International team continues to lead, U.S. gains momentum

Sep. 23, 2005 By Helen Ross PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Jack Nicklaus wasn’t particularly pleased with what he was seeing Friday afternoon as the Golden Bear anxiously prowled the fairways at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

The International Team had the edge in four of the six Four-ball matches at The Presidents Cup. So the U.S. Captain decided to go inside, grab a bite to eat and watch the proceedings on television.

What he saw was golf's version of "must-see TV."

“When I turned the television on -- in went a 20-footer, in went a 30-footer, in went a 10-footer, and I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’” Nicklaus recalled. “We started winning a few holes and the guys were making a comeback.”

An 80-minute rain delay admittedly halted the Americans’ momentum, but the U.S. Team still managed a 3-3 split in the better-ball competition that left the Internationals with a tenuous 6 ½ to 5 ½ advantage.

Each side has its go-to team that has produced two points -- Americans Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank and Aussie Adam Scott and Retief Goosen of South Africa. The U.S. duo disposed of Trevor Immelman and Mike Weir 2 and 1 on Friday while the International tandem beat Fred Couples and David Toms 3 and 1.

The two undefeated teams will get Saturday’s double round under way with a date in the opening Foursomes match at 7:20 a.m. The five alternate-shot matches will be followed by a quintet of Four-balls in the afternoon that should provide plenty of fireworks.

“I am looking forward to tomorrow,” Leonard said. “With a 36-hole day, one side can get a lot of momentum going.”

To be sure. And just as importantly for the U.S., Tiger Woods finally has gotten his first win in Four-balls in seven attempts. The game’s No.1 player teamed with Jim Furyk to beat Stuart Appleby and Mark Hensby 3 and 2.

Woods and Furyk’s success had to be a boost for the Americans. Furyk pulled an intracostal muscle in his right ribcage at the 84 LUMBER Classic and had to have treatment several times during his Foursomes match on Thursday.

Furyk, though, felt much better on Friday. Woods actually was the one keeping the chiropractor busy as he held a cup of ice between the shoulder blades to quell a painful back spasm.

Nonetheless, Woods made seven birdies -- five of which won holes -- and Furyk closed the match out with his third birdie at the 16th hole. The U.S. Team, which never trailed in the match, will play together again in Foursomes Saturday morning, facing Vijay Singh and Appleby.

“You always have to beware of that wounded dog, and when you have two of them, I guess you really have to beware,” Leonard said.

Two other unbeaten teams -- although they have produced 1½ points each rather than the full two -- are Chris DiMarco and Phil Mickelson for the U.S. and the big-hitting International duo of Angel Cabrera and Michael Campbell.

The two teams played each other on Friday, with the match ending in a draw after the gritty DiMarco came up with birdies on the 15th and 17th holes. They’ll meet again on Saturday in the day’s second Foursomes match at 7:30 a.m.

“We just gutted it out,” said DiMarco, who teamed with Mickelson for a 1-up win over Nick O’Hern and Tim Clark in Thursday’s Foursomes. “We hung in there and stayed strong. We knew we could get back in this thing. We knew when we were 2 down with five to go, if we could have a point, it’s like a win. So we were very happy.”

Mickelson called DiMarco “one of the toughest guys we have on TOUR.” And to be sure, the University of Florida product seems to thrive on team competition with a 3-3-1 Presidents Cup record and a 2-1-1 mark at last year’s Ryder Cup.

“We don’t get to do this much,” DiMarco said. “It’s such a great atmosphere. It just brings out the best in you. For two days I can tell you I was about as nervous as I can be out there. (But) it’s a fun nervous. It’s what we play for.”

Fred Funk is unbeaten after two days of The Presidents Cup. (Greenwood/WireImage)

Fred Funk, who is at 49 the oldest player on the U.S. Team, is also unbeaten after scoring halves in both his matches. He teamed with Stewart Cink on Friday and the Americans battled Singh and Tim Clark to a draw.

Funk will find a similar, steady partner in Toms on Saturday when they play Clark and Nick O’Hern. The final Foursomes match pits Cink and Davis Love III against Mike Weir and Trevor Immelman, who have a 1-1 record this year.

Cink and Funk never trailed Friday, but at the same time, could never build more than a 1-up advantage. Singh squared the match with a 3-footer for birdie on the 17th hole and might have won it at the next, but his 17-footer for birdie stubbornly refused to fall.

“It could have gone either way,” the game’s No. 2 player said when asked about the 3-3 outcome in Four-ball. “You look at the U.S. Team, on paper they look really strong. I don’t know how they are playing, but our guys, they can really grind it out. Tim Clark, he played great with me. He’s a gutsy player.

“I think it will be a pretty tough match (Saturday). We’ll see whose endurance is going to show up towards the end of the matches, so that’s very important.”