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Camp notes
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 | | Weir |
Don't blame Canada: The only man with a winning record for the International team is Mike Weir, who's been in on three of the team's five points. He won twice on Friday. "I've been thrilled with his performance," captain Peter Thomson said. "And if there are any more in Canada like him, I'd like to have them."
Take this game and shove it: Thomson has made no secret of his hatred of alternate shot (foursomes). "It's a bloody English invention," he said Friday. "It's for old ladies in golf clubs. They love it. Husbands and wifes don't like it, though."
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And finally...
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 | | Franco |
Tiger by the tail: Carlos Franco had never played a competitive match against Tiger Woods -- until Friday. And he joined Shigeki Maruyama in beating Woods and Notah Begay III in the morning best ball.
"I say to my wife yesterday, 'I play first time Tiger tomorrow,' " said Franco, who's from Paraguay. "My wife say to me, 'Carlos, no worry.' "
Franco said he couldn't sleep before the match.
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LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- Paging Ernie Els. Paging Vijay Singh.
International team captain Peter Thomson would like to find one -- or preferably both. Only brief glimpses of either one has been seen the past two days at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
What figured to be the anchor of the International team instead has been the weight that has dragged the Internationals down through the first three sessions of the Presidents Cup. Singh and Els are 0-3 as a team and will be split up Saturday.
The International team trails the Americans 10-5 with 17 points left to be decided. Els and Singh can do the math.
"It's not a good week for us," said Els, in the running for understatement of the week honors.
Nobody would have guessed this. Singh won The Masters this year. Els was the runner-up at Augusta, the U.S. Open and the British Open. Els arrived with a 6-2-2 mark in the Presidents Cup; Singh was 8-5-2. They were 2-1 together two years ago in Melbourne.
Singh, who changed putters after The Masters win, can't buy a putt. "It's tough when you're playing match play and you're putting like that," Els said.
Els, who gave what his teammates termed a rousing speech after their first-day debacle, has played better -- but not by much.
It isn't like Singh and Els have lost to inferior teams. Woods and Begay have beaten them twice. Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III beat them 2 and 1 on Friday morning.
"Those are the two best players on their team, and to take them down I'm satisfied," said Woods.
"It's key," said Davis Love. "These guys aren't invincible."
Els and Singh were the only International team to lose in the best-ball matches -- and Thomson has decided to split them up for Saturday's second best-ball session.
"It was their suggestion," Thomson said. But he likely would have made the change himself.
"They've had the hard matches and, although they haven't won the points, it's very important that they take on the hard games," Thomson said. "I feel that they've pulled their weight and they've done the team a lot of good."
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