San Francisco ? Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were perfect as Presidents Cup partners, and they got enough help from everyone else Saturday to put the Americans in position to stay perfect on home soil.

With an improbable rally by Woods in the morning and pure putting by Stricker in the afternoon, they became the first partnership in the Presidents Cup — and the first in 30 years of any team competition — to go 4-0.

Phil Mickelson had a chance to join them with an undefeated record using different partners. Mickelson and Sean O’Hair, who won their match handily in the morning, each had a birdie putt inside 15 feet on the final hole for the win, but had to settle for a halve.

The International team walked away from Harding Park the last two days with momentum from keeping close. But as darkness fell across from Lake Merced, the deficit looked daunting with only 12 singles matches remaining today.

The Americans had a 12 1?2-9 1?2 lead.

No team has rallied from three points behind on the final day to win the cup outright, and the Americans have lost only one singles session in the seven previous Presidents Cup matches.

“Last time we had a five-point mountain to climb in Montreal, and it looks like we will have something to climb,” Geoff Ogilvy said after collecting his first point of the week in teaming with fellow Australian Robert Allenby.

Woods and Stricker are the first partners to go 4-0 in any team competition since Larry Nelson and Lanny Wadkins won all their matches in the 1979 Ryder Cup at The Greenbrier. The perfect mark looked unlikely in the morning foursomes, when the International team was poised to catch the Americans by leading the final three matches on the course.

GOLF

McGowan fires 60

Madrid — Ross McGowan took the biggest 54-hole lead on the European Tour this year after a 12-under 60 on Saturday gave him a seven-stroke advantage at the Madrid Masters. The Englishman was at 24-under 192 after a third round that included two eagles and 10 birdies at the Centro Nacional course. Sergio Garcia bogeyed four of his last seven holes on his way to a 71 that put him 10 shots back after he shared the overnight lead with David Drysdale.

AUTO RACING

Franchitti wins IRL title

Homestead, Fla. — Dario Franchitti’s return to IndyCar racing couldn’t have gone better. He’s the IRL champion once again.

Franchitti successfully emerged from one of the closest points races in series history Saturday, winning the season-ending Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first caution-free IRL race ever.

The 2007 champion — who skipped 2008 to explore NASCAR — held off Target Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon and Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe.

“I can’t believe it,” Franchitti said. “It all worked out.”

He sat back and saved fuel over much of the final 50 laps, and when his two fellow contenders pitted late, the title was his.

“Congrats to him,” Briscoe said. “It hurts.”

“We were sticking to our strategy,” Franchitti said. “Our car was really good at the end.”

Franchitti finished with 616 points, unofficially 11 ahead of Dixon and 12 ahead of Briscoe.

Tony Kanaan was fourth, and Helio Castroneves fifth, but on this day, they were afterthoughts.

Logano Nationwide winner

Fontana, Calif. — Joey Logano avoided a late-race collision and held off Brian Vickers to win the NASCAR Nationwide Copart 300 on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway for his fifth series victory of the season and second in two weeks.

The 19-year-old Logano started on the pole, but fell well back after an incident with Greg Biffle early in the race. Logano steadily worked his way back to front and caught a break when Biffle and Denny Hamlin collided with less than 10 laps to go.

Logano took the lead following a caution with two laps to go, then pulled away from Vickers.

Carl Edwards finished third and pulled within 155 points of series leader Kyle Busch, who exited his No. 18 Toyota early in the race because of a fever. Hamlin replaced Busch and battled for the lead before getting caught between Biffle and Brad Keselowski, relegating the car to a 31st-place finish.

TENNIS

Nadal falls in China semis

Beijing — Rafael Nadal lost in the semifinals of the China Open on Saturday, falling, 6-1, 6-3, to Marin Cilic. The eighth-seeded Croat cruised past the Spaniard, setting up a final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who beat Sweden’s Robin Soderling, 6-3, 6-3.

TRIATHLON

Ironman champs repeat

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii — Craig Alexander won the Ironman World Championship on Saturday, making a late surge in the heat to win for the second straight year. The 36-year-old Australian completed the 140.6-mile endurance test in 8 hours, 20 minutes and 21 seconds, beating California’s Chris Lieto by more than 2 minutes.

Britain’s Chrissie Wellington earned her third straight women’s title, finishing in a course record 8:54:02. She broke Paula Newby-Fraser’s mark of 8:55:28 set in 1992.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Memphis files appeal

Memphis, Tenn. — The University of Memphis has filed its appeal to the NCAA, criticizing the reasoning behind sanctions that stripped the Tigers of their 38 wins in the 2007-2008 season, according to The Commercial Appeal.

SOCCER

U.S. clinches Cup berth

San Pedro Sula, Honduras — The U.S. soccer team is headed to South Africa for a chance to redeem itself in the World Cup. Conor Casey scored his first two international goals in the second half, Landon Donovan added another and the United States clinched its sixth straight World Cup berth with a game to spare by rallying past Honduras, 3-2, on Saturday night.

BOXING

Lopez, Gamboa victorious

New York — Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa remained on a potential collision course after defending their titles in separate bouts at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Gamboa retained his WBA featherweight title with a brutally efficient fourth-round stoppage of Whyber Garcia, while Lopez earned a hard-fought unanimous decision against rugged Rogers Mtagwa to keep his WBA super bantamweight belt.

NBA

Warriors suspend Jackson

Los Angeles — The Golden State Warriors suspended Stephen Jackson for two exhibition games Saturday after the unhappy captain left the bench during an exhibition contest in Los Angeles.