The United States, inspired by an imperious display from Jim Furyk and Jay Haas, drew level with the Internationals after edging the Presidents Cup fourballs in South Africa this morning.
The US trailed by a point following yesterday's opening foursomes but won three of the five better-ball matches to leave both sides on 5-1/2 points going into the afternoon foursomes.
US Open champion Furyk and PGA Tour veteran Haas fired nine birdies in 11 holes to set the tone by hammering Australians Stuart Appleby and Adam Scott 6 and 5 in overcast and damp conditions at the par-73 Links course.
Kenny Perry and Davis Love III, in the second match out, beat Retief Goosen and K.J. Choi of South Korea 2 and 1 before Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard picked up the third point with a one-hole victory over Fiji's Vijay Singh and Nick Price.
The Internationals, who fought back on day one after trailing in four of the six foursomes, grabbed their first fourballs win when Australia's Robert Allenby and Canadian Mike Weir beat Phil Mickelson and David Toms 3 and 1.
The last match out had been billed as an effective head-to-head between world number Tiger Woods and local favourite Ernie Els, but it was little-known South African Tim Clark who underpinned a crushing 5 and 3 win for the Internationals.
Five foursomes will be played this afternoon with six fourball matches to follow tomorrow. The trophy will then be decided over the closing 12 singles matches on Sunday.