COVERITLIVE.COM

11:26

Kevin Maguire, ESPN.com - It's Day 4 of the Presidents Cup at Harding Park and ESPN.com blogger Jason Sobel will join us at noon ET to share his analysis of all 12 Sunday singles matches.

12:04

@JasonSobel - Good morning from Harding Park GC, where the Presidents Cup singles matches are slated to get under way in just 10 minutes, beginning with the opening pairing of Hunter Mahan vs. Camilo Villegas.

The end result of the overall event is hardly a foregone conclusion, but with a 12.5-9.5 advantage, the United States team is going to really have to screw some things up in order to not claim a sixth title in eight editions of this event.

Such a result would mean the International team has a record-setting day. Only once has that side won the Sunday's singles matches -- two years ago at Royal Montreal -- but even then, they only garnered seven of a possible 12 points. That total would still leave them outside the winner's circle today, as Greg Norman's squad needs to pull eight points in order to win for the second time ever.

That's a challenging task in any team competition, but even more so considering the best U.S. players -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker, who are ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world -- are a combined 11-0-1 so far this week.

As always, I'll be here with the Live Blog from first tee shot to final putt, so post your comments and questions to this page or on Twitter at @JasonSobel. You may now swing away ...

12:07

@JasonSobel - Another cool, crisp San Francisco morning. The temperature is currently 53 degrees, which is about what it's been at this time of day throughout the competition.

In each of the first two days, it warmed up as we got into the afternoon; yesterday, it stayed chilly all day and became breezy, too.

Does such weather favor either side? I don't think so, but as the trailing team right now, I would think Norman's squad wants as many variables as can be.

12:12

@JasonSobel - Fred Couples' guys are outfitted in red hat, red short, navy sweater vest and navy slacks today.

Hunter Mahan tees off first and finds the most popular bunker on the course.

12:13

@JasonSobel - Greg Norman has his team in dark hat, dark argyle sweater and dark slacks.

Camilo Villegas hits second and splits the fairway. At 0-3-0 in his Presidents Cup debut this week, he really wants to make his mark in this match.

12:20

@JasonSobel - Wow. Not exactly the start the U.S. team wanted, as Hunter Mahan has channeled his inner 16-handicap.

After hitting his drive into the bunker, Mahan hit the lip, left it in another bunker, then hit the lip of that one, too.

Yikes.

Finally on the green with his fourth shot, but on this par-5, he's not necessarily out of this hole yet.

12:23

@JasonSobel - Uh-oh. Did Couples send out the C Flight first?

Stewart Cink, who has yet to win a match this week, just pulled one way left.

Still haven't seen a decent shot from an American today.

Meanwhile, his opponent, Adam Scott, finds the right bunker, but hey -- at least he's on the right side of the gallery ropes.

12:26

@JasonSobel - Villegas takes the first hole. He needs to set the tone for the Internationals and quiet this pro-U.S. crowd.

Obviously, Norman has confidence that he can do that since he put him out there first.

12:32

[Comment From Darius ]
Do we still have the rule that no match can end in a halve until the cup is decided? Similar to 2005 when Mickelson had to go extra holes before Dimarco made the putt?

12:36

@JasonSobel - This has always been very confusing over the years, but here's the deal: If a match is tied after 18 holes and the overall outcome of the Presidents Cup is still in doubt, then they will continue to play until a winner is determined.

If a match is tied after 18 holes, but the Presidents Cup has already been clinched, then that match can end in a halve.

And if the overall score is tied at the end of the day, the Presidents Cup will be considered a tie.

Good news, though: That's an impossibility today. If the opening score was, say, 12-10, then we would see a tie if the Internationals won seven of the 12 matches. But at 12.5-9.5 -- and considering each match must continue playing if the Cup winner isn't determined -- this cannot end in a tie later today.

And if you didn't know any of that beforehand, don't feel bad. Neither did I.

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