Thursday 8 October 2015 12:32, UK
The USA look primed to continue their dominance of the Presidents Cup after opening up a 4-1 lead after a one-sided foursomes session on the opening day in South Korea.
South African pair Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace were the only victors for the Internationals team at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club with a 3&2 win over Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed.
But that was the only highlight for Nick Price's side, who fell behind early on when the big-hitting duo of Bubba Watson and JB Holmes powered to a 3&2 victory over Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama in the top match.
Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker were the biggest winners as they crushed Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee 5&4 in the clash between four Presidents Cup rookies.
The American duo, who halved three and lost one of their Ryder Cup matches together last year, were three up after four holes following a hat-trick of birdies from the second, and although India's Lahiri and Thailand's Jaidee fought to stay in contention, the outcome was rarely in doubt.
Three more birdies on the 10th, 11th and 13th put the American pairing on the cusp of victory, and they secured it on the 14th.
World No 1 Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson were similarly clinical in disposing of Danny Lee and Marc Leishman 4&3, with back-to-back birdies on the opening two holes giving the Americans a lead they never surrendered.
The only match to go to the 18th hole was the fourth one that pitted Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson against PGA champion Jason Day and his fellow Australian Steven Bowditch.
The USA duo led for all but four holes and were two up heading to the 17th, but a 40-foot birdie putt from Day gave the International duo a chance to salvage a half on the last.
However, world No 2 Day was unable to make another birdie on the 18th and the USA won two up to cap another dominant day for Jay Haas' team.
The USA captain Haas told Sky Sports: "This is wonderful, the guys played really really well. They had to to beat a really strong team. We're ecstatic to get off this start and hopefully (we can) keep the pedal down."
International team captain Nick Price added: "It was a tough day, the US team played really well. A couple of our pairings struggled, but it's a live and learn thing when you've got a new fresh team like we have.
"We've got 25 points left, we can't get down now, we've got a lot of golf (to play). We can turn it around tomorrow just as quickly as they did today, so I've got to talk them now and say 'keep your chins up'."
