Halfway through World Champions Cup, it’s anyone’s game

BRADENTON, Fla. – Team International enjoyed a stout day on Friday at The Concession Golf Club, sweeping two sessions of team golf to jet from the basement to the rooftop of the inaugural three-team World Champions Cup. As the weekend beckoned, certainly Team International, representing the rest of the world, was ready to raise a pint to the effort.

It’s enjoyable at any tournament to have a lead, but with two six-match sessions of Singles remaining on Sunday, there are as many points remaining left to play for (324 points over six three-team Singles) as those doled out over four team sessions that have been staged the last two days.

South Africa’s Ernie Els, World Golf Hall of Famer and playing captain for Team International, made up of players from all parts except for the U.S. and Europe (their two opponents this week) didn’t know quite what to make of it all.

He’ll have ample time to ponder it, as the 18 competitors of the World Champions Cup have a day off on Saturday before returning to the fray on Sunday.

Team International won both the Six Ball and Sixsomes sessions on Friday to move into a half-point lead over the host team, USA. Team International began the day trailing Team Europe by four points, and with 60 points earned on Day 2 and a 111.5-point total, hold a slim lead over Team USA (111) and Team Europe (101.5). Do you remember when baseball great Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you?” Well, he may have been at an early planning meeting for the World Champions Cup.

“We had to have a good day today to get back into things,” said Els, a four-time major champion. “You know we were a little bit behind. The format allows that. When you get on a good run, you can make some points up.”

The cadence of play and the scoring may be a bit strange, but the competition has been terrific, and the players participating have had a great time with the event. Momentum can swing fast. Team Europe’s Bernhard Langer and Alex Čejka played poorly in the morning Six Ball, got thumped by their opponents, then turned around in a matter of minutes to play the same two teams (Jerry Kelly/Justin Leonard of Team USA, and Vijay Singh/Stepen Ames of Team International) in the afternoon session.

Langer, who played in 10 Ryder Cups, and Cejka, a fellow German who has played in none, were stars of the afternoon, racking up 12 points.

There are three points awarded on each hole, with low score earning 2 points, second low score earning 1, and the third score earning 0. If teams tie with a score, the points are split. If two teams tie with low score, say a birdie, it means 1.5 points apiece for the birdie-makers and zero points for the third team. Over two days of play, the teams have learned this: It’s a huge deal to win a hole outright, something that delivers 2 points while the other teams each walk away with 0.5.

In the final Sixsomes match of the day, Langer, the winningest player in PGA TOUR Champions history (46 victories) and Čejka, who considers Langer his idol, recorded a two-point hole on four occasions.

Retief Goosen and Steven Alker led Team International's bounceback by winning both of their matches on Friday. Goosen is a two-time U.S. Open champion who has played in his share of Presidents Cups. Alker is something of a late bloomer. After a very pedestrian career up to his 50th birthday, the New Zealander joined PGA TOUR Champions and became an instant force. He was last year’s Player of the Year on the circuit, and arrived in Florida off a victory in the final event of the year, the Charles Schwab Championship.

He and Goosen were tough opponents on Friday. Alker is a terrific ball-striker, and with his ball usually in play, it allowed Goosen to take some more aggressive lines, and to chase birdies.

“We combined well,” Goosen said. “We were never really in a lot of trouble, so it was nice going. And it was great to see everybody else playing so well, too, and making up some lost ground from yesterday.

“It's going to be an exciting day come Sunday. It's a pity that we're not playing tomorrow (Saturday), it would have been nice to keep the momentum going. Sunday is going to be an exciting day.”

The three captains, Els, Europe's Darren Clarke and American Jim Furyk (who removed himself from playing because of a bad back, with Billy Andrade filling his spot) have until 6 p.m. on Saturday to submit their lineups for the Singles sessions. Friday’s Six Ball and Sixsome matches featured the same team pairings – in exact order – as Thursday’s opening two sessions.

Els had contemplated splitting up Goosen and Alker after Thursday, but the two asked for another chance on Friday, and it paid off handsomely. Els was a bit surprised to see that the other two captains also chose to not change a thing after a closely contested first day. He promised it wasn’t anything the three had agreed to do.

“We're all thinking the same thing,” Els said, smiling.

Team Europe's Robert Karlsson (Sweden) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) were the stars of the morning Six Ball session. Team Europe lipped out a putt for eagle at the par-5 fourth hole, or the team would have started 6 under through four. Singh and Ames of Team International also performed well in the format, making six birdies in their first eight holes.

Furyk was pleased with his team’s effort, especially with its ability to keep grinding at the end of the long day. Finishing matches, he noted, is a big key. All three Team USA tandems missed the green at the difficult par-4 ninth and managed to scramble to save pars. Jerry Kelly provided one such par, making a clutch 10-footer. Every point was, and will continue to be, valuable. Added to the mix: There’s a chance that two sessions will not get completed on Sunday, with rain in the afternoon forecast.

“So we're halfway through this, it's a wide open ballgame and it's going to be a fun shootout on Sunday,” Furyk said. “Let's all hope for some good weather and be able to get all 18 holes in.”

Said Els, “It feels like we're three-quarters of the way through it but we're not, we're halfway through (points-wise). Everybody is in this thing. Europe's a little bit behind. We were a little bit behind yesterday, and we made it up and we're in the lead now.

“The lead doesn't really mean anything until ... maybe the last putt? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.”