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Vijay Singh

Down in five of the six foursomes matches early on, the Internationals had their backs to the wall.

But spurred on by a solid victory and the first point of the day from Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen, who beat Jerry Kelly and Chris DiMarco by 3&2, the home side pulled off a miraculous fightback.

The heroics were led by none other than Ernie Els, who used the vociferous support of the South African crowd to inspire himself and partner Adam Scott to a stunning come-from-behind win over the final few holes.

Els' opponents were World Cup partners Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard, who combined well to reach the 12th hole 1-up.

A bogey five from the International duo saw their deficit grow to two holes with just six to play and when the par-five 13th was halved in four the point looked destined to go to the US account.

Even more so as both the 14th and 15th holes were halved in par, leaving the Els/Scott alliance needing to win the final three holes to steal a last-gasp victory.

Els stroked in a lengthy putt on the 16th green to revitalise the match and it was the 'Big Easy' who roused the galleries minutes later as he holed out for birdie on the treacherous par-three 17th after Scott had put the ball 15 feet from the flag.

Scott added the killer blow from the fairway on the long 18th hole, the 23-year-old Australian hitting a scorching long iron over the back of the green to pile the pressure on the Americans.

It was too much. Leonard's third shot went over the back and when Els' deft touch landed within two feet for a certain birdie the Americans had no answer.

"It was really exciting today. I've had a few exciting matches in this event but this was special," said Els.

"Adam is a great player. That shot he hit into 18 was amazing. There's only two players in the world who can play that shot and he's one of them."

Nick Price and Mike Weir were next to send the home crowds wild when they won their final two holes with birdies to deny what for most of the day looked like a certain point for David Toms and Phil Mickelson.

But the momentum was with the Internationals, Price and Weir's 1-up win seeing the Internationals take the lead at 3-2 with one match still out on the course.

The two points which belonged to the US team had been won comfortably. Tiger Woods and his rookie partner, Charles Howell III, were never behind to K.J. Choi and Stuart Appleby and eventually closed the door on the 15th hole to win by 4&3.

Davis Love III and Kenny Perry, meanwhile, took advantage of an indifferent performance from Tim Clark and Pete Lonard to take the third match by 4&2.

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