Internationals stay in front at Presidents Cup

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2005 The Presidents Cup | Round Two | 24 Sep 2005

The Presidents Cup appears poised for a dramatic Sunday if the trend that has been set over the first two days continues.

With just one point separating the teams as they head into tomorrow’s foursome and four-ball matches, where only five matches will be played in both the morning and afternoon, the Internationals have kept their nose in front courtesy of yet another great display from two of their leading ranked players, Adam Scott and Retief Goosen.

Clearly Gary Player was reluctant to split the winning day one combinations today and it paid off early when Goosen and Scott, in the second match out, moved quickly to a four up lead through six holes to establish a winning break. Their opponents, David Toms and Fred Couples staged a comeback in the middle of the round and when the weather break came at 3.45pm the difference was just two. On their return, Couples holed a good putt at the 14th to save the hole but the Internationals then drew away to win 3 & 2.

Scott played beautifully all day but by his own admission Goosen was almost a passenger. Given their success rate however, Player will be reluctant to break the combination and when the pairings for Saturday were announced, there were Scott and Goosen together again but this time against Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank.

In the match ahead of Goosen and Scott today, Michael Campbell and Angel Cabrera looked as if they might repeat their heroics of yesterday when they went to a two up lead through fourteen holes against Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco. The Americans fought back however to square the mach at the 17th. Playing the last, Campbell’s second to the par four covered the flag all the way but was unfortunately too straight. It hit the flag stick and bounced back off the green. Campbell almost holed his little pitch and run from 15 feet but when it had lipped out, they had squared their match and a point that may prove crucial in the final analysis was gone. Player has kept the unbeaten combination together again for tomorrow when they will again face the pair they shared the honours with today, Mickelson and DiMarco.

In the third match out today, Immelman and Weir looked as if they too were headed for another win to follow up their marvellous effort on day one when they had beaten David Toms and Stewart Cink. They were two up early against Leonard and Verplank but when the 75 minute weather delay came at the 13th hole they were one behind. On their return to the course they were met with a twenty foot putt for birdie by Verplank and the difference was two. At the par three 14th, Immelman hit a fine tee shot to five feet but it became a lot longer when Leonard holed a twenty five foot putt ahead of him. Immelman was equal to the task but just when it appeared they might snatch one back, they could only maintain the status quo. They eventually succumbed at the 17th.

Immelman and Weir have retained their partnership for the foursome tomorrow when they will take on Davis Love III and Stewart Cink.

It was perhaps fitting that the match between Fred Funk and Stewart Cink against Tim Clark and Vijay Singh should finish square as it had been the closest fought match of the day. Clark holed from off the green at the 13th but Vijay missed a few opportunities on the greens to take the point. At the last he had a putt from twenty feet for the outright win but missed and the encounter was halved.

Singh has been given the chance to bolster Stuart Appleby’s flagging fortunes tomorrow when that pair take on Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, which promises to be quite a match.

The other match the Internationals won was when Peter Lonard and Nick O’Hern accounted for Davis Love and Kenny Perry by the comfortable margin of 3 & 2. O’Hern was his usual rock solid self and although Lonard could only produce two birdies, the combination worked beautifully. Lonard holed from off the green for his first birdie at the 7th and then hit a magnificent approach to the 16th to all but guarantee his birdie although O’Hern stole his thunder somewhat when he holed from twenty feet for his birdie. Lonard said later that both he and O’Hern had played really well and said that Nick had been rock solid all day.

Perhaps surprisingly Lonard is being given a rest tomorrow morning but O’Hern will pair with Tim Clark against Fred Funk and David Toms.

The final match of the day was between Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk against Stuart Appleby and Mark Hensby. The Australians did not combine well but they were up against Woods at his best. There was suggestion at one stage that if Furyk had suffered a reoccurrence of his back problems he might be forced to withdraw and leave Woods to take on the Australians his own. Woods could have done it and still won such was the brilliance of his play.

The Woods/Furyk combination has been retained for tomorrow as there appears to be some good synergy between the two during the match. They will take on Singh and Appleby.

Gary Player has stood down both Mark Hensby and Peter Lonard in tomorrow’s morning foursomes but they will be back in the afternoon four-ball.

The International Team must maintain or increase this one point lead by tomorrow evening if they are to have a chance of withstanding what will likely be a last day charge from the Americans in front of a boisterous and patriotic crowd.

They have done well to date but in order to record an historic win on Sunday, tomorrow is an all important day for them.