Tiger Woods and his fellow United States golfers proved they have passion for playing as a team, winning the Presidents Cup in dramatic fashion to boost the event’s status compared to the Ryder Cup.
Chris DiMarco’s dramatic birdie putt on the 18th hole to beat Australian Stuart Appleby one-up on Sunday gave the US men an 18-and-a-half — 15 and-a-half victory, the first by a US PGA squad in a team event since the 2000 Presidents Cup.
”We’re the only ones that know we care more about this than anything, and unfortunately everybody thinks the Americans don’t care,” DiMarco said.
”I can promise you that’s not true at all. We care a lot, and this is big.”
US captain Jack Nicklaus said the friendly atmosphere between non-European and US teams makes the Presidents Cup a more enjoyable week than the Ryder Cup, a showdown with Europe’s best which the US men have lost four of the past five times.
”There’s a genuine respect for both teams, and it’s more about the game of golf and not necessarily somebody being ugly and somebody not being ugly,” said DiMarco.
”The players pretty much on both teams, whether it’s Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, have a mutual respect for everybody. The media makes it, unfortunately for the Ryder Cup, hateful. That’s the difference between the two.”
DiMarco also praised the Presidents Cup format that forces every player to compete in at least one foursomes and four-ball match with almost every player going at least 18 holes every day for four days as in a typical PGA Tour week.
In Ryder Cup, more players must sit out in every pairs session.
”I like the fact there are 34 matches and you can’t hide anybody,” DiMarco said. ”Most guys are playing four matches. I think that’s great.”
Nicklaus (65) served as a unifying and motivating force for the US team in his final competitive season after emotional farewells at the British Open and Masters, both won by Woods, a 10-time major champion aiming to break Nicklaus’ mark of 18 career major titles.
”We wanted this bad. We wanted this for Mr Nicklaus,” DiMarco said. ”It’s nice to give him that. We had a lot of camaraderie this week and we had a great time as a team.”
Woods was laughing and joking with teammates and enjoying playing with Jim Furyk and Fred Couples in pairs, embracing a team format like seldom before.
Nicklaus played down his countrymen’s desire to give him a triumphant sendoff, his first outright Presidents Cup victory.
”I don’t know why in the world they want to care about winning one for an old man. They need to win one for themselves,” Nicklaus said.
”American golf hasn’t won an international competition for a few years. They proved they’re pretty good.
”These guys were terrific. They won it for themselves,” Nicklaus said. ”Every one of them seemed to raise the level of what they do.
Otherwise we would not have won.” – Sapa-AFP