ESPN.com - Golf Online - Presidents Cup 2000 - Frozen moment: A casual stroll

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, October 22

LAKE MANASSAS, Va. - Drama?

Sunday at the Presidents Cup might was well have been Thursday at Greensboro or Friday at Bermuda Dunes.

Turning point?

The fact the U.S. wake-up call went off without a hitch was good. The fact the bus was gassed up wasn't bad either.

The final day of competition at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club was anticlimactic on Sunday. It quickly turned into a member-guest -- and a darned friendly one at that.

Players walked together down fairways, usually talking golf. Wives and girlfriends walked together along the ropes, sometimes talking golf. Dan Quayle, talking to no one, nonetheless received applause everywhere he went as he trailed the Tiger Woods-Vijay Singh match.

And 3-footers were conceded with regularity -- all except for Woods and Singh, who took turns making each other putt out from two feet.

But even they seemed to make at least partial amends when the cup was decided; Singh walked over and shook Woods' hand on the 13th fairway, moments after Davis Love III had clinched the cup.

But other than a brief glimmer of competitiveness -- the International team led six of eight matches for one quick minute in the early going -- Sunday was a high-priced exhibition, albeit one with 24 of the world's top players.

"The real excitement for our team was last night," said Kirk Triplett, who went to bed knowing he and his teammates needed to win just 2½ of 12 possible points to regain the Cup.

That's not to say there weren't moments worthy of a time capsule. Carlos Franco's double-eagle on the 12th was spectacular. Tom Lehman and Steve Elkington played a match that looked like a rout for the Internationals, only to have Elkington bogey four straight holes to let Lehman back in. Woods and Singh showed what seemed like genuine dislike for each other, though both later said it was just the heat of competition.

Stewart Cink beat Greg Norman in a back-and-forth battle. Triplett and Michael Campbell halved a match - the only tie in 32 matches. And Notah Begay III rallied from 2-down to beat Retief Goosen in the final match of the day.

But when Love made a putt to close the match at 2:20 p.m. ET -- and got a huge hug from U.S. captain Ken Venturi, who called it "one of the happiest days of my life," -- there was only a quiet celebration for the Americans.

"We set a goal that we wanted to get to, and that was to get to one more point than we gave up last time," Love said. "And we got to that."

The International team noted that there were few blowouts on either side. Sunday, eight of the 12 matches made it to at least the 16th hole. Three of the opening-day alternate shot matches were decided 1-up -- and all went to the Americans.

"I don't think the score was indicative of the win," said Nick Price. "It was a lot closer than that. At least we feel that way."

But it wasn't close on Sunday. And unlike the contentious Ryder Cup last year at Brookline, there were no green-storming celebrations. In fact, Love nearly walked on the 17th green to congratulate Cink after his win over Norman, but stopped on the fringe.

"Today wasn't as electric because it was decided earlier in the week," Love said.

"It wasn't great for TV ratings, but it was sure nice for golfers," said Triplett. "We had 11 guys who were playing well. And it's a pretty neat feeling when you're a part of that."