Americans Lead in Presidents Cup

G A I N E S V I L L E, Va, Oct. 19, 2000 -- No one can say this American teamdoesn’t care about playing in the Presidents Cup.

Led by the brilliant play of its rookies and a clutch putt fromTiger Woods, the United States got off to a perfect start today by winning every alternate-shot match for a 5-0 lead over theInternational team.

It was the second time the Americans have led 5-0 after thefirst session, matching their record start six years ago at theRobert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Not Close Enough

Three matches reached the 18th hole, but it was never reallyclose.

The International team, which handed the Americans their worstloss ever in team match play two years ago in Australia, led inonly two of the five matches at any point, but never after thethird hole.

Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett, both playing in their first teamcompetition, made seven birdies in 17 holes on a difficult coursefor a 3-and-2 victory over International rookies Mike Weir ofCanada and Retief Goosen of South Africa.

“I set him up with a lot of birdies and he drained them all,”Cink said. Fittingly, Triplett closed out the match with a 40-footbirdie putt.

The other U.S. rookie, Notah Begay, also won his match — and notjust because his partner was Woods, his former teammate atStanford. Begay sealed their 1-up victory over Ernie Els and VijaySingh with an approach into 10 feet on the 18th.

But it was Woods who turned back any hope of a great comebackfrom the International team’s best two players, atoning for anerrant tee shot on the 16th with the kind of putt he has beenmaking throughout his record-smashing season.

Clinging to a 1-up lead, Begay chipped from under a tree wellpast the pin, but the ball came back down the slope to about 20feet. Woods made the par putt for a halve of the hole, ramming hisfist toward the cup as it fell.

He and Begay slapped hands sideways and tapped fists.

“I got a little excited,” Woods said with a sheepish grin.

Invoking Maori Traditions

The most excited anyone got on another otherwise tame afternoonwas Michael Campbell of New Zealand. And he didn’t even play.

On the practice range before the matches began, theInternational team huddled around as Campbell did his native Maori“Haka” dance, slapping his knees and shouting chants.

“The Haka means that we’re challenging our opponents,”Campbell said. “Basically, it means we are rising, rising, rising…above the clouds.”

Then they teed off, and it wasn’t long before the Internationalteam started sinking, sinking, sinking into a deficit they’re usedto facing at RTJ.

The Americans led 5-0 on this course in 1994, the inauguralPresidents Cup, and won 20-12. Two years later it was a 4-1 leadafter the first set of matches, although those ultimately weredecided by one point.

“We’re hoping for a change of fortune,” International captainPeter Thomson said.

Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman buried their opponents quickly,winning six straight holes against two Aussies joined at the hip —Steve Elkington and Greg Norman, who each had innovative hipsurgery this year.

“We should get a refund,” Norman joked.

It was no laughing matter.

The Aussies, 3-0-1 two years ago at Royal Melbourne, were 6 overpar after the first eight holes and lost 5 and 4. None of the 14holes were halved.

“We didn’t have any rhythm at all,” Elkington said. “Theother guys put the pressure on us and got a big lead.”

That summed up the entire day.

The other Australia duo, Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby, ledafter the second hole. But Ryder Cup star Hal Sutton and Jim Furykwon three straight holes and hung on for a 1-up victory.

Nick Price and Carlos Franco also took a brief lead on thesecond hole over David Duval and Davis Love III. It was the closestmatch of the day until Duval made a 10-foot birdie on the 14th andLove hit it close on the 15th for a 2-up lead and command of thematch.

Americans Lead the Way

Woods and Begay never trailed in their match and applied thepressure quickly when Woods hit a sand wedge from 83 yards thathopped over the ridge of the first green and skidded to a haltabout 18 inches from the cup.

Singh, meanwhile, hit his drive 50 yards left of the fairway,causing Els to say to him, “A little pumped up there?”

They weren’t laughing when they walked off the 10th hole, 3 downand without a birdie.

Singh finally hit one close on the par-3 11th for their firstbirdie. They picked up another hole when Woods hit his drive leftalong the lake, and brought the match to all square with anotherbirdie on the 13th.

Momentum shifted with one shot, a fairway wood from Begay thatnarrowly cleared the water in front of the par-5 14th and set up atwo-putt birdie. Singh opted to lay up from the rough, and hefailed to make a 10-foot birdie putt.

Singh and Els never made up the difference, as Woods made a6-footer for par to halve the 15th and then made his big putt onthe 16th.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Els said. “Obviously, we didn’tget off to the start we wanted. The boys will come out fighting.We’ve got 36 holes tomorrow, and we can get it ball back.”