Nicklaus, Player look to finish unfinished business

Courtesy of PGATour.com

President Bush meets the captains of Presidents Cup golf teams Jack Nicklaus, right, U.S. captain, and Gary Player, left, international captain, Wednesday, April 13, 2005 in the Oval Office of the White House. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

The 2005 Presidents Cup is 160 days away, but the glow of the previous matches in South Africa will still be felt when the United States Team and the International Team renew their rivalry this September.

That much was evident Wednesday when Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, captains of their respective teams, met with the media at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, site of this year's biennial meeting between U.S. players and players from non-European countries.

The two legends agreed to return as captains to settle what is billed as "unfinished business." The '03 matches at the Links at Fancourt in George, South Africa, produced a thrilling finish, but no winner -- at least not between the two squads.

The sixth edition of The Presidents Cup is Sept. 19-25.

After a stop at the White House to show off the Presidents Cup to President George W. Bush, Nicklaus, 65, and Player, 69, reiterated what a special event the '03 matches became and how special they still behold them. The two old friends and rivals agreed to share the cup after three days of team play and three playoff holes between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els left them deadlocked.

"The matches we played in South Africa in 2000, it was the most enjoyable and fulfilling event I've ever been involved with," said Nicklaus, who is captaining his third Presidents Cup team and fifth U.S. team overall."Between all of the individual events I've ever played in, all of the others, that was absolutely the best event I've ever been in. And it was not for the reason of the golf; it was for what it meant and what it did for South Africa, what it did for the game of golf, what it did for international relations."

Player concurred saying, "It was an honor and a great experience for me -- one of the three greatest experiences of my life."

Nicklaus and Player, who have been friends for decades and who together have won 27 professional major championships, took a tour of Robert Trent Jones Golf Club after meeting with and having photos taken with President Bush, who is the event's honorary chairman.

"That was a very nice experience," Nicklaus noted.

The U.S. holds a 3-1-1 edge in the Presidents Cup, but the two captains are intent on making sure that the matches continue to be conducted in the proper spirit of sportsmanship. Such overriding concern for proper decorum was one of the hallmarks of the '03 matches.

"The matches were just extraordinary. For a match of that significance to end up a tie is amazing," Player said. "The odds are a thousand to one or more that it would happen, particularly at the closing stages how close they were; and Jack's team were up and mine were up and to end up a tie was just, I thought, appropriate."

Nicklaus, whose approach to international team competitions has always emphasized goodwill, said he wasn't sure if he would have been able to orchestrate such a conclusion with anyone other than Player.

"Maybe Gary and I were just in the right place together at the right time," he said.

"To have the two teams tie and have them walk away, have them watching the people walk away from the playoff holes arm-in-arm, singing; and the presentation with the President (of South Africa) who was overcome by what was going on; to see what had happened in his country; it was something that I've never been involved with before and probably never will be involved with again. It was pretty special."

For the first time, perhaps, since the Presidents Cup began in 1994, the U.S. team would have to be viewed as the underdog, even on its home soil.

"I think we'd have to be considerable underdogs," Nicklaus said. "The top players in the world, many of them sit on his (Player's) side right now. The international game and international players are getting stronger all the time.

"But it is played over one week, so anything can happen," Player countered. "It's a very strange thing to hear you say that the International Team might be favored. The Ryder Cup, (the U.S.) has lost four out of the last five and they still make the U.S. favorites. I don't understand. A man gets beat four out of five times; he's the favorite? It makes a big difference psychologically. I'd like to first of all convince myself that they are not favorites for that week."

At the end of the day, however, both men agree that how the matches are conducted is the top priority.

"Gary and I have the same feeling for the game of golf," Nicklaus said. "We both feel the same way about the game and The Presidents Cup and how the game should be played. At the end of the day that's still what we're going to be thinking about."