PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Saturday morning began with a rout and ended with a nail-biter of a finish as the United States tied up The Presidents Cup with a gutsy performance in Foursomes at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Chris DiMarco and Phil Mickelson used an ace to get things going in the Americans’ favor with a 5-and-3 victory over Angel Cabrera and U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell. By the time Davis Love III and Stewart Cink eked out their 1-up win over Mike Weir and Trevor Immelman in the morning’s final match, The Presidents Cup was deadlocked at 8½-all.

Gray skies failed to put a damper on the proceedings, which were greeted with great enthusiasm with a burgeoning and enthusiastic crowd on the shores of Lake Manassas. Early on the Americans were ahead or square in all five matches, but the International Team wouldn’t get caught up in the ebbs and flows of the emotional day.

South Africa's Tim Clark and Aussie Nick O’Hern overcame a pair of early bogeys to defeat David Toms and Fred Funk 1 up for the International Team’s only victory Saturday morning. But halves in two more matches kept the Americans from running away.

In a battle of the unbeatens, Retief Goosen and Adam Scott squared their match on the 15th hole to earn a half-point with the red-hot Americans, Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank. They’ll play each other again in Saturday afternoon’s Four-balls.

“I think both teams felt like they might have looked good their way, but it was a pretty good match all the way through,” Verplank said. “I think a halve unfortunately for both teams was probably the best outcome.”

Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk -- the ailing ones -- came through with a crucial half-point as they won the 17th and 18th holes to halve their match with Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby. Woods set his partner up with a 10-footer for birdie on No. 17, then Furyk returned the favor as he left the game’s No. 1 player a 5-footer on the final hole.

“They were the one team I was worried about this morning,” U.S. Captain Jack Nicklaus said. “They wanted to play together, and I go with the players when they want to play together, but they’re opposites (in the way they play). … For the two of them to come back as a team, I was so happy for them.”

“We were 2 down with two to go, not looking very good,” Woods agreed. “Jimmy made a huge putt there on 17, and then what a great iron shot he hit in there (on 18). It was unbelievable. He gutted it out today.”

Love and Cink needed to summon up some intestinal fortitude, too. They won the ninth hole to go 4 up at the turn, but the determined Weir and Immelman doggedly began to chip away at their Americans’ lead.

A U.S. bogey at the 11th hole, coupled with International birdies at Nos. 13, 15 and 16 (the last conceded) suddenly left the match all square. The two teams then traded birdies at the 17th -- Cink putting his approach to 17 inches and Weir making one from 10 feet -- but neither could convert at the final hole.

“We knew that Mike was putting good, and every time he got a birdie putt he would make it so we had to keep going,” Love said. “Stewart and I both missed some little putts that could have ended it. We kept hope alive for him, and they just kept hanging in there. Mike is a great player. He’s going to make some putts under pressure. We just didn’t make ours to put him away.”

DiMarco’s ace at the seventh hole was just one in a highlight reel of great shots Saturday morning. The Americans shot 8 under -- amazingly with a bogey -- that included a front-nine 29 before closing out the match on DiMarco’s 15-foot birdie at No. 15.

“You could see it in the air, like, okay, this is going to be good,” DiMarco said.

DiMarco used a 7-iron for the ace, the fifth of his career, which he celebrated with a double high-five and a hug from Mickelson. The hole-in-one was the second in Presidents Cup history -- David Frost made the other at what is now the second hole in 1994.

“This is a great atmosphere,” the excitable Floridian said. “We want the guys to hear, they are putting for us and we need our fans cheering. We’re on home turf and we want it loud.”

Not surprisingly, the unbeaten Americans -- who pulled away with four birdies and the ace in a six-hole stretch -- will stay together for the afternoon Four-balls. They play Peter Lonard and O’Hern, who picked up a victory in the same format on Friday.

“We read putts the same way,” Mickelson, who has more than rebounded from an 0-5 showing in 2003 in South Africa, said. “We have the same demeanor. We really have a lot of fun. I think that when you’re having fun, you’re going to play better golf.”

There was some confusion at the 17th hole as Love mistakenly thought Weir said that the short putt was good when actually the Canadian said "good shot" to Cink. Love picked up the ball, and a conference ensued. He was allowed to replace the ball without penalty.

"I didn't want him to pick it up because the match would be over if I didn't make (the putt)," Weir said. "I was going to give it to him anyways. I just wanted to make sure we did the right thing by putting it back. It was an honest mistake."