie Els and crew are enjoying life. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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