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Camp notes
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 | | Cink |
Thanks for nothing: It's a good thing Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett are winning -- especially after the fourth hole Friday afternoon. Cink missed the green and had his ball trickle into the water. But in the alternate-shot format, Triplett had to play it. He took off his shoes and socks, donned his rain suit and blasted out. The ball didn't make it to the green and tumbled back toward the lake, but stopped. Cink, on dry land, then chipped up to the green.
Tourney trivia: In 15 matches, not one has been halved. And Friday, no matches got to the 18th hole. Three did on Thursday.
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And finally...
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 | | Woods |
Driving for show: Woods' favorite driver broke on the driving range Friday morning. And his spare was at his hotel, rather than at his locker. So Woods teed off on the first hole with a 3-wood (and 13 clubs in his bag), and immediately pulled the ball left. His back-up driver arrived at the third hole (actually, the second, but nobody told Woods). He put it into play and, "from there on, I drove it pretty good," he said.
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LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- They don't seem like a likely pairing -- a 27-year-old three-time All-American at Georgia Tech with two PGA Tour wins, and a 38-year-old veteran of the Australian, Asian and Canadian tours who finally won his first PGA Tour event in Februrary after 10 years of trying.
But no team has been more effective at this Presidents Cup than Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett, who have joined to create the feel-good story of the event.
"It's been a lot of fun to be able to work together," said Cink. "When he's hitting, I'm cadying for him. And when I'm hitting, he's caddying for me."
The Presidents Cup rookies are 2-0, thanks to a gutty 2-and-1 win over Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby in alternate-shot competition Friday afternoon. They also disposed of Mike Weir and Retief Goosen in a Friday alternate-shot match.
And they'll play together again on Saturday in best ball, this time against Allenby and Carlos Franco.
"Our games have gelled very well," Cink said. "Kirk has been driving the ball very straight. And he's been putting well this week. ... And I've been hitting my iron shots very well. So we picked the holes out we want to play on, so that I would hit a lot of iron shots and Kirk would putt a lot. And he would hit a lot of drives. It seemes like it's worked out perfectly so far."
Triplett and Cink were the last two players to automatically qualify for the U.S. team. They're possibly the least known of the 12 Americans on the team.
But they both play consistently and with a similar temperment. Triplett, especially, seems to be relishing his first international team experience as a professional, smiling as he walks to his ball and standing contently as Cink hits.
Friday afternoon, after Triplett's 12-foot birdie putt at the 15th gave the Americans a 1-up lead, he and Cink walked to the tee together on the par-3 16th. Allenby walked to the tee alone, while Appleby marched to the green awaiting his turn to putt.
Two holes later, they closed out the match -- and walked together to shake the hands of their teammates, who had gathered at the edge of the green.
"We've talked our way through all the putts," Cink said. "We've talked our way through all the shots, all the tee shots, the clubs off the tees, the wind direction. We've been together on every shot."
"You've got to give some credit to captain Venturi," Triplett said. "He made the picks. He put the teams together. The players had very little input."
Triplett and Cink played alternate shot against Woods and Begay for nine holes Wednesday in the final practice round. They played to a draw.
"It gave us a little practice, just enough to know how we feel about playing," Cink said. "They didn't take a hundred dollars from us."
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