Presidents Cup 2017: U.S. dominates Day 3, now one point away from clinching Cup

Hailey Hernandez

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Presidents Cup 2017: U.S. dominates Day 3, now one point away from clinching Cup image

The 2017 Presidents Cup is underway at Liberty National as the U.S team tries to capture its seventh straight trophy. The Americans with Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson are facing perhaps their toughest competition yet against a strong International team led by Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama. 

The Presidents Cup is played with 30 matches with a mix of foursomes, four-ball and singles matches. Each match is worth one point, but if a match is tied after 18 holes, each team will recieve a half point. The magic number for one team to secure a victory is 15.5 points. 

Thursday and Saturday morning will start with five foursome matches. A foursomes match is played between two U.S. and two International players and each side will play one ball with the players alternating to hit tee shots.

For Friday and Saturday afternoon, the game switches to a four-ball match. A four-ball match is when two U.S. players face off against two International players with players playing the better ball of their side. For example, if Rickie Fowler pars a hole and his partner Justin Thomas birdies the same hole, the team will keep Thomas' score.

Sunday will be singles matches, with one U.S. player going head-to-head against an International player.

Presidents Cup 2017: Teams, tee times, TV schedule & how to live stream

Presidents Cup 2017: Live updates, highlights 

Follow along with all of the action from Day 3 of the Presidents Cup:

The U.S. leads Internationals 14.5-3.5 after Day 3.

And a U.S. clinch won't happen on Saturday. Si Woo Kim and Anirban Lahiri secure the ONLY point for the Internationals of the afternoon.

Americans need just one more point to secure their seventh straight Presidents Cup.

There is A LOT going on in this. 

The depth of this U.S. team is unbelievable.

Score update: Not really needed anymore. All you need to know is that if the U.S. sweeps the afternoon matches, they win the Presidents Cup in three days. The Presidents Cup is meant to be a four-day event.

Berger and JT put up their own tally mark for the stars and stripes.

Spieth and Reed earn another point for the U.S. They have now earned 3.5 points for the Americans. The entire International team has 2.5 points.

Yes, he went there.

Scratch that update. U.S. leads two matches, other two are all square. If U.S. manages to win all four- they clinch Presidents Cup before final day of play even starts.

Don't mess with JT on the 14th hole. Yesterday he holed out from the bunker and today, this:

Scores update: Day/Oosthuizen one up vs. Spieth/Reed, Thomas/Berger one up vs. Matsuyama/Vegas, Hoffman/Chappell all square vs. Kim/Lahiri, Koepka/Johnson two up vs. Grace/Leishman.

JT and Berger are one up on Vegas and Matsuyama.

Some controversy on the course.

Berger brings the match back to all square.

Internationals not going down without a fight:

Jordan Spieth walking in putts. Good sign for the U.S., not so much for the Internationals.

U.S. leads two matches and Internationals lead two matches in the afternoon session.

Daniel Berger reminds us the best players on Tour are still human.

Kisner joins Rickie up in the crowd and it's safe to say, the crowd LOVES it.

Fowler's turn to join the stands.

It doens't matter what the Internationals do. This U.S. team is just too much. 

Update:

Make that 3 points for the U.S. today in the first session. 

😂

Patrick Reed has been going all out for Team U.S. 

And another match goes to the U.S. Just shows how dominant the American team is, out here playing against the best International players and it's not even close. 

First points of the day go to the Americans.

Meanwhile on the U.S. side...

Oh boy.

Rory's not wasting any time on the couch watching the U.S. dominate the Internationals this weekend.

Internationals are going to need to pull out all the stops today if they want to keep it interesting. This birdie from Jason Day helps a little.

That's one way to get around a golf course...

Points update from the morning matchups:

Eight matches will take place, meaning there are eight points up for grabs. The U.S. holds an 8-2 lead over the Internationals so the Americans could potentially clinch the 15.5 points needed to secure a Presidents Cup victory before the final day of play even begins on Sunday.

Spieth/Reed vs. Leishman/Day are the first foursome out on the course. 

Saturday morning starts off with foursomes where sides will play alternate shots. Saturday afternoon continues with four-ball matches where sides play their best ball.

Tee times for Saturday morning's foursomes:

7:02 a.m. — Patrick Reed/Jordan Spieth vs. Jason Day/Marc Leishman

7:13 a.m. — Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar vs. Adam Scott/Adam Hadwin

7:24 a.m. — Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner vs. Jhonattan Vegas/Emiliano Grillo

7:35 a.m. — Justin Thomas/Rickie Fowler vs. Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace

Hailey Hernandez