Sunday should provide dramatic matches across the board

Sep. 24, 2005

By Melanie Hauser
PGA TOUR.com Contributor

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- It would have been a pairing for the ages.

Or at least one that would have had you alternately scratching your head and rolling on the floor and holding your stomach because you were laughing so hard.

Fred Funk vs. Angel Cabrera.

The dinger vs. the bomber. David vs. Goliath. Constant motion vs. immovable object.

A match made in Funk’s chatterbox of an imagination. Really. He asked Jack Nicklaus to get him Cabrera in the draw.

“I,’’ he chirped with that perpetual grin of his, “want to laugh at that too.’’

OK. A little dreaming is allowed. And, trust us, it would have been worth the price of admission.

But now back to reality. Back to the real 12-on-12 where it’s almost always advantage USA. Back to the photo finish where marquee match-ups are sprinkled throughout the day and the final match features the two most in-your-face Payne Stewart act-alikes you’ve ever seen -- Chris DiMarco and Stuart Appleby. No one does emotion and flag-waving better. No one’s putting better than these two, either.

If it does come to that, well, think Fred Couples vs. Nick Price in 1994 or Fred vs. Vijay Singh in 1996. Think magic moment. Think anything but a tie.

In case you haven’t noticed, after all these years, here we are, stuck in Presidents Cup-South Africa, the sequel. All square after 671 days. Evenly matched. Dead 11-to-11 even.

So when, as Funk said walking off the 18th green, are we going to break this thing?

Chances are sometime late this afternoon. We’re just not sure when. Or by whom.

When Nicklaus and Gary Player got together at dark-30 Saturday, they played fair. Way fair. Maybe way too fair.

There was no Ben Crenshaw-esque front-loading by either side. No back-loading either. Although the DiMarco-Appleby finale is, without a doubt, one of the best matchups of the day. Ditto for middle-of-the-pack face-off between Jim Furyk and Adam Scott. And, OK. We’ll give you Phil Mickelson-Cabrera, too.

But no Tiger vs. Vijay. Sorry. That must-see matchup of No. 1 against No. 2 will have to wait. Seems Couples wanted yet another shot at Singh and, well, Jack wanted Tiger wanted to play Retief Goosen.

And Funk? Nicklaus slid the reigning PLAYERS champ in against U.S. Open and HSBC Match Play champ Michael Campbell. “Michael’s a wonderful player having a great year,’’ Nicklaus said. “He’s a terrific match player. I just thought I would put a bulldog against him and that’s what Freddie basically is.’’

As for the other pairings? Well, the captains tried to simply match like players. Tim Clark played nicely this week, so Player chose him to lead off. Nicklaus matched him with Leonard, who, he said, has played nicely, too. Then David Toms went up on the board and Player matched him with rookie Trevor Immelman. And, well, you get the picture.

There is no real flow to all of this. It’s more like a tossed salad, which makes perfect sense if you’ve listened to the captains all week. They see this as 24 of the top players in the world, evenly matched. Draw-from-a-hat even. Don’t-even-think-about-ranking-the-teams even.

This is the last shall be first, second, third and all the way to 11th. And vice of every versa.

“We’ve got two teams that are so even, it’s unbelievable,’’ Nicklaus said. “What’s going to happen tomorrow, you know, I think both Gary and I are the same. We just said, hey, it’s going to be a great finish.’’

If there is an intangible it could be last fall. This isn’t the Ryder Cup, but that doesn’t really matter. The Americans are still stinging from the beating they took at Oakland Hills.

“Who is going to be happy losing 18 ½-9 ½, “ DiMarco said. “When you get spanked like that, you’re not going to be happy.’’

Make no mistake. If the U.S. gets on a roll, they’ll remember Oakland Hills. They’re a team on mission and it’s just human nature. It’s competition. It’s, as Nicklaus said, pride.

“Even if you’re playing a practice round for a $5 Nassau, you’re trying like crazy to win,’’ Player said.

Chris DiMarco and Phil Mickelson during Saturday's competition. (Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

Which brings us to the heart of it all. Furyk-Scott is a huge match. So is Couples-Singh. But given the way things have unfolded in the first 22 matches, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it go down to the wire. To DiMarco and Appleby, who may not be the top-ranked players on their team, but they’ve been key. Way key.

DiMarco has been the perfect solution to who’ll be paired with Phil next. The pair has gone 3-0-1 and much of the reason is DiMarco, who walks out of the team room and transforms into the go-get-'em guy. Fans love him. And, to be honest, he really takes the heat off Mickelson, America’s choice. Plus, he’s putting lights out.

On the other hand, Appleby is 0-3-1. But you want someone who’s putting great? Who loves to get in your face? He’s your mate.

What will happen? Good question.

All we know is there are only two things you can count out or tackle in your dreams -- a tie and Funk vs. Cabrera.

But the last one? That would have been fun.