Team US takes early lead with Presidents Cup foursomes United States' Phil Mickelson celebrates after sinking the ball after playing out of a bunker on the 13th hole during his foursome match at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, in Incheon, Thursday. / AP-Yonhap International team player Jason Day of Australia reacts after a missed putt on the 18th green during his foursome match at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, in Incheon, Thursday. / AP-Yonhap By Nam Hyun-woo INCHEON ― The Americans built a 4-1 lead in the Presidents Cup day one foursomes matches Thursday in their bid to extend U.S. dominance in the golf tournament. Except for the match between the International Team's Louis Oosthuizen and Braden Grace, and Matt Kuchar and-Patrick Reed of the U.S., the Americans did not allow the Internationals to take a lead throughout the five foursome matches during the first Presidents Cup in an Asian country at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon. "All the guys did very well. The team room has a good feeling. Obviously it was a great start for us, but we all realize that it is a long series and there's a lot of golf to be played so I don't think anybody's getting too giddy. Just hopefully we can continue play well, play aggressively, come out tomorrow and get the first drives and we'll wait to see what happen," said U.S. Team Captain Jay Haas.  By taking the 4-1 lead, the U.S. Team looks like a good bet to extend its winning streak at the biennial tournament, which started with the 2005 event. They also have led after the first day in eight of the 11 previous Presidents Cups, last trailing after day one in the 2005 event. With one point given for each match won, 15.5 points will be needed to hoist this year's trophy. So far, the U.S. Team is 8-1-1 and the only win for the Internationals was in the 1998 event. The two sides tied in the 2003 event. The most highly contested contest of the day was Match 4. Though the U.S. Team of Phil Mickelson and Zack Johnson did not yield their lead throughout the match, Jason Day and Steven Bowditch were tenacious until the very last moment of the 18 holes. On the 2nd hole, Day thrilled the gallery with a 32-foot birdie putt, while Steven Bowditch paid him back by feeding Day a tap-in birdie on the 4th hole with a splendid second approach shot, which flew over the trees to land right next to the cup.  United States' Bubba Watson, left, and teammate J.B. Holmes celebrate after defeating International team player's Adam Scott of Australia and Hedeki Matsuyama of Japan in their foursome match at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, Thursday. / AP-Yonhap However, Mickelson, who earned the most points, 25.5, in previous Presidents Cups, boasted his presence, displaying a wonderful bunker shot to birdie the par-3 13th hole. Johnson, a three-time U.S. Team player, also drew an ovation with a magical approach on the par-5 15th hole. The 75-yard shot dropped past the cup, but spun back towards it and sat just centimeters away from the hole and resulting in a tap-in birdie. The margin between two sides did not stretch further than two holes. As Day-Bowditch birdied to claim the 17th, they kept the U.S. pair in reach and played solid with a birdie, but the experienced Americans won the par-5 18th to collect a two-up victory. "We're like magnets," said Mickelson. "We are opposite charge. … We really have been wanting to do this for some time, and it worked out this week," he said. Johnson echoed: "Our personalities are pretty different, but yet there's some similarities in how we mentally approach it on the golf course." The sole point for the Internationals was collected by the Oosthuizen-Grace pairing. After allowing the Kuchar and Reed to take an early lead on the 2nd hole, the South African pair quickly tied the score and carded a birdie on the 7th to take a one hole lead. Though Kuchar and Reed equaled the score on the 8th, Oosthuizen sank a 20-foot birdie on the par-4 9th and the Internationals extended their lead by three shots as the Americans conceded the 11th and bogeyed on the 12th. As both pairs held on to pars in the remaining holes, the match ended on the 16th hole, and the Internationals were up three with two holes remaining. "Every point is so important out there that you really have to grab it when it comes your way. I think that's what we did," said Grace who grabbed his first in five Presidents Cup matches. "Kuch was a little bit unlucky once or twice and we grabbed those opportunities with good putts, and every time one of us made a mistake, the other one picked it up and corrected it," he said. Former U.S. President George W. Bush, right, throws a coin to decide which team starts first as U.S. team captain Jay Haas, center, and International team captain Nick Price watch prior to the start of the first day's play of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, Thursday. / AP-Yonhap The match with the largest margin was Match 3 between Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker of the U.S. and Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee of the International Team. The Americans fired three consecutive birdies from Nos. 2 to 4. As they conceded the 14th, Fowler-Walker collected one point as they were up five over the Internationals with four holes remaining.  A total of 30 matches will be played at this year's Presidents Cup. Should there be no winner or winning pair after the 18th hole, each side receives 0.5 points. Until the 2013 event, the number of total matches was 34, but it was reduced to 30 this year. Meanwhile, Bae Sang-moon, the only Korean player at the tournament, will make his Presidents Cup debut on Friday in the four-ball matches. Paired with Danny Lee, Bae will face Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker of the U.S. Team.  x namhw@ktimes.com ,