MELBOURNE, Australia — Tiger Woods set the Presidents Cup record for most victories and set the tone for his U.S. team Sunday at Royal Melbourne.

Woods seized control around the turn against Abraham Ancer and won, 3 and 2, in the first of 12 singles matches. The Americans need to win singles for the first time in 10 years to overcome a two-point deficit against the International team.

Woods went 3-0 for the week as the first playing captain since Hale Irwin at the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. His singles victory was his 27th in nine appearances, breaking the record Phil Mickelson had set in 12 events.

The idea was to get American red on the board quickly, and Woods did his part. The rest of the team was following the script, building early leads in five other matches.

The Internationals were trying to win for the second time. Their only other victory was at Royal Melbourne in 1998.

Ancer, one of seven rookies on the International team, three times answered when Woods the lead. Woods, however, took over with a par on No. 9 and a birdie on the 10th. Ancer was still only 1 down through 13 holes when he three-putted from long range for bogey on the 14th.

Woods closed him out with a 20-foot birdie on the 16th hole, turning to remove his cap and shake hands with Ancer before the ball dropped into the cup.

“Well, when it was probably like 6 feet out — the match was over,’’ Woods said. “I might have taken the hat off a little early, but it was over.’’

Woods’ win brought the Americans to within 10-9, with 15.5 points needed for victory. The United States has lost the competition just once in 12 previous events, at Royal Melbourne in 1998, when Woods was just 21 and Jack Nicklaus was the captain.

The competition was tied at 11.5 at press time.

Along with Woods, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson captured victories for the Americans in singles play. Reed won 4-and-2 over C.T. Pan and Johnson won 4-and-3 over Haotong Li.

American Tony Finau rallied from four down after 10 holes to tie Hideki Matsuyama.

Sungjae Im of the International team claimed a 4-and-3 win over U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland.

Going into the final day of competition, the International team had for the first time in 16 years, and it has a trio of rookies to thank for that.

Marc Leishman and Ancer staged a remarkable rally Saturday afternoon in foursomes, going from 5 down with eight holes to play to earn a most unlikely halve against Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.

Byeong Hun An and Joaquin Niemann never led in the final match and scratched out another half-point against Matt Kuchar and Finau.

That gave the Internationals a 10-8 lead going into Sunday singles, and a real chance to win the Presidents Cup for only the second time in its 25-year history.

It looked as though it could have been even larger, when the Internationals built a 9-5 lead after the morning session.

The Americans finally showed some fight, even with captain Woods sitting out for both sessions. And the caddie of Reed might have shown too much fight. He confirmed in a statement to the Barstool Sports podcast “Foul Play” that he shoved a spectator who he felt got too close to Reed while cursing him.

Kessler Karrain, who is also Reed’s brother-in-law, was not be on his bag for the final session. Reed said in a statement he respects the tour’s decision and that everyone was focused on winning the cup.

It was the second straight week of scrutiny for the Reed camp, following his rules violation of scooping sand out of the way in the Bahamas that led to a two-shot penalty.

Reed and Webb Simpson lost matches each of the first two days. Woods sent them out again Saturday morning, and they delivered a dud by making only one birdie in fourballs and losing, 5 and 3, to Matsuyama and Pan.

Finally, Johnson and Woodland took down Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen in the lead match in foursomes. California rookies Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay rallied from 3 down through 5 holes by winning three straight holes and pulling away at the end over Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im.

It was only the third time in 13 events that the International team had the lead after team matches. It had a three-point lead in South Africa in 2003, the year the matches ended in a tie. And they had a nine-point lead at Royal Melbourne in 1998, the only team to beat the Americans.