World number one Tiger Woods and handpicked partner Fred Couples face South African Retief Goosen and Australian Adam Scott in a crucial opening showdown on Thursday in Gainesville, Virginia, at the Presidents Cup.
The sixth edition of the biennial clash between 12-man International and United States squads begins with six foursomes matches, with the opener pleasing US captain Jack Nicklaus and Internationals captain Gary Player of South Africa.
”I’m a believer [that on] the first day, if it’s possible, you create a bit of a shock,” Player said.
”You’re talking about going against the best player in the world, Tiger Woods, but if a guy on your team can look up and say, ‘Wow, this guy is getting beat. Our guys are doing well,’ subconsciously it can encourage him.
”On the other hand, it’s a gamble and it could go the other way around.”
That’s what Nicklaus was counting on when he matched Masters and British Open champion Woods and Couples against Goosen and Scott in the opener.
”That’s the match we wanted, too, and probably for similar reasons. We want to get started off with a win,” Nicklaus said. ”We felt like Tiger is the best player in the world, and Freddie is playing very well.
”I think a lot of guys would say, ‘I’d love to play Tiger,’ but when they walk home at night, ‘Jeez, I have to play Tiger.’
”I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Tiger Woods.”
World number two Vijay Singh of Fiji and Aussie Mark Hensby play US veterans Fred Funk and Jim Furyk second, followed by third-ranked Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco against South African Tim Clark and Aussie Nick O’Hern.
Aussies Stuart Appleby and Peter Lonard meet Americans Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank, with US Open champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand and Angel Cabrera of Argentina next facing Davis Love and Kenny Perry.
South African Trevor Immelman and Canada’s Mike Weir play David Toms and Stewart Cink in the final match-up.
Nicklaus had planned to pair Mickelson with Cink and Toms with DiMarco, but bowed to his players when they suggested a switch.
Nicklaus said he plans to fulfil Woods’s request to play alongside Furyk as he did his desire to play alongside Couples.
Woods has also gotten his way when it comes to singles foes, Nicklaus with having satisfied Woods in two prior Cups by getting him paired against Greg Norman and Ernie Els.
So when Woods made it clear on Tuesday that he still has unhappy memories of a 2000 incident in which Singh’s caddie wore a ”Tiger who?” cap before their singles showdown won by Woods, talk began about a Woods-Singh rematch on Sunday.
”Tiger hasn’t asked me about Vijay,” Nicklaus said. ”He asked me for Norman. I got him Norman. He asked me for Els. I got him Els. If Tiger asks me to get him Vijay, I’ll do my best to get him Vijay.
”If Gary tells me that Vijay would like to play Tiger and Tiger wants to play Vijay, I’m sure Gary and I will try to accommodate. We feel like this is entertainment. We both want to win but, hey, the guys have requests.”
Singh tried to play down the incident.
”I didn’t even realise my caddie put on that hat until I got out there,” Singh said. ”The issue was in 2000 and it’s 2005 now. It’s five years away and it’s gone. I’ve forgotten about it as everybody else has forgotten about it. Let’s just forget about it.”
But the past is hard to forget. Just ask Woods, who has been reminded all week by teammates about his 0-6 record in Presidents Cup four-balls.
”We’ve been kidding Tiger all week. ‘Who is going to carry you in four-ball, Tiger?”’ Nicklaus said.
Nicklaus said that aside from Woods’s opener, the most critical match on the opening day figures to be Love and Perry against Campbell and Cabrera. Player agreed that he had kept his lone reigning major champion in reserve by design.
”Michael Campbell is having a remarkable year,” Player said. ”You hope to get the win early. You want to be able to come up with your artillery behind, so to speak.” — Sapa-AFP