Much-anticipated Presidents Cup begins today

By Helen Ross
Courtesy of PGATour.com

Jack Nicklaus and NBC's Jimmy Roberts chat on the porch outside the U.S. team cottage on Wednesday. (Photo by Scott Tolley)

Another chapter begins.

The events that unfolded in the darkening shadows on that seminal Sunday in South Africa two years ago admittedly helped elevate The Presidents Cup into one of the game's premier events. The winner-takes-all playoff between Ernie Els and Tiger Woods was as gripping as the decision by captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to end it without a final resolution was gracious.

"I think if anyone watched what happened and the spirit that those matches were played in and the spirit in which they ended -- that should be a model for any international sporting event," said Nicklaus, who has often called the 2003 Presidents Cup the most enjoyable golf event he's ever been involved in, and that includes his 18 major championships. "It was absolutely fabulous."

Still, the 17-17 tie left both the United States and International teams -- and their captains -- with unfinished business to settle at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club this week. And the much-anticipated matches begin Thursday at 1:10 p.m. with a blockbuster of a battle between American heavyweights Tiger Woods and Fred Couples and the International duo of Retief Goosen and Adam Scott.

"We couldn't have had a better script," said Player, who picked first and got the pairing he'd hoped for his International team. "Who knows what happens out there (on the course). That's another story. But on paper, this is just a terrific start to The Presidents Cup."

Thursday afternoon features six Foursomes, or alternate shot, matches that will be followed by six Four-ball tilts on Friday. Saturday's double session includes five Foursomes in the morning and six Four-ball that afternoon before the marquee Singles take center stage on Sunday.

Gathered here on the shores of Lake Manassas to decide the dispensation of The Presidents Cup are 14 of the top 20 players in the world -- eight on the American team and six playing for the Internationals. The year's three major champions are here, too -- British Open and Masters winner Tiger Woods, U.S. Open champ Michael Campbell and Phil Mickelson, who picked up his second major at the PGA Championship.

Nine members of the U.S. Team played in South Africa, and there is only one American rookie, Scott Verplank. Seven players return to lend experience on an Intenational Team with four rookies, Angel Cabrera of Argentina, Australians Mark Hensby and Nick O'Hern and South Africa's Trevor Immelman.

All three of the U.S. victories have come at RTJ, the crown jewel of one of the game's most storied architects and a place where the Americans have a 58-38 edge in individual matches won. The two times the Americans have ventured away from home, though, the Internationals have a 1-0-1 record that includes a nine-point loss in Melbourne, Australia, that was equaled at last year's Ryder Cup as the most lopsided in U.S. Team history.

Jim Furyk and Fred Funk, a pair of fairways and greens guys if there ever was one, play Vijay Singh and Hensby, two good friends who asked Player if he'd pair them together, in the 1:20 p.m. match. Mickelson will be looking to atone for an 0-5 showing at Fancourt in 2003 when he teams with Chris DiMarco to play O'Hern and Tim Clark, who was undefeated in Foursomes as a rookie Captain's Pick in his native South Africa.

"You know, Captain Nicklaus said all we need is a half point more than last time and he kind of looked at me and he said, "You've just got to tie one match, man, come on." Mickelson said, grinning ruefully, on Thursday. "I thought that '03 as an example, there was two or three matches that I played pretty well in and took it to 17 and 18 and lost. That's obviously the way match play can be.

"I love that challenge. I love the challenge of the unknown, of not knowing what you need to shoot. And certainly after my performance in '03, I want to come back with a strong one this year."

Both Nicklaus and Player feel the 1:50 p.m. match between Americans Davis Love III and Kenny Perry and the International Team of Campbell and Cabrera could be another key match. Campbell, who tried to inspire his teammates in 2000 at RTJ with a "haka," a Maori war dance, prior to the Sunday singles, won the HSBC World Match Play Championship on Sunday, while Cabrera was third.

"They are both playing very well, and Michael Campbell is having a remarkable year," Player said. "You're hoping to go out with a strong team and possibly get that win on the board early. (You want) the guys also to come up with your artillery behind."

Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank, who frequently play practice rounds together, will face Aussies Peter Lonard and Stuart Appleby in the day's fourth match at 1:40 p.m. Bringing up the rear are Americans David Toms, who's showing no ill effects from the cardiac episode he had a week ago at the 84 LUMBER Classic, and Stewart Cink against Canadian Mike Weir and Immelman.

Nicklaus said he will more often than not pair "likes" together and with the exception of Mickelson and DiMarco who "both requested to play with each other" that's exactly what he's done. The man who is arguably the greatest to ever play the game has good reason for his strategy, too.

"I remember going back to when I got paired with Dave Stockton in the Ryder Cup Matches at St. Louis," Nicklaus said. "We got drummed 6 and 5. We weren't even in the match. I mean, Stockton was not used to playing out of the rough, and I wasn't (used to) playing 2-irons to par 4s. ... But that didn't mean I didn't want to play with Dave. I enjoy playing with Dave. But sometimes it doesn't work out."

Indeed. But at other times, Nicklaus and Player will surely identify winning combinations that could be pivotal this week. And as The Presidents Cup plays out to its conclusion, expect stiff and spirited competition on the course and good-natured fun and camaraderie off it.

"I think that just because the match is friendly doesn't mean that it can't be intense," Jim Furyk said. "These matches have always had a great spirit to them. I think we all on both sides have a lot of pride. A lot of these guys on the other team are our neighbors. I practice next to Vijay throughout the year quite a bit. If one side is going to win this week, you can bet that one of us is going to be crowing a little bit, all winter, talking about the matches.

"So it's a sense of pride, but at the end of the matches, you know, there's a lot of shaking hands, the teams are together quite often, you're having a beer saying "well played." I think it's done in the correct spirit but I don't think that takes away from the intensity or the competitiveness of the match."