The 2013 Presidents Cup will be competitive until at least Friday afternoon, as the International side charged back late Thursday afternoon. Nick Price's team fell behind in all six matches on the front nine, but after a lengthy weather delay, the Internationals regrouped to cut the deficit to a manageable one point after the opening six-match session.
Now the matches transition to the Foursomes format, alternating shot play that's been brutally unforgiving to the Internationals. The team does not have the luxury of playing the extremely rare and unique alternate shot format every year, like the core of the American team. There's pretty dramatic International roster turnover every two years, including this fall with half the team being rookies. So there's very little experience completely relying on a partner, who may play a different ball with different distance control and feel. That's a problem for world-class players who are control freaks about every shot, and these are guys who have jetted in from all over the world for a couple perfunctory days of practice with guys they don't know nearly as well as the American side knows each other. That disadvantage has led to an International whitewash in Foursomes throughout the history of the Presidents Cup. If they can keep the overall deficit around one point, Price and his 12-man team will be happy heading to Saturday's double session where they, as the team with less depth, can keep two players on the bench.
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