USA extend lead to 14-6

The eight countries that make up the International team are indeed playing under one flag in the Presidents Cup.

Right now, it's a white one.

The Americans didn't need Tiger Woods to build a seemingly insurmountable lead today, winning their other four four-ball matches to take a 14-6 edge into the final day, which should be packed with as much drama as watching grass grow.

"We haven't surrendered, but we're suing for peace," International captain Peter Thomson said. "We haven't heard back from the other side yet.''

Hal Sutton led the early effort, and Kirk Triplett and Stewart Cink, the unheralded and undefeated rookies, brought up the rear on a day that demoralized the International team.

The Americans need only 2 1/2 points from Sunday's 12 singles matches to reclaim the cup.

"We just wanted to make a game of it,'' Nick Price said of his International teammates. "Tomorrow is going to be boring for everyone.''

It isn't the largest lead in the short history of this cup. Just two years ago in Australia, the International team holed shots from all over the course to build a 14 1/2-5 1/2 lead after team play, and won the Presidents Cup after only two singles matches.

It became known as the "Massacre in Melbourne,'' and the Americans were criticized for not caring and not trying.

The International team must now know how they felt.

"It stings,'' Price said. "It's going to be difficult to try our hardest.''

Thomson wasn't giving up all hope -- just most of it.

"It is possible -- at least, we've got to believe that,'' he said.

President Clinton came out to watch on another gorgeous day at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. That's about all the International team could do, too -- watch.

"The U.S. team has just played superbly," Thomson said.

Sutton and Jim Furyk made nine birdies in 13 holes in the first of five best-ball matches, soundly defeating Greg Norman and Michael Campbell and setting the tone for the day.

"I made a little kidding remark before we played,'' Sutton said. "We'll go start the fire, and everybody else throw gasoline on it.''

It was an inferno.

The only match the Americans failed to win had Woods playing with Notah Begay. And that was the biggest thrill of the day, as Woods matched Vijay Singh's eagle putt, birdied the next hole, and had a chance to square the match until missing a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

"Last year, we gelled during the course of the Ryder Cup,'' Sutton said. "I thought from the minute we got here we were a team, and we have played like a team.''

The only victories for the International team were personal. For Singh, paired with Retief Goosen, it was his first point of the matches.

Ernie Els, the highest ranked player on the International team, dropped to 0-4.

"The U.S. team has played almost perfectly,'' Thomson said. "There was no letup from the onslaught of birdies made. It seems to me to be as powerful a team as you've ever had.''

The Americans certainly played like a world power.

After stopping an International team comeback Friday by sweeping the alternate-shot matches in the afternoon to restore their lead, the Americans wasted no time tightening their grip.

Sutton, the star of the Ryder Cup, came out blazing with fist pumps and birdies, four of each on the first five holes and no putt longer than 8 feet. He and Furyk were 3-up at the turn, and it would have been worse had Norman not answered three times with birdies when the Americans had tap-in birdies.

Furyk, feeding off Sutton's fine play, contributed with an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 10 for a 4-up lead, then birdied the next three holes for a 6-and-5 victory.

"That was a pretty good 1-2 punch there," Sutton said.

The margin of victory matched the highest ever in a Presidents Cup. There have been three such scores this week, and Furyk was on the losing end of one Friday.

"I wanted to get my feet back under me,'' Furyk said. "When your partner birdies the first three, that makes it easier."

Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman were right behind them, and just as impressive.

They built a 3-up lead just five holes into the match, each making short birdie putts around a bogey by Mike Weir on the par-3 fourth. It was the Canadian's first bogey in four matches this week.

With two routs so early in the day, the International team's only hope was to pick up the last three matches to have any realistic hope on Sunday.

Davis Love III, who also is undefeated this week, finally got his putter going in teaming with David Duval for a 3-and-2 victory over Price and Els. The Americans birdied the last five holes, and International hopes began sinking with the sun.

It was a quick start, and a slow finish. Matches lasted well over five hours, even though only one made it to the 18th hole.

Cink and Triplett, among three rookies on the U.S. team, trailed by one on the back nine until Triplett made a 20-foot birdie on the 11th and an 18-footer on the 13th for a 1-up lead. They protected that to the end, then joined their teammates in celebration.

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