Golf Talk

Who knew Phil was such a ping-pong guy.

Final Score
United States 19.5
Internationals 14.5

Well, it never turned out to be the barn-burner we all hoped it would be. The Internationals never really showed up for this one, other than Mike Weir who scored the most points for the Internationals. Big ups to Mike as there were plenty of questions regarding his selection by Gary Player for the last roster spot. Mike stepped up in front of the hometown crowd and gave them something to cheer about, faced the pressure and delivered. As for his win over Tiger on Sunday, as inconsequential as it was for the overall President’s Cup score, it was huge for Mike. It ends his season on a high note and hopefully he can continue the momentum into next season. In the grander scheme of things for Tiger Woods, the loss was insignificant. Tiger is terrible in these team events and some have wondered whether he even adds value to Team USA.

Quote of the day goes to Phil Mickelson. After destroying Vijay Singh 5-4 on Sunday, Phil said that the best part of the whole week was playing ping-pong with his Team USA teammates in between rounds. Phil went on to say that there are some good ping-pong players on the team and that they went at it pretty good. Now it all makes sense, Team USA are horsing around with ping-pong led by their fearless ping-pong leader Phil Mickelson, meanwhile Team World was busy practicing trying to win. And guess who wins, the team that plays ping-pong. That’s classic.

Day 4 - Singles

Match 23
Team US Scott Verplank
2 and 1
Team Int’l Rory Sabbatini

Match 24
Team US Lucas Glover
2 up
Team Int’l Ernie Els

Match 25
Team US Phil Mickelson
5 and 4
Team Int’l Vijay Singh

Match 26
Team US Tiger Woods
1 up
Team Int’l Mike Weir

Match 27
Team US Woody Austin
2 and 1
Team Int’l Angel Cabrera

Match 28
Team US Zach Johnson
2 and 1
Team Int’l Adam Scott

Match 29
Team US David Toms
2 up
Team Int’l Trevor Immelman

Match 30
Team US Stewart Cink
6 and 4
Team Int’l Nick O’Hern

Match 31
Team US Steve Stricker
1 up
Team Int’l Geoff Ogilvy

Match 32
Team US Hunter Mahan
3 and 2
Team Int’l K.J. Choi

PGA Tour, President’s Cup

Appleby practices his worship to the porcelain gods

Final Score heading into Sunday:
United States 14.5
Internationals 7.5

I guess Jack did in fact know something we didn’t yesterday. The Americans were toying with their opponents out there today, they could do no wrong. Meanwhile, Mike Weir appears to be the only guy that bothered to show up today, it’s a good thing as the hometown crowd had little to cheer about. Instead, the Americans could be heard chanting, “SCOREBOARD, SCOREBOARD, SCOREBOARD”.

Now we really know this thing is done like dinner. Is there really any point in watching this dead duck tomorrow?? After all, the NFL will be on, ALL DAY. Well, maybe Woody Austin, he’s more than worth a Sunday glance. See you all at the 19th…

Day 3 - Foursomes

Match 13
Team US Stricker/ Mahan
2 up
Team Int’l Immelman/ Sabbatini

Match 14
Team US Mickelson/ Austin
5 and 4
Team Int’l Goosen/ Appleby

Match 15
Team US Woods/ Furyk
4 and 3
Team Int’l Scott/ Els

Match 16
Team US Glover/ Verplank
2 and 1
Team Int’l Singh/ Weir

Match 17
Team US Johnson/ Toms
2 and 1
Team Int’l O’Hern/ Ogilvy

Day 4 - Four-ball

Match 18
Team US Cink/ Furyk
1 up
Team Int’l Cabrera/ Choi

Match 19
Team US Mickelson/ Austin
Halved
Team Int’l Scott/ Goosen

Match 20
Team US Howell III/ Glover
4 and 2
Team Int’l Weir/ Els

Match 21
Team US Stricker/ Mahan
1 up
Team Int’l Singh/ Appleby

Match 22
Team US Woods/ Toms
5 and 3
Team Int’l O’Hern/ Ogilvy

PGA Tour, President’s Cup

Photo by S.Greenwood

If they gave out MVP awards, Woody Austin would be the early favorite heading into the weekend. Talk about clutching up and taking one for the team, Woody took his game to a whole new level, he’s superbad. He’s the John Elway of golf. He’s American badass true and through. Terry Bradshaw and Bill Lambier, you ain’t got nothing on Woody. Do you think you’d see delicate pre-Madonna’s like Phil, Tiger or Toms trying a shot like this,

