Thursday 12 December 2019 08:54, UK
Tiger Woods is backing his American team to bounce back from their fourballs disappointment after falling 4-1 behind after the opening day of the Presidents Cup.
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Woods, who partnered Justin Thomas in Team USA's only victory on Thursday, saw his side lose four of their five matches to give Ernie Els' home team the early advantage at Royal Melbourne.
The International side lead the biennial event for the first time since 2005 but Woods, only the second playing-captain in the tournament's history, is still confident his side can recover as they chase their eighth consecutive victory.
"This is a long four days," Woods said. "We have to go earn this cup. Just because we lost the session doesn't mean the cup is over. There's a long way to go and a lot of points available.
"As far as putting the captain hat on, I passed it on to Stricks (Steve Stricker) at the range. My obligation today was to go out there and earn a point with J.T (Justin Thomas) and I was focused on that.
"We're excited about getting out there tomorrow and winning some matches and turning this thing around. We've got an amazing lay-up going out there and the guys are all fired up and ready to go."
The hosts started as underdogs with seven rookies in their team and Adam Scott the only member inside the world's top 20, with Els delighted with his team's unexpectedly impressive start.
"I didn't envision, 4-1, no," Els admitted. "We haven't had a start like this for many, many years, so it's really nice to have some points on the board.
"It's just getting the guys to play together like we did in practice and just getting prepared with the golf course. The team spirit has been really good this time.
"We've played one session, we've got four more to go. We've got foursomes tomorrow. We'll be focusing on that tomorrow and we'll take it from there."
Watch the Presidents Cup throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 12am on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event.
