MELBOURNE, Australia -- America's worst nightmare came true Saturday in the Presidents Cup. It turns out the International team was just warming up.
One day after Frank Nobilo's thunderous 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th green gave the International team a jump start at Royal Melbourne, Craig Parry pushed it to the brink of an insurmountable lead Saturday morning with another stunning finish.Needing to get up and down to halve the alternate-shot match against Fred Couples and Tiger Woods, Parry rammed home a 50-foot birdie chip for a 1-up victory that swung the tide in the International's favor.
When the dust had settled on another blistering hot, windswept day at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the International lead was at 11 1/2-3 1/2, giving them a chance to clinch the cup should they sweep the afternoon best-ball matches.
At this rate, anything was possible.
"The whole picture of the thing is hard to believe," said Mark Calcavecchia. "We're all in a state of shock. We've got to win all these afternoon matches."
Calcavecchia and Lee Janzen accounted for the only U.S. points Saturday morning -- a halve against Greg Norman and Steve Elkington, although they surely will look back on Janzen missing a 2-foot par putt on the 16th hole that led to a halve.
The spectacular play of the International team was summed up on the last two holes.
Couples and Woods were leading 1-up when Shigeki Maruyama sank a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 17 to square the match and set up Parry's heroics on the 18th.
"It's unbelieveable what they did," Couples said. "The 35-footer on 17, and then 18 was just plain goofy."
Moments later, Stuart Appleby sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th to go 1-up on Phil Mickelson and David Duval, and he and Nick Price hung on for a 1-up victory.
Nobilo and Greg Turner, the Kiwis from New Zealand, were more solid than spectacular. Still, that was enough to pull off a 2-up victory over Davis Love III and Justin Leonard. In the other match, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh pummeled Scott Hoch and Jim Furyk 6 and 4.
"They're playing great golf -- holing all their shots, up-and-downs everywhere, and making so many birdie runs that it's hard to stop them," Woods said.
Parry's chip-in came from roughly the same spot where Nobilo sank his 40-footer for birdie on the first day, and resulted in the same thunderous cheer from the Australian gallery and the shock on the faces of Woods and Couples.
The only thing that can save the Yankees now is a change in weather. Cooler wind from the south was due late Saturday afternoon, with the forecast calling for a high in the mid-70s for Sunday -- if the matches mean anything by then.