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On the Course Despite lack of drama, Presidents Cup grew up a little
By Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated GAINSEVILLE, Va. -- Hal Sutton sat down and joined a small group of U.S. players gathering behind the 18th green as the final match of the Presidents Cup approached. The Americans had long since clinched the cup on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Now it was up to Notah Begay III and Retief Goosen to determine the last point. “What’s the score?” Sutton asked Paul Azinger. Incorrectly told by someone else it would be 20 1/2-11 1/2 if Begay won this match, Sutton smiled. “Same thumping as we got last time,” he said with pride. After Goosen hit his approach shot onto the green, it was Begay’s turn. “Get in the hole!” Azinger said as the ball flew toward the green. It kicked off the back edge just into the rough. Goosen missed his putt. Then Begay, who had taken a 1-up lead with a birdie at the 17th, chipped close and Goosen, who was one down, conceded the match. That made the final official tally 21 1/2-10 1/2 for the U.S. The desire of the Americans was questioned two years ago when they got pounded in Australia, 20 1/2-11 1/2, but it wasn’t in question here at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. They wanted to win. They wanted to win big. They wanted a measure of revenge. And they wanted to win it for their captain, Ken Venturi. “We had a goal today and that was to break the reocrd for points that got thrown at us last time [in Australia],” said Davis Love III, who beat Ernie Els in singles. “We wanted to send Kenny off as the all-time points winning captain and hopefully, that’s a record that will never be broken. "We told everybody last night, the other guys are going to try to win every match and as soon as it’s over, they’re going to try to win for pride and we can’t give up. Notah was grinding to get that last point in that last match and Goosen didn’t want to give it to him.” It was an emotional victory for Venturi, whose only U.S. Open victory came in the Washington D.C. area at Congressional Country Club in 1964. He’s 69 and will all but retire from his CBS television golf announcing job next year, cutting back to just six tournaments. “This is quite a sendoff,” Venturi said. “These players, I just love ‘em. I’ll always be indebted for what they did for me.” While the Presidents Cup singles round may have seemed somewhat flat, given that the outcome was never in doubt, the intensity of some matches didn’t waver. Tiger Woods played hard to beat Vijay Singh, 2 and 1. Woods wanted a rematch with Singh after losing a four-ball match to him the day before, and he was further motivated by the cap that Singh’s caddie, Paul Tesori, wore. On the cap's back was stitched, “Tiger who?” Whether it was the cap or the fact that Singh struggled all week with his putter, Woods made Singh hit some short putts that would normally have been conceded, causing Singh to do a few double takes and, eventually, retaliate and force Woods to finish up some short ones, too. It was nearly as intense as a Ryder Cup match. Hey, you know what? The Presidents Cup made have just taken its first baby steps.
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