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Controversy, apologies at Presidents Cup

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Robert Lusetich

After more than 20 years of covering everything from election campaigns to Olympic Games, Robert Lusetich turned his focus to writing about his first love — golf. He is author of Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season. MORE>>
Updated Oct 9, 2009 4:58 AM ET
     
 

San Francisco

The rub on the Presidents Cup's always been that it's a little too gentlemanly for its own good. Even if inadvertently, it got a little dose of Ryder Cup-style mischief on day one Thursday, which led to apologies and explanations from both sides. First, Geoff Ogilvy had to back off several times from a critical par putt as a clueless marshal's cell phone kept ringing. Then, as the Australian finally was ready to hit the putt, someone in the gallery yelled out "Noonan" — a term made famous in the golf movie Caddyshack, which has become the universal hope that someone misses a putt. Ogilvy did just that. Disgusted, he pointed back toward the section of the gallery from where the abuse came and stormed off the green. Tiger Woods, who along with Steve Stricker was playing against Ogilvy and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, immediately apologized to the Australian.
"This is not what golf is all about. We all felt bad for Geoff because that's not the situation you want to be put in."
— Tiger Woods
"It was absolutely uncalled for," said Woods. "This is not what golf is all about. We all felt bad for Geoff because that's not the situation you want to be put in, and unfortunately he was in it." It was the Internationals turn to apologize in the day's last match when it seemed that Retief Goosen had conceded what would've been a winning putt to his American opponents only to retract the concession. The South African had converted a birdie putt for his team and, with Justin Leonard just three feet away, removed his hat and appeared to concede a putt which would've given the U.S. a 4-2 advantage after the opening day. But Goosen put his hat back on and walked toward his teammates. Leonard promptly missed the putt, leaving the U.S. just one point ahead, 3 1/2 to 2 1/2. "Retief thought the match was over and we didn't know if he was giving us the putt or what," Leonard said. He refused to blame the incident for his miss, saying he "just hit a bad putt" but there's little doubt that his concentration was affected when he initially believed he didn't need to putt. Stricker conceded the entire U.S. team was "confused by the whole thing," adding, "It looked like he was going to give him the putt." No one was accusing Goosen of gamesmanship but it was clear that the Americans were a little peeved by his faux pas. Accompanied by Internationals captain Greg Norman, Goosen decided later in the evening to go to the American team room to explain his actions. "He told us his mind kind of went blank," said U.S. captain Fred Couples, "That he didn't mean anything by it, and Justin didn't have a problem." Ernie Els said the entire incident was "really very innocent." "(Goosen) thought they were all-square there for a split second and he was almost going to be a good sport and give the putt to Justin, but then he realized that they were one down. He didn't say anything to Justin or Jim. He was basically mumbling to himself. And as it turned out, unfortunately for Justin, he missed that putt." Couples conceded that it was "a little bit of a sour finish" but preferred to focus on the bigger picture, which sees his team ahead after falling behind in every match other than the one featuring Woods and Stricker. "Did we think we were going to be up 4-2?" asked Couples, "Yes, we really did. But it won't be the last putt ever missed at the Presidents Cup and it won't be the last time a little bit of reversal was done." The Internationals, historically woeful in this alternate shot format, had the glint of winners even though they'd lost the first day. Two years ago, at Royal Montreal, they'd won just half a point from the first day's foursomes. "We are one point behind, but I feel as if we have our tails up a little, believe it or not," said Els. Given where his team's points came from, perhaps he's got good reason.
Els teamed with Adam Scott, who's play this year has been abysmal, and defeated American young guns Hunter Mahan and Sean O'Hair, 2 and 1. More importantly for the Internationals, it was Scott who hit the crucial shots down the stretch and holed the winning putt. Vijay Singh and Robert Allenby, among the most hapless putters at this level, made tough birdie putts early and never fell behind the Open champions, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, winning 1 up. Goosen and Y.E. Yang went three up after five holes against the misfiring U.S. pairing of Leonard and Jim Furyk but the Americans rallied — aided greatly by indifferent play from their opponents — to get to two up with two to play. If the Presidents Cup comes down to half a point, Leonard and Furyk will be hiding under the Golden Gate Bridge. On 17 and 18 they needed just two putts to win the match and both times three-cracked. Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim, an effective pairing last year at the Ryder Cup, went out first on a foggy early afternoon at Harding Park and three-putted each of the first two holes. Mike Weir and Tim Clark had not made a single birdie, were over par for the day and weren't playing well, yet led Mickelson and Kim, 1-up, after 12 holes. But on the 13th, Kim stuffed a wedge to three feet for a birdie which triggered three more in succession and propelled the US to 3 and 2 win. "We needed a break, just a little something to go our way," Mickelson said. "Sometimes you just need one little shot, one little spark to ignite the round, and that certainly did it for us." Woods and Stricker, the first- and third-ranked players in the world, had no need for comeback rallies. With Woods striking the ball brilliantly and Stricker's surgical precision on the greens, as Norman later conceded, his team "ran into a buzz saw". Woods and Stricker shot six under par in a very difficult format through 14 holes to beat Ogilvy and Ishikawa, 6 and 4. Not surprisingly, Couples has elected to keep Woods and Stricker together for Friday's foursomes. Woods has often struggled in team play and Couples believes it's because his partner often hasn't played at his best and effectively left Woods to take on two players by himself. Stricker said he was acutely aware of the need to contribute, which he did. "I didn't want to feel like he had to hold up my end as well as his end," he said.

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