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Cup notes |
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 | | Weir |
International's best: Mike Weir was 3-2 in his first international competition -- including a rout of Phil Mickelson in an all-lefty matchup on Sunday. And his teammates took notice.
"Mike Weir ... probably played as good of golf as anybody this week," said Steve Elkington, who paired with Weir to win a best-ball match over Tom Lehman and Loren Roberts on Friday.
In the gallery: It wasn't the Vice President's Cup, but Dan Quayle was on the course following Woods and Singh. Former President George Bush was at the tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and President Clinton took in part of the afternoon matches Saturday.
Next in line: The 2002 Presidents Cup will be played in South Africa, at the Links Golf Course at the Fancourt Hotel and Country Club. The 7,234-yard course, designed by Gary Player, is one of four at the resort. Player is a possible captain. "I strongly endorse Gary Player. He deserves it," Greg Norman said.
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And finally...
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 | | Els |
Not so big and easy: Ernie Els' 0-5 record made him the first player to lose five matches in a single Presidents Cup. But he offered no excuses.
"I started off not putting well and I ended up losing a little bit of confidence," Els said. "I didn't come with the goods this week."
"Ernie had a lot of pressure on him the fist couple of matches to try to carry a best-ball and an alternate-shot match on his own," said Davis Love III. "And he got pushing a little too hard."
Els' partner for the first three matches was Vijay Singh.
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LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- Tiger Woods holds a grudge, even if it last just 24 hours.
Woods and Notah Begay III lost in best ball to Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen 2 and 1 on Saturday afternoon -- the only U.S. loss of the day. When it was over, Woods noticed Singh's caddie wearing a hat that had "Tiger Who?" stitched on the back.
So when the pairings were announced for Sunday singles, it was no coincidence that Woods was pleased to be playing Singh. And Begay was pleased to be playing Goosen.
"Notah and myself both got the guys we wanted," Woods said.
And both of them won competitive matches. Woods defeated Singh 2 and 1 in a match marked by an absence of conceded putts. Begay beat Goosen 1-up, making birdie at the 17th hole for the win.
Woods and Singh both said there was no animosity between them, but you wouldn't have known that on the course. Woods wouldn't concede an 18-inch par putt to Singh to win the fourth hole. Later, Singh refused to concede a putt of similar length to Woods on the 11th.
"I wanted him. I know he wanted me," Woods said. "Yesterday left a bad taste in my mouth when I missed that putt on 16 (which could have evened the match). I let myself down and I let my teammates down."
Woods' singles win left him 3-2 in this Presidents Cup, a measure of satisfaction after a 2-3 performance at the 1998 competition in Australia. He wasn't particularly pleased with his play all week -- skipping part of his lunch break between rounds Friday to pound balls on the driving range -- but the competitive juices were flowing against Singh.
Woods had three birdies on the front nine to grab a 1-up lead, and eagled the par-4 10th when he drove the green. He added birdies at the two par-5s on the back side -- 12 and 14 -- and closed the match with a birdie at the 17th.
When Singh congratlated Woods in the 13th fairway moments after the U.S. had secured the Cup, Woods reminded him that their match wasn't over yet.
"I didn't want to have him let down," Woods said. "I wanted to beat him when he was firing on all cylinders."
Begay was the last man on the course and was trying to eke out a final point for the Americans. When he beat Goosen 1-up with a par on the 18th, he gave the Americans one more point than the Internationals had four years ago in routing the U.S.
"We wanted to get the points record that was thrown at us the last time," said Davis Love III. "And Notah was out there really grinding to get it."
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