ESPN.com - Golf Online - Presidents Cup 2000 - Singles mission: U.S. closes in on victory

Associated Press
Sunday, October 22

LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- The Americans don't need a miraculous comeback this time. About the only thing left for them to reclaim the Presidents Cup is to show up.

Two years ago in Australia, the Americans suffered their worst loss ever and were criticized for not caring and not trying. On Saturday, they stood on the brink of redemption after yet another rout of the International team.


	Hal Sutton and Jim Furyk put the squeeze on the Internationals by winning big in Saturday's opening match.

And they didn't even need Tiger Woods.

Hal Sutton led the charge and Kirk Triplett and Stewart Cink, the unheralded and undefeated rookies, brought up the rear. By winning four best-ball matches, the Americans had a 14-6 lead going into the final day.

They need only 2½ points from 12 singles matches to win.

"It will be a long day if this thing is over in the first three groups, which I wouldn't mind," U.S. captain Ken Venturi said. "I've waited a long time for this."

No, this is not a war that has become the Ryder Cup, especially after the Americans charged from behind -- and onto the green -- after completing a record comeback a year ago.

In these matches, the International team is barely putting up a fight.

"We haven't surrendered, but we're suing for peace," captain Peter Thomson said. "We haven't heard back from the other side yet."

It isn't the largest lead in the short history of this cup. Just two years ago at Royal Melbourne, the International team holed shots from all over the course to build a 14½-5½ lead after team play, and won the Presidents Cup after only two singles matches.

It became known as the "Massacre in Melbourne." Call this one "Redemption at Robert Trent Jones," the golf club where the Americans have never lost.

At least last time it was close at RTJ.

"We just wanted to make a game of it," Nick Price said of his International teammates. "Tomorrow is going to be boring for everyone."

President Clinton came out to watch on another gorgeous day along the shores of Lake Manassas. Watch is about all the International team could do, too.

"The U.S. team has just played superbly," Thomson said.

Sutton and Jim Furyk made nine birdies in 13 holes in the first of five best-ball matches, soundly defeating Greg Norman and Michael Campbell and setting the tone for the day.

"I made a little kidding remark before we played," Sutton said. "We'll go start the fire, and everybody else throw gasoline on it."

It was an inferno.

The only match the Americans failed to win had Woods playing with Notah Begay III for the fourth straight match. And that was the biggest thrill of the day, as Woods matched Vijay Singh's eagle putt, birdied the next hole and had a chance to square the match until missing a 6-foot birdie on the 17th.

"Last year, we gelled during the course of the Ryder Cup," Sutton said. "I thought from the minute we got here we were a team, and we have played like a team."

The only victories for the International team were personal. For Singh, paired with Retief Goosen, it was his first point of the matches.

Ernie Els, the highest ranked player on the International team, dropped to 0-4.

"The U.S. team has played almost perfectly," Thomson said. "There was no letup from the onslaught of birdies made. It seems to me to be as powerful a team as you've ever had."

The Americans certainly played like a world power.

After stopping an International team comeback Friday by sweeping the alternate-shot matches in the afternoon to restore their lead, the Americans wasted no time tightening their grip.

Sutton, the star of the Ryder Cup, came out blazing with fist pumps and birdies, four of each on the first five holes and no putt longer than 8 feet. He and Furyk were 3-up at the turn, and it would have been worse had Norman not answered three times with birdies when the Americans had tap-in birdies.

Furyk, feeding off Sutton's fine play, contributed with an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 10 for a 4-up lead, then birdied the next three holes for a 6-and-5 victory.

"That was a pretty good 1-2 punch there," Sutton said.

The margin of victory matched the highest ever in a Presidents Cup. There have been three such scores this week, and Furyk was on the losing end of one Friday.

"I wanted to get my feet back under me," Furyk said. "When your partner birdies the first three, that makes it easier."

Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman were right behind them, and just as impressive.

They built a 3-up lead just five holes into the match, each making short birdie putts around a bogey by Mike Weir on the par-3 fourth. It was the Canadian's first bogey in four matches this week.

With two routs so early in the day, the International team's only hope was to pick up the last three matches to have any realistic hope on Sunday.

Davis Love III, who also is undefeated this week, got his putter going in teaming with David Duval for a 3-and-2 victory over Price and Els. The Americans birdied the last five holes, and International hopes began sinking with the sun.

It was a quick start, and a slow finish. Matches lasted well over five hours, even though only one made it to the 18th hole.

Cink and Triplett, among five rookies on the U.S. team, trailed by one on the back nine until Triplett made a 20-foot birdie on the 11th and an 18-footer on the 13th for a 1-up lead. They protected that to the end, then joined their teammates in celebration.