Woods-Led U.S. Team Looks to Extend Win Streak at Presidents Cup
By Michael Buteau
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Tiger Woods and the rest of the U.S. Presidents Cup team look to continue their dominance in the team golf competition when six first-day matches begin this afternoon in San Francisco.
The U.S., led by Woods, has won five of the previous seven editions of the competition, which pits a team of 12 Americans against 12 non-European players on an International squad.
Woods has played in six Presidents Cups, with a 13-11-1 record. He will be paired with Steve Stricker in today’s opening alternate-shot matches against Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy and Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa.
“He’s definitely pumped up,” U.S. Captain Fred Couples said of Woods. “He is ready to go.”
Today’s play begins at Harding Park Golf Course with the International pair of Mike Weir and Tim Clark facing Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson, who has been bothered by minor back pain since winning the U.S. PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship, said he’s looking forward to playing with Kim. The two share an aggressive playing style, Mickelson said.
“There’s not a shot that he fears,” the left-handed Mickelson said of Kim. “He likes getting closer to the hole and he feels like he can hit any shot necessary around the green. We fit very well together.”
Match Pairings
Other matches, with the International pairs first, have Adam Scott and Ernie Els facing Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair; Vijay Singh and Robert Allenby playing U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover and British Open winner Stewart Cink; and Masters Tournament winner Angel Cabrera and Camilla Villegas taking on Kenny Perry and Zach Johnson. The day’s final match features Retie Goose and PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang against Americans Justin Leonard and Jim Fury.
The biennial competition was created by the U.S. PGA Tour in 1994 to give foreign players not eligible for the PGA of America-hosted Ryder Cup a chance to compete against the U.S.
The Presidents Cup is made up of 34 matches. Today’s play will feature an alternate-shot format, in which two players for each team play alternating shots with the same ball. The lowest score wins the hole, and the match goes to the pair with the most holes won. Tomorrow will have foursomes, where two players on each team compete against two opposing players, each hitting his own ball. The lowest score of the four players wins the hole.
Third-round play on Oct. 10 will have six alternate-shot matches in the morning and six foursome matches in the afternoon. The event will close on Oct. 11 with 12 singles matches.
American Lead
The Americans lead the series 5-1-1. The U.S. defeated the International team 18 1/2-15 1/2 in Montreal in 2007.
Greg Norman, captain of the International team, said his squad needs to get off to a strong start to have a chance against the Americans, who won five of the first six matches two years ago.
“When you look back over the history of the Presidents Cup, where we as a team have got beaten is in the first day,” Norman said. “America has been very, very dominating in that department. So when we get behind the 8-ball, it’s very hard.”
The U.S. team has five players who won a total of 16 Tour events this season, with 20 wins for squad members overall. Only Ogilvy and Yang won more than one event on the U.S. Tour this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Buteau in Atlanta at mbuteau@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 8, 2009 12:59 EDT |
