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Camp notes
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 | | Goosen |
Reversing history: Retief Goosen saw a similar thing happen while watching the Presidents Cup two years ago -- one team catches fire; one team can't buy a break. "It's just the opposite to '98, when we made all the putts and the Americans didn't. It's our turn to be on the other side now. But tomrrow is going to be an interesting day. Tomorrow is one of the days that's really going to decide who wins and who loses."
Show of support: The International team wore ribbons in honor of those who died on the USS Cole last week in Yemen. "They protect all of us in the free world," said Greg Norman. "And we should respect them as such."
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And finally...
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 | | Campbell |
Dancing on the greens: New Zealander Michael Campbell didn't play Thursday, but you couldn't miss him before the matches. Campbell, a Maori, danced a traditional Haka on the practice tee before the round, to the cheers of his teammates and applause from the Americans. "I thought it was pretty cool," said American Tom Lehman. "It took a lot of courage to do that."
Captain Peter Thomson said: "It was at one time a war dance and was designed to scare off the opposition. But I don't think it had that effect. I think we'll quit that, anyway."
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LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- Now what?
If history is a guide, the United States team's 5-0 whitewash of the International team in the first round of play at the Presidents Cup is a mixed bag:
In the inaugural event in 1994, the U.S. won all five of the alternate-shot matches on the first day and ended up winning 20-12.
Two years later, the U.S. went 4-1 in the opening alternate shots but held on to win 16½-15½.
Quite naturally the International team has fonder memories of 1996 than 1994.
"Almost the identical thing happened in 1996," said Peter Thomson, who captained that team. "We ended up (losing) by a point. So don't write us off yet."
But things are ominous for the International team. The led for only three holes Thursday. They made only 12 birdies, compared to 21 for the Americans. They made 17 bogeys -- or worse.
Elkington couldn't drive. His teammates couldn't putt. Add it up and the Internationals were left to hold what Thomson termed a "scrum" to try and figure out what went wrong.
"Most of my team ... made errors of judgment in their second shots and pulled shots off line and missed fairways -- things like that," he said. "It wasn't a very high standard of play today from our side. They know that and they're going to do something about it."
So Thomson will change things up. Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby will sit in Friday's opening best-ball matches. It's widely expected that Greg Norman and Steve Elkington, who were waxed by Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman 5 and 4 in alternate shot on Thursday, will sit out Friday afternoon's alternate-shot competition.
Norman and Elkington both had hip surgery earlier this year -- Elkington in August. Neither is expected to physically be able to play 36 holes in a day, but Thomson is leery about leaving them out of the best-ball matches.
"They need to play," said Thomson. "They're not going to get better sitting on their bum. But if they play their own ball tomorrow morning, that might unlock the key."
That puts pressure on players like Michael Campbell and Retief Goosen, who play first on Friday morning, as well as Mike Weir and Elkington, who go off second. Shigeki Maruyama, who was 5-0 two years ago at the Presidents Cup, will team with Carlos Franco against Tiger Woods and Notah Begay III.
Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, who lost on Thursday, will play in the final match of the day against Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.
"We haven't given up hope," said Nick Price, who took his opening match with Franco against Love and David Duval to the 18th hole. "We have a big day tomorrow, and I hope we can reduce the deficit. We're five behind, and if we can be two or three behind or maybe even pull even tomorrow, I think we'll be happy to look forward to Saturday and Sunday."
After the best-ball competition, there will be another five alternate-shot matches in the afternoon. Not that Thomson is particularly looking forward to it.
"I think it's a goofy game, frankly," Thomson said. "I think that everybody would be happier playing (best ball), both sides tomorrow and Saturday."
He certainly would have liked it Thursday.
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