Next up are six more matches Friday, this time fourballs.

Two years ago at Royal Montreal, the International team failed to win a match in the opening session and fell five points behind. This is one time a tie — the halve in the final match — felt far better. It goes into the second round with a fighting chance.

Both teams and captains were around for the finish, and Norman couldn’t help but notice how Leonard went from hitting a clutch shot from the middle of the fairway to missing a short putt for the victory.

“It’s a cruel game,” Norman said.

In the seven previous Presidents Cup, only once has a team trailing after the first session gone on to win — the U.S. team in 2005. The Americans also trailed by one point in 2003 in South Africa, where the cup ended in a tie.

Ishikawa had said he and Ogilvy would be facing the Americans’ best team, and he was right. Woods and Stricker proved to be a tough combination of Woods’ pure iron shots and Stricker’s sure putting.

Woods got them going with an 18-foot birdie putt on the opening hole, while Stricker closed out a flawless front nine with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth.

Weir and Clark, despite not making a birdie, still had a 1-up lead through 12 holes. The Americans squared the match on the 13th, when Kim hit a wedge to 3 feet. On the next hole, Mickelson made an 18-foot birdie, and they were on their way.

“We needed something to ignite us and that wedge shot did the trick,” Mickelson said.

The International picked up some hope from the final match ending in a halve, and a load of confidence from Adam Scott. He was a surprise captain’s pick coming off his worst year on tour, yet Scott was solid with Els against mistake-prone Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair for a 2-and-1 victory.

“Any victory is important, but personally for me, it feels great,” Scott said. “But more importantly, we need it for the team.”