GOLF ROUNDUP : U.S. Stumbles, Still Holds 12-8 Edge in Presidents Cup

The International team kept its hopes alive in the inaugural Presidents Cup on Saturday, despite getting only a half-point from the world’s best player--Nick Price.

Trailing the United States, 7 1/2-2 1/2, going into the day, the International team got 3 1/2 points in morning four-ball play and then picked up two more in the afternoon alternating-shot matches to make it 12-8 for the United States going into today’s 12 singles matches at Gainesville, Va.

The international team needs to win eight of those 12 matches to force a sudden-death playoff.

“I just have no strength at all,” Price said. “I think it showed in the way I played the last few days.”

Fulton Allem and Mark McNulty defeated Jim Gallagher and John Huston, 4 and 3; Tsukasa Watanabe and Vijay Singh took Jay Haas and Scott Hoch, 3 and 1, and Craig Parry and Bradley Hughes handled Loren Roberts and Tom Lehman, 4 and 3, before the Americans finally got a point.

In the alternating-shot foursome matches, David Frost and Peter Senior defeated Hale Irwin and Jay Haas, 6 and 5, helped by a hole in one when Frost knocked in a 210-yard four-iron on No. 4.

Love-Gallagher beat Nobilo-Allenby, 7 and 5; Singh-Elkington defeated Maggert-Huston, 3 and 2; Roberts-Pavin edged Parry-Allem one-up, coming back from three-down after 12 holes, and Mickelson-Lehman beat Hughes-McNulty, 3 and 2.

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Jeff Sluman missed a chance to turn the B.C. Open into a runaway, leaving at least three birdie putts inches short and recording consecutive bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes, but still shooting a 67 to extend his lead to two strokes over Mike Sullivan with a 54-hole score of 198 in Endicott, N.Y.

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Isao Aoki had an up-and-down round of 64, featuring eight birdies, an eagle and two three-putt bogeys that gave him a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Senior Tour Bank One Classic in Lexington, Ky.

Aoki had the low round of the day for a 36-hole total of 133, leaving him one stroke ahead of Jim Albus and Jimmy Powell.

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Swedish rookie Anika Sorenstam made five birdies in shooting a third-round 66 for a 54-hole total of 205 in taking a one-shot lead after the third round of the LPGA Safeco Classic in Kent, Wash.