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Tim Clark

The long-awaited clash between Ernie Els and Tiger Woods was over by the 15th hole, but it was young gun Clark,  Els' partner, who was almost solely responsible for banking a point for the Internationals in this betterball contest in which each player plays his own ball and and the best score of each partnership at every hole counts.

Clark came storming out of the blocks with a superb approach to the first green, setting up a hole-winning birdie before adding another at the par-three second hole to double the advantage.

Woods and Charles Howell III, his partner for the second successive day, seemed rattled by the early blows and never recovered, eventually conceding the 15th hole to go down by 5&3.

Clark finished the day with four birdies to his name, earning the applause of his playing partner.

"Tim was great to watch today," Els said.

"He was on fire from the first and put Tiger and Howell under pressure from the get-go."

A loser with fellow rookie Peter Lonard in Thursday's foursomes, Clark was inspired by the presence of the World No. 3.

"I was very comfortable, having Ernie by my side," said Clark. "I got off to a good start and felt comfortable after that."

In the third match out, Jim Furyk and Jay Haas combined superbly to hammer the Australia duo of Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby 6&5, the biggest margin of victory thus far.

Phil Mickelson and David Toms, kept together by US captain Jack Nicklaus after losing their foursomes match yesterday, did no better against Robert Allenby and Mike Weir in the first match of the morning, losing 3&1.

Weir's bunker shot on the par-three 17th hole to within one foot of the flag drove the final nail into the coffin after Mickelson had holed a tricky, 15-footer on the 16th to keep the match alive.

The Weir/Allenby point kept the International team in front by one point with only the penultimate clash, which had Vijay Singh and Nick Price one down to Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco with just the par-five 18th to play, still on the course.

But a magnificent putt from Chris DiMarco on the final green slammed the door on Singh and Price and ensured a 2-up win.

And it all means things couldn't be closer at The Links at Fancourt as the see-saw contest heads into Friday afternoon foursomes.

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