The story gets better, after his mishap on 14, he came back and pounded his tee shot 6-feet from the cup on 16, holed a 15-footer for birdie on 17, and hammered a 5-iron on 18 to get it within 5-feet. Dude was downright bitchin, untouchable. Even his playing partner David Toms was fired up,

Is there anything Woody can’t do?? Seriously, I could’ve sworn I saw him selling programs and popcorn, painting the fences, walking the dogs and taking out the trash in between holes. He is the main attraction, he is the shit, and the best part of it is that Woody couldn’t give a damn but to win.

If I’m Team USA, I try to find out what Woody is on, whatever stuff he’s on is out of this world. In fact, they should find out what he’s on and give it to the rest of Team USA, they sure could use his attitude right about now.

Vote for Woody!

PGA Tour, President’s Cup, Woody Austin

Phil doesn’t appear to have a worry in the world

Final Score after Day 2 four-ball:
United States 7
Internationals 5

Match 7
Team US Mickelson/ Mahan
1 up
Team Int’l Cabrera/ Goosen

Match 8
Team US Woods/ Furyk
5 and 4
Team Int’l Singh/ Appleby

Match 9
Team US Johnson/ Howell III
3 and 1
Team Int’l Els/ Weir

Match 10
Team US Stricker/ Verplank
2 and 1
Team Int’l Scott/ Choi

Match 11
Team US Cink/ Glover
1 up
Team Int’l Ogilvy/ O’Hern

Match 12
Team US Austin/ Toms
Halved
Team Int’l Immelman/ Sabbatini

So it would appear that I spoke too soon yesterday when I said that the Americans were running away with this thing. As Mike Pedersen commented, Tiger Woods had his worst match play loss ever (which says alot considering his record in team match play is not all that impressive to begin with). The Americans just looked out of sync all day. Despite getting walloped, I saw Tiger laughing most of the day, Phil frolicking with his wife, and Jack still had a smile from ear to ear. Maybe they know something that we don’t.

Biggest gaffe of the day goes to Stewart Cink who missed a short 3-footer on the 17th and would end up losing the match by one. I bet Jack is re-thinking about that 4 and a half footer he conceded yesterday to Singh/Weir, or maybe not, again they seem to know something we don’t based on their demeanor.

The biggest story of the entire tournament so far has been Woody Austin. They should make him the captain, he’s playing like a man possessed. Call him Roy McAvoy, he’s lighting it up.

Tomorrow we can look forward to a mixture of foursomes and four-ball play. As usual, Saturday sets up for the big finish so it’s the critical day for either the Americans to re-establish a big lead or for Team World to take the lead themselves. We’ll see soon how this thing finishes out.

PGA Tour, President’s Cup

Photo by Ryan Remiorz, The Canadian Press

A missed four-footer by Els was the difference.

Final Score after Day 1 foursomes:
United States 5.5
Internationals 0.5

Match 1
Team US Stricker/ Mahan
3 and 2
Team Int’l Scott/ Ogilvy

Match 2
Team US Mickelson/ Austin
Halved
Team Int’l Singh/ Weir

Match 3
Team US Cink/ Johnson
1 up
Team Int’l Sabbatini/ Immelman

Match 4
Team US Toms/ Furyk
1 up
Team Int’l Els/ Cabrera

Match 5
Team US Glover/ Verplank
2 up
Team Int’l Appleby/ Goosen

Match 6
Team US Woods/Howell III
3 and 1
Team Int’l Choi/ O’Hern

Though the score shows that Team USA steamrolled, the reality was that most of the matches came down to the final holes. Mike Weir played exceptionally well (not what I had predicted) and he and Vijay Singh were able to halve their match.

