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Venturi was letter perfect
GAINESVILLE, Va. -- During the Presidents Cup team introductions, U.S. captain Ken Venturi forgot to introduce two players from the early part of the alphabet, Notah Begay and Stewart Cink. "A page slipped out," Venturi said of his notes after rectifying the error. "I promise you that's the only mistake I'm going to make this week." Venturi might have been right. The Americans played so well the first three days, putting on one of the finest displays of team golf in recent memory, that Venturi couldn't make a bad move, it seemed. The U.S. team earned straight A's on my report card. Even if the International team had played its best, and it rated about a C-minus the first three days, the Americans would've been awfully tough to beat.
The Short GameCink on his Presidents Cup week: "In the big picture, this week is probably my biggest accomplishment. This gives me a ton of confidence for future Presidents Cups or Ryder Cups I might make. The doubts are totally erased. I feel like it's a green light the rest of the way." ... Kirk Triplett's wife, Cathi, rarely misses a PGA Tour event that her husband plays in, though she stayed home in Scottsdale, Ariz., with their two sons and missed Kirk's first tour win in Los Angeles. She attended the Presidents Cup, however, and thoroughly enjoyed it. "She gets to walk inside the ropes and be part of the team with the rest of the wives and hang out in the team cottage," Kirk said. Cathi also displayed the courtesy and sportsmanship that exemplified the Presidents Cup. She was part of the crowd that let out a big cheer when Kirk holed a clutch birdie putt at the ninth hole Saturday during a fourball match, then remembered she was standing next to Sandy Allenby, wife of International player Robert Allenby, and turned to her and said, "Sorry, Sandy." ... The American team had a self-imposed 10:15 curfew for the gala dinner Tuesday night before the Presidents Cup. Singer/piano player Bruce Hornsby and his group was performing when the deadline arrived and most of the U.S. team got up and walked out, somewhat embarrassingly, before Hornsby's final song. Only Triplett and Hal Sutton had the good sense and manners to stay for the finish. On the Course(s)An early arrival for the matches meant I had time to try a few golf courses in the Lake Manassas/Gainesville area during the week. The best was Bull Run Golf Club, one exit up I-66 from the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Bull Run's greens are still new and pretty sparse but the layout (a Rick Jacobsen design) is nice. It's a big, sprawling course over rolling terrain with lots of trees. The fairways are generous. I liked the par-5 18th, a dogleg left that requires a second shot over a lake that lets you cut off as much distance as you dare. You can go for the green, perhaps, or play it safe and lay up. The course is open for daily-fee golf but also offers reasonably priced short-term memberships. I also liked the free tees stuck in the golf cart for my use -- they were Civil War blue and gray. ... At the low end of the price scale is Kastle Greens in Midland, Va., about 20 miles out into the farmlands. This place looks like a farmer drew the routing on a napkin -- and, in fact, as someone later told me, that was the case. It's a good first draft of a course design by an amateur but could've used a little more golf expertise along with another $1 million. I played early in the morning, first off at 7:30, when it was briskly cold and the ground fog was so thick I wasn't quite sure where the first green was. Lots of mounding for definition, also lots of crabgrass and some bare spots. The finishing holes, the ninth and 18th, need work; they're contrived earthworks around a lake. The ninth is an L-shaped, dogleg-left par-4 around a lake with water on both sides of the green, which prevents you from trying to drive the green. The 18th is a par-5 that could be salvaged with a decent landing area. For $30, this isn't the worst deal in the area. ... The back tees at Westfields Golf Club are called Boom Boom. This course, not far from Dulles Airport, is a Fred Couples design. He has a lot of nice holes threading through the woods but blew it with too many forced carries, like at the 18th, a 422-yard par-4 that features a hazard abutting the front edge of the green, a pretty tough carry for your average hack, assuming he or she kept it between the trees and bunkers lining the fairway. Too many greens had too much undulation, such as the 13th, which looks as if a pipeline runs just under its surface across the middle and, on the day I played, the pin was perched precariously next to it. Three-putt? I was trying not to four-putt. Also, lots of greenside bunkers that extend 30-50 yards in front of the green, well placed to punish the 23 handicapper who may top one into the front edge and face a 50-yard bunker shot to an undulating green he's going three-putt, if he's lucky. The starter told us to maintain a good pace of play. Don't tell me, pal. Tell the architect. Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle is a regular contributor to the magazine's Golf Plus edition. Click here to send a question to his Golf Mailbag.
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