Tiger takes US to big lead

“This was reminiscent to what we did in 2000. We got off to a pretty commanding start and basically rolled from there,” Woods said after he and Howell beat South Korean K J Choi and Australian Nick O’Hern 3 and 1.

“Hopefully tomorrow we can go out there and do the same thing, put a bunch of red up there early and keep the momentum we built.”

Singh jokingly said, “Phil Who?” on Wednesday when asked about Mickelson. The US left-hander and Austin each sank 20-foot putts on the last two holes to force Singh and Weir to settle for halving their match.

It has been a golf version of Muhammad Ali’s legendary pounding of a foe who would only call him Cassius Clay while taunting, “What’s my name, fool?”

Well, almost.

“I don’t know if you can read that much into it,” Woods said.

“Guys got up early in the matches. That’s huge before you tee it up. It’s amazing how the guys toward the end tend to feed off that.”

Woods had his own grudge victory considering O’Hern had beaten him twice before in match-play events.

Woods achieved a dual purpose in the victory. He grabbed a point by rescuing a struggling Howell, salvaging errant shots like Seve Ballesteros in his glory days, and boosted Howell’s confidence for the rest of the weekend.

“It’s so good for me to play with this guy,” Howell said. “It has nothing to do with the golfer he is and all to do with the person he is. He treats me extremely well and has a very big calming effect on me.”

The US team, 4-1-1 in prior Cup play, will need 17 1/2 of 34 possible points to keep the trophy.