Ernie Els had a chance to halve his match but he missed a four-footer. Afterwards, Gary Player consoled Ernie saying, “We’ve all missed those before.” Still, that is a bitter pill to swallow considering their first round deficit is the largest in the President’s Cup history. Gary Player tried his best to put a brave face saying, “The President’s Cup isn’t won on the first day.” True Gary, but you’re team is down big time and you’re relying on a miracle the rest of the way. With the best player to ever play the game in Tiger Woods on the opposite team, I don’t like the chances for a comeback here unlike Team USA at the Solheim Cup.

The other news of the day was the pairing of Phil Mickelson and Woody Austin conceding a four-foot putt to Vijay Singh thus halving their match. Apparently, the call came from Team USA captain Jack Nicklaus who did out of respect for Mike Weir as a Canadian playing in Canada. Phil said afterwards, “Captain Nicklaus said for us to do it. If it was up to me I don’t know. It was the right call. Vijay wasn’t going to miss that putt anyway. He hasn’t missed one like that in four or five years.” And then Ernie Els misses his four-footer. Man, that Jack has class, with so much at stake that usually isn’t the case.

PGA Tour, President’s Cup

Photo by DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images

In what is being billed as the most important golf event in the history of golf in Canada, the President’s Cup gets set to tee of tomorrow. No player is facing the pressure more than Canadian Mike Weir. If you remember, Weir was Gary Player’s controversial pick earlier this summer over Stephen Ames who was actually higher in the world rankings at that point. It wouldn’t normally be a big deal, except that Mike Weir has a history of choking under pressure playing in front of the home town fans. I find it laughable that people are even talking about a Tiger-Weir singles matchup, Tiger would own that.

Team USA poses. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/US PGA TOUR)

Missing from this year’s President’s Cup so far has been the trash talking and smack that usually precedes these USA v. World events. Last time in 2005, Vijay Singh piped up saying Fred Couples would be carted away shortly after the front-nine (Vij would end up eating his words later). Maybe that is why the Ryder Cup is more exciting than the President’s Cup, there’s more animosity between the teams. The US has the PGA Tour, Europe has the European Tour. If you look at the International team, most of the players live, train and play in the US year-round anyway, for the most part, you can call them Americans. Take Mike Weir for example, the guy lives in Utah and has lived there since he went to college there. His kids were all born in the US. What about Rory “motormouth” Sabbatini, he’s more Texan than South African, just listen to him speak.

Team World poses. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/US PGA TOUR)

Still, it will be good to see the last big tournament of the year before the Tour shuts it down. I know they are still playing the fall series, but lets face it, nobody of note is playing. For all intents and purposes, this is the last golf tournament of relevance of the year before it cranks up again in February.

PGA Tour, President’s Cup, Mike Weir

And here they are:

Team USA

Jack Nicklaus - U.S. Team Captain
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Zach Johnson
Charles Howell III
David Toms
Scott Verplank
Steve Stricker
Stewart Cink
Woody Austin
Hunter Mahan (captain’s selection)
Lucas Glover (captain’s selection)

Team World

Gary Player - International Team Captain
Ernie Els
Adam Scott
Vijay Singh
Geoff Ogilvy
Rory Sabbatini
K.J. Choi
Retief Goosen
Angel Cabrera
Trevor Immelman
Stuart Appleby
Nick O’Hern (captain’s selection)
Mike Weir (captain’s selection)

President’s cup

Gary Player made his wild-card selection today and Mike Weir is in, Stephen Ames is out.

A little surprising given that Stephen Ames finished 16th in the world standings after his 4th place at the PGA while Mike Weir was 20th.

But Stephen even admitted in the article that politics and gate admissions had more to do with the selection than rankings. Mike Weir has been the face of golf in Canada for the last seven or eight years and it’s not like he’s played terribly this year. There really isn’t much difference between 16th and 20th.

But one has to wonder if Stephen had won (OK highly unlikely), or came in second and within earshot of Tiger this past weekend, could he have vaulted his way into the Player’s lineup? Well, we’ll never know now, but we can always wonder…

Mike Weir, Stephen Ames, Gary Player, President’s Cup