ESPN.com - Golf Online - Presidents Cup 2000 - Frozen moment: Lead match sets tone

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Thursday, October 19

LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- Captain Peter Thomson, as proper and tradition-loving a man as there is in golf, felt it only right that Greg Norman be in the initial International team pairing at the Presidents Cup.

"It's appropriate that Norman should be first off," he said Wednesday as he announced his opening-day lineup.


	Rookies Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett combined for seven birdies over 16 holes.

Too bad for Thomson that Norman and fellow Australian Steve Elkington were first off at the end, too. They were flattened, 5 and 4, by Americans Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman, who entered the match with a combined 6-11-6 Presidents Cup record.

That was the opening salvo in what turned into an American blitz on the first day of competition at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. When it was over, the Internationals led for a total of three of the 84 holes played. They were all square for only 14 more -- and never led later than the third hole of any of the five matches. And despite the fact that three of the five matches went the distance, the Americans never seemed in any sort of danger.

"It was basically a shocker," said Thomson.

Norman and Elkington were the poster children for the opening-day carnage, carding bogey or worse on seven of the 14 holes they played. And to add a little more insult: After taking their whipping, the two men with a combined 86 victories around the world (including three majors) had to stand behind the 14th green to dissect the round with the media, only watching as teammates Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby went by in the next group.

It was golf's equivalent of getting lapped.

"We'll just have to take our medicine and move on," Norman said moments before slapping hands with Allenby and Appleby. "We'll be back tomorrow."

He didn't have much conviction in his voice, though he later added that: "We can't get discouraged."

But there wasn't much to be encouraged about. At Wednesday's lineup announcement, Thomson and U.S. captain Ken Venturi said they were pleased with the first-day pairings. A day later, can Thomson get a second chance -- even though President Clinton declared the Presidents Cup a "no-mulligan zone" during the opening ceremonies?

His hoped-for quick start never materialized. Two years ago in Melbourne, the Internationals led 3½-1½ after the first alternate-shot matches on their way to a 20½-11½ victory. Norman and Elkington won their match over Jim Furyk and John Huston, 2-up.

This year, it was the Americans who busted out of the blocks. "Our purpose was to get out quickly," Mickelson said.

Mickelson and Lehman split the first two holes with Norman and Elkington, then won the next six holes to build a 6-up lead through eight. Elkington was wild off the tee, and Norman was unable to recover.

"When guys look up at the board and see us 4-, 5-, 6-up, it's a big deal," said Lehman.

Mickelson said it was shades of last year's Ryder Cup, where the Americans rallied from a 10-6 deficit to win 8½ singles points against the Europeans.

"If we could go out today and start off this Presidents Cup the right way, not only by winning a point but by winning decisively, we felt we could give our team a little bit of momentum and confidence," he said. "Having a point on the board gives the other players the freedom to take chances with some shots."

The Americans took advantage. Hal Sutton and Jim Furyk were 3-up after nine and held on to beat Allenby and Appleby. Mike Weir and Retief Goosen never led in their match against Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett, losing 3 and 2.

The final two matches -- Tiger Woods and Notah Begay III against Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, and David Duval and Davis Love III against Nick Price and Carlos Franco -- both went the distance, but the Americans trailed for only one hole and were never tied in either after the 13th.

"As a first-timer, it gave me a lot of encouragement and a lot of confidence," Begay said of the opening match. "I knew they had the mind set to go out there and set the tone for the day, and that's exactly what they did. It just sort of allowed me to be a little more settled because I was nervous for the first few holes and for most of the day."

Thomson met with his team after the matches and said he expects a better Friday, where 10 points will be decided.

"We had a little scrum and that was the general feeling," he said. "They're all going to pull their socks up and play a bit better.

"With a lower score."