Golf-US retain winning duos for Friday four-balls

By Peter Rutherford INCHEON, South Korea, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The fearsome pairing of Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson will take on South African duo Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace to open Friday's four-balls at the Presidents Cup, as the United States look to build on their 4-1 lead from the first day. The Americans, bidding for a ninth win in 11 editions of the Cup, got off to a stellar start on Thursday while their International counterparts struggled to get to grips with the greens at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. Spieth and Johnson swatted aside Marc Leishman and Danny Lee, Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker crushed Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee, while Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson held off Jason Day and Steven Bowditch. Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes set the tone for the Americans with a win over Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, with the only blue on the scoreboard coming from Oosthuizen and Grace, who beat Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed. All four winning U.S. partnerships have been kept together for Friday, with Bill Haas and Chris Kirk, who sat out on Thursday, coming in to replace Reed and Kuchar. United States captain Jay Haas said it was important not to get carried away after the first day. "Obviously it was a great start for us, but I think they all realise it's a long series right now," he said. "Kind of like shooting a low round in the first round of a tournament; there's a lot of golf to be played. "So I don't think that anybody's getting too giddy." Fowler and Walker will face Danny Lee and South Korean Bae Sang-moon, while Mickelson and Johnson take on Australian pair Scott and Day. Holmes and Watson play another all-Australian duo in Bowditch and Leishman while Haas and Kirk face Jaidee and Charl Schwartzel, who was rested on Thursday after picking up a bug. "I think he spent the majority of the day in bed yesterday," said International captain Nick Price. "The doc went to see him and he felt a lot better. Hit some balls this morning and chipped and putted, so that's good. "He gave me the green light at lunchtime today. He said he's ready to go." (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)