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By Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

MONTREAL -- They were on each other's wanna-play-with list.

Zach Johnson (left) with Captain Jack Nicklaus (WireImage)

Were last year, too, when they got drummed -- oh, yes, 5 and 4 -- by Paul Casey and David Howell in the Ryder Cup foursomes.

So what difference did a year make?

This time around, buddies Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson fared a little better. Actually, a lot better.

Try a 1 up win over Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman in the opening foursomes Thursday afternoon at The Presidents Cup at soggy Royal Montreal.

They took it down to the wire, mind you. They were 2 down going into the seventh hole and won two in a row to square the match. And even though they let a 1 up lead slip away at the 14th, key up-and-downs -- particularly the one at 18 -- made a difference in the match.

It evened their record to 1-1 in Cup events. They also teamed in the 2005 WGC-Algarve World Cup in Portugal, finishing 17th.

"That's the first good thing we've done, I think, in history,'' Cink said. "We're real pleased to get one on the good side.''

Cink didn't mind, either, having the Internationals concede his final putt, even though he and Johnson had conceded the Internationals' bogey putt.

"You always expect to have to putt,'' he said. "Especially to win the match. But I didn't think it was right to make them, you know, have to putt out theirs. And that was a good show of sportsmanship from both sides.''

And not a bad ham-and-egg show from Johnson and Cink. Especially down the stretch.

"I put him in some difficult positions off the tee,'' Johnson said, ''That was unfortunate. And he put me in good positions to get it up and down. And that's all we were trying to do. I leaned on him a lot, and fortunately we were able to come through.''