ESPN.com - Golf Online - Presidents Cup 2000 - International team spins its wheels

Associated Press
Saturday, October 21

LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- The American report card from this Presidents Cup should include the following notation: Plays well with others.


	Notah Begay III had the crowd and Tiger Woods on his side in an afternoon rout.

Long criticized for being out of sorts when it comes to alternate shot, the Americans handled it easily once again. Led by Kirk Triplett and Tiger Woods, they turned back an International team rally and restored their five-point lead Friday.

U.S. captain Ken Venturi was asked to explain how the Americans have won nine out of 10 alternate-shot matches.

"Can you?" he asked incredulously. "We never play that ... 9-1 is absolutely phenomenal. I thought we'd have a better chance at fourballs than we did the alternate shot, and it just turned upside down."

That summed up a topsy-turvy day.

Inspired by a rare motivational speech from Ernie Els, the International team made short work out of a 5-0 deficit by winning four of the five best-ball matches in the morning and seemed to be on their way to an incredible comeback.

Just like that, the Presidents Cup was back to where it began the day -- the Americans comfortably in charge, with a 10-5 lead.

They didn't just win. They shot better scores in alternate shot, a rare accomplishment.

"I can't explain that," International captain Peter Thomson said. "I saw some amazing golf from the U.S. team. It was a magnificent performance."

Perhaps the best explanation came from Woods, who noted that both teams found a way to shift the momentum.

"Each team, when they have the onus on them, they seem to come back and play well," Woods said.

No one did that better than Woods. After he and Notah Begay III were thumped in the morning, they won their first six holes against the slumping star pairing of Els and Vijay Singh and cruised to a 6-and-5 victory.

Triplett, the 38-year-old Presidents Cup rookie, continued to hole one big putt after another as he and Stewart Cink won a crucial point late in the day.

Almost everyone else followed suit with a birdie binge unheard of for alternate shot.

Triplett and Cink, trailing by one with six holes to play, birdied the next three and were 6-under in a 2-and-1 victory over Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby.

Loren Roberts and Paul Azinger, Venturi's wild-card selections, birdied five of their last six holes in a 5-and-4 victory over Carlos Franco and Shigeki Maruyama. It was Maruyama's first loss in seven Presidents Cup matches.

Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman, both losers in the morning, birdied five of the first seven holes and never came close to a bogey in their 3-and-2 victory over Michael Campbell and Retief Goosen.

"All I know is that our team is great in foursomes," Cink said. "Our team has jelled."

The only match that prevented another clean sweep in foursomes was Phil Mickelson and David Duval, who managed just one birdie and were beaten 5 and 4 by Nick Price and Mike Weir. Duval never made it to the 15th tee in two matches Friday.

Not to worry.

The Americans' 10-5 lead was their largest ever in three Presidents Cup matches at RTJ, and they went on to win both of them.

"We've got to get as many points as we can," Venturi said. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday. All being well, we'll walk out of here with the cup."

The International players, in a state of shock as they left the course in fading sunlight, were down and possibly out. Five best-ball matches follow Saturday, their best chance to try one again to cut into the lead before the final round of singles.

"We've got to get within three points," Thomson said.

He can only hope for the same results Friday morning.

Trailing 5-0 after the opening session Thursday, the International team won the first four matches, none of them reaching the 18th hole.

The biggest rout came from Price and Greg Norman, who never lost a hole in their 6-and-5 victory over Duval and Jim Furyk. Norman was particularly sharp, making three straight putts of at least 10 feet to halve the hole early in the match.

The biggest shock came from Franco, so uptight about being paired against Woods that he had a hard time sleeping. It didn't show, as he made seven birdies in teaming with Maruyama for a 3-and-2 victory over Woods and Begay.

Thomson watched from the fairway with a gleam in his eye.

"A better contest today," he said.

It might have been made possible by a rare speech from Els on the bus back to their hotel Thursday night. With a beer in hand, he reminded his team how far around the world they had traveled and to pull together.

"He said, 'I feel we're going to win if we all play hard and play with our heart.' Everybody gave him a rousing cheer," Thomson said. "And then we all had another beer."

Els could have used a stiff drink after Friday.

Els and Singh, the highest ranked players for the International team, have been thumped in all three of their matches. Two of them were against Woods and Begay, and the other loss came Friday morning in best ball against Mickelson and Davis Love III.

"They've had all the hard matches," Thomson said.

Still, they have never led in any match, and were at least 3-down at the turn in all of them. Friday afternoon was even more crushing.

Singh, who appears to have lost his putting touch since winning The Masters, missed a 5-foot birdie putt that would have halved the first hole. He missed another from the same distance that would have won the eighth hole. And his next tee shot went into the water.

Woods went straight to the practice range after his morning loss, and apparently fixed whatever was wrong. He made a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole, and gave Begay a 12-foot eagle putt on the fifth.

"We got rolling early," Woods said. "We had momentum on our side."

That was all the Americans needed, and it couldn't have come at a better time -- or in a better format.