U.S. wins Saturday play to even score heading to Sunday

By Helen Ross
Courtesy of PGATour.com

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- They are on their own now.

After 22 matches and three days of positively stunning golf, the United States and International teams enter Sunday's singles competition at The Presidents Cup just as they left South Africa in 2003 -- dead even.

The Americans won 5 1/2 of the available 10 points in Saturday's double dose of Foursomes and Four-Balls to even the score at 11-all. The partnerships fostered in those two-man matches may well endure, but for now it's every man for himself.

"Theres nobody in the middle of the road here," U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus said. "There's 12 darned good players, 24 of the best players in the world."

Those talents were on full display Saturday -- from Chris DiMarco's laser-locked 7-iron that dropped into the hole at the par-3 seventh to Jim Furyk's clutch putting to the birdie machine that percolated in the pairing of Adam Scott and Retief Goosen.

Tiger Woods gets a pat on the cheek fromJack Nicklaus after Woods and Jim Furyk halved with Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

The ample crowd was appreciative, too. Chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A," reverberated through the tree-lined fairways, and when as the two teams settled by the 18th green to watch the final two matches, the fans were 10 deep outside the ropes.

Expect more of the same on Sunday. The United States has never lost a singles session at The Presidents Cup, although twice the 12 matches have been evenly split. Nor have the Americans, who hold a 3-1-1 edge overall, ever lost at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

"We have a reasonable history with singles, but who knows what's going to happen," Nicklaus said. "We played three days, four rounds of golf and we are dead even, I mean, we've got two teams that are so even, it's unbelievable."

Each team has its go-to guys. For the Internationals, it's been the steady pairing of Adam Scott and Retief Goosen, and the big-hitting, but underappreciated Angel Cabrera and U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell.

Scott and Goosen beat Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank 5 and 4 in Four-Ball after earning a halve with the same two Americans in the morning Foursomes. Cabrera and Campbell also played together four times and scored two points on a win and two halves.

The Americans have ridden the electric Chris DiMarco and the people's choice, Phil Mickelson, to a 3-0-1 record -- including two wins Saturday -- while the opposites-must-attract duo Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk has produced a 2-0-1 mark overall.

"We've had a bunch of fun this week, and I'm actually playing halfway decent, too," said Woods, who broke an 0-6 mark in Four-Balls with the two wins with the red-hot Furyk. The two went 1-0-1 against Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby on Saturday.

"I didn't really do much. I started off well, making birdies early, and after that I didn't really do much except for read putts and have the pom-poms out. Just cheering (Jim) on."

Small wonder, then, that those eight players will be involved in Sunday's marquee singles matches.

Nicklaus wanted Woods to play Goosen, and when Gary Player put the two-time U.S. Open champion out third, the Golden Bear got his wish. Nicklaus also countered Scott's selection with Furyk in the seventh match of the day.

In Mickelson and DiMarco, Nicklaus got the one-two punch he wanted at the end. The reigning PGA champion asked for Cabrera in the penultimate match while DiMarco got Appleby, whose putter was golden in his match with Singh, in the finale.

"I think the level of play has been great, obviously, both sides," DiMarco said. "I think that under par, way under par, is winning matches, and I think that's what people want to see. The score is 11-11, and you've seen lots of unbelievable golf shots. I think it's good for the game of golf."

Couples, who sat out the Foursomes, then teamed with his long-time World Cup partner Davis Love III to halve their Four-Ball match Saturday afternoon, will play Singh in the fifth singles match of the day. He asked and Nicklaus granted Couples the rematch with Singh.

In the 1996 Presidents Cup, Couples sealed the U.S. victory when he made a 30-footer for birdie on the 17th hole in a 2 and 1 victory over Singh. Two years later at Royal Melbourne, the two halved their match in the lopsided, 20 -11  International win.

The unusual ending to the hard-fought match at the Links at Fancourt two years ago will be fresh as the two teams assemble at the first tee on Sunday. The match was tied at the end of the singles competition and Ernie Els and Tiger Woods were dispatched to play off for the title.

After a trio of "can-you-top-this" holes, with darkness settling over the South African countryside, Nicklaus and his International counterpart, Player, decided the only fair way to end the proceedings was in a tie.

On Sunday, the two teams will return to RTJ to settle the unfinished business they began on another continent. Once and for all.

"It's called pride, guys," U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus said, and his International counterpart agreed. "Even if you're playing a practice round for a five-dollar Nassau, you're trying like crazy to win," Player concluded.

And The Presidents Cup is much, much bigger.