Adam Scott has overcome a nervy start to win a precious Presidents Cup point for the Internationals at Royal Melbourne as he bids to end his record drought in the tournament.
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In a mixed day of results for the Australians in the first-day fourball format, Marc Leishman and his Chilean partner Joaquin Niemann were thumped four and three by US playing captain Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas.
Playing in his ninth Presidents Cup, Scott has never tasted victory but pulled off some clutch putts en route to five birdies to help his team to a two and one win over Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau.
Scott partnered Korean Byeong (Ben) Hun An - International captain Ernie Els' late substitute for the injured Jason Day.
"There's a lot of build up and trying not to put pressure on myself, it's almost impossible," Scott said.
"Ben had me covered early while I was shaky and after a couple of holes, I settled down and hit some shots."
The former world No.1 opened with a bogey, with An making two pars to keep the score tied before Scott found his groove on the par-3 third and birdied for the Internationals to go one up.
The teams continued a tight tussle, with world No.16 Finau levelling for the US on the fifth.
Scott extended his team's lead to go two up at the turn when he nailed his approach to the ninth and tapped in from less than a metre.
Finau birdied to take the 12th but Scott's par on the 13th was enough to put the lead back out to two up with five to play.
His putter again found its mark on the next hole when he drained a four-metre effort to match Finau's birdie in what proved to be a key play.
Scott and An held their nerve with the teams sharing the spoils in the remaining holes.
The Australian said it was important to make an early dent against the star-studded Americans.
"It's very important for us and I put a lot of focus into this first round," he said.
"I'll have to reset and move on, but this is the start we needed."
Leishman meanwhile found the going tough trying to tame Tiger, who reeled off six birdies in 14 holes in the day's first match.
Leishman later revealed he played the round a club short.
"The base of my two iron actually caved in on the range, so I had 13 clubs today, which is pretty frustrating," Leishman said.
"So I'll get that sorted tomorrow and hopefully come out and win some points."
The third Australian in the Internationals, Cameron Smith, didn't play on the opening day.
Australian Associated Press
