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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

MONTREAL -- The first time Charles Howell III met Tiger Woods, Howell was a skinny 16-year-old teenager at the U.S. Amateur with, as he put it, glasses bigger than his waist size.

"I was playing this guy named Tiger Woods who hit it 330 in the air, with the equipment then, was unbelievable, and I was in awe," the now 28-year-old Howell said.

Tiger Woods and Charles Howell III won their third straight Presidents Cup foursomes match on Thursday. (Lecka/WireImage)

"You know, since then, I've had a great respect for him, an admiration for him. He's just enough older than I am where I was able to pattern a lot of what I did around him; his work ethic. He brought hard work into golf. He brought working out into golf. You know, and he brought the expectations up from golf."

The two have since become friends and see each other when at their homes in Orlando, Fla., so it was natural for them to be paired together for Thursday's Foursomes match. In fact, Howell has played in only one other Presidents Cup and was paired with Woods in all four of his doubles matches then.

"I think we have very comparable games. We hit the ball about the same distance, play about the same way and, as Chuck said earlier in a press conference, we both hate each other so it's perfect," Woods said, joking about his friendship with Howell.

As their fifth round together -- and third in Foursomes, where they logged a 2-0-0 record in 2003 -- commenced against K.J. Choi and Nick O'Hern, Woods' first shot of the 2007 Presidents Cup was decidedly un-Tiger Woods-like.

Knocking a 3-wood just 233 yards down the fairway, Woods found himself in an unusual spot -- he was 33 yards short of Nick O'Hern. Granted, O'Hern's been dubbed the "Tiger Hunter" lately for his ability to beat Woods in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. But Woods typically averages 302.4 yards off the tee while O'Hern hits it a mere 279.3 yards on average.

"I had a bad lie," Woods quipped, getting a chuckle out of captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who were standing near the first tee to watch each of their players begin the first day of competition.

The two teams halved the first hole and Woods quickly steadied, though it took a while for partner Howell to gain his footing. Howell said before the match that playing with Woods helped elevate his own game a notch, but the Tiger effect took over nine holes to sink in.

It was Woods who brought the pair back after they fell 1 down, sinking a 14-footer at the fifth hole to square it and swing the momentum in favor of the Americans. The Woods-Howell duo then went 1 up on No. 6 and built an even larger advantage after taking advantage of errant shots by O'Hern and Choi on No. 10, but Howell missed a short 3-foot putt at the 11th hole to lose their 2-up lead.

Choi's long birdie opportunity to square it at the 13th hole missed just to the left and the four headed into the 14th hole with the Americans 1 up.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Howell joked that the two play well together because they don't like each other and talk only on the first hole and the 18th green, just letting it be in between. Obviously that's not the case with the two friends, but it did take a while for the two to confer when reading a putt. When they finally did on No. 14, the strategy paid off, as Howell sank an 11-footer to give them a two-hole lead.

It was short-lived, with O'Hern sinking a nearly 15-footer to cut the U.S. lead to one. Both teams took penalties on No. 16 after Howell and Choi knocked it into the water, but Howell righted his wrong tee shot with an over 14-foot par-saving putt.

"[My spirits were] as far down as that ball was in the water but I wasn't going to miss that (putt). I can't let him down," Howell said.

After that, the match was all in favor of the U.S. side, which closed with a birdie on No. 17 to take the match 3 and 1.

"We got the job done today. Our responsibility is to go out there and get a point. We did that today and it was a lot of fun today. We put the pressure on them a little bit toward the middle part of the round and didn't make any mistakes there," Woods said.

No detracting from their formidable opponents, who looked like they could cut the lead after making birdie on No. 15. Choi has proven steady all season and earned wins at Woods' tournament, the AT&T National, as well as Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley. O'Hern took out both Howell and Woods in the 2005 Accenture Match Play Championship.

"Any time you play match play, anything can happen. And that's one thing we know and that's one of the great things and unpredictability of playing match play," Woods said. "[With] 18 holes, it's a sprint and with this caliber of players, it doesn't take much. You mess up just a couple of times here and there and turn the momentum around.

"It's amazing how these guys just run with it and this time it was our turn. We got momentum early and just ran with it."