Allenby blog: Kuchar's putting the difference in match

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Robert Allenby and Y.E Yang lost 4 and 3 on Friday.

Editor's note: Melbourne native Robert Allenby is playing in his sixth Presidents Cup this week. The 40-year-old Australian didn't make the team in 1998, the last time the Presidents Cup was played at Royal Melbourne, so this week is particularly special for him. He'll share his experiences on PGATOUR.COM with this exclusive blog.

Previous blogs: Wednesday | Thursday

MELBOURNE, Australia -- I didn't feel like Y.E. and I played that badly today even though we lost to Kuchar and Stricker. We got a little unlucky there towards the end, but that's golf. That's just one of those things. I think it's very important in this game that you're both in the hole at the same time, because when you're not, there's a lot more pressure on your partner. But it's not as if we weren't trying, and besides, Kuchar just made some great putts. He played pretty good. He made some clutch putts when he needed to to make some birdies from massive range. But that's just the way it goes. Sometimes you're going to make them and sometimes you're not.

But my head's still high. I know I'm not playing badly although I've got two losses. You know, it can turn around tomorrow and a lot of good things can happen. I'm happy with the way I'm playing and I look forward to play with Geoff in the first match on Saturday morning. I've hit a lot of good shots the last two days. We've just run up against two strong teams.

The conditions at Royal Melbourne today were brutal, Very brutal. I've seen this course like that many times but it doesn't make it any easier. Even when I was trying to play conservative and hit to the fat part of the greens it was nearly impossible sometimes to do that. To judge the wind out there was very difficult. But you know what? It was difficult for everyone so none of us can really complain.

And I'll tell you the great thing about today, really, was just to see the last two matches turn our way. Obviously, Geoff and K.J. did super well to hang on there and get the win. That's important. A win's better today than a half, and it was a crucial one. I think the way the day finished was a huge swing toward our group. This is a big momentum boost.

The thing that we talked about last night in the team room was that when you're done and those matches are still going down the last few holes to get in there and rally your teammates. I think we did a really good job with K.J. and Geoff on the last couple of holes -- and obviously we were all there for Retief and Charl in the last match. I think our momentum as a team has definitely picked up and the camaradarie, well, you can see that we're jelling a lot better now. And I'd like to say that today we jelled better than the Americans.