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Bae Sang-moon helps International team fight back with Team USA in Presidents Cup

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Phil Mickelson was disqualified from the 7th hole on day 2 of the Presidents Cup

Local favourite Bae Sang-moon inspired the International team to cut the United States' lead in the Presidents Cup to 5½ - 4½ on Friday.

Playing for the final time before he starts his mandatory military service in South Korea, Bae overcame some shaky putting to beat Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker one up alongside Korean-born Danny Lee.

The International team also picked up wins from Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace and from Thongchai Jaidee and Charl Schwartzel.

With a double session of eight matches set for Saturday, the half-point won by the International team could prove crucial at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea when they effectively went from all square to two up in one hole.

It started when Phil Mickelson mistakenly broke the one-ball rule by substituting a different model ball on the par-five seventh hole to help him reach the green in two. According to the rule, players must use the same model of golf ball for the entire match.

Mickelson realised his error from the fairway, and then the rules committee made a mistake of its own by telling him he was disqualified from the hole.

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As the penalty is just a one-hole adjustment in the match, Mickelson should have been allowed to finish the hole. But he picked up his ball when told he was disqualified and Jason Day made birdie to win the hole.

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With the one-hole adjustment penalty and Day's win, the International team went two up. That ultimately cost the Americans a victory.

Mickelson tried to rally by holing a bunker shot for the second time in two days, but Day and Adam Scott earned the halve when Day made an eight-foot birdie on the 18th, and Zach Johnson got up-and-down from behind the green by making a three-foot birdie putt.

The visitors had gone into the second day with a 4-1 lead, with their lone victory coming from JB Holmes and Bubba Watson, the big-hitting duo who have not lost this week.

The Americans, who have won the last five stagings of the event, have lost just once since the competition started in 1994.

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