Presidents Cup honours shared on day two
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 The Presidents Cup | Round Two | 18 Nov 2011
In some of the most demanding conditions and on a golf course getting tougher by the hour, the second round of the Presidents Cup ended as it started with the USA side two points ahead of the Internationals heading into tomorrow’s five foursome and five four-ball matches.
If there was any thought that the opening day offered a tough golf course then day two took it to another level. Blustery winds greeted the first group when they arrived at the re-scheduled time of 9.35 in order to complete the day’s activities before a forecast storm for later in the afternoon.
As the morning progressed the already stiff breezes turned into strong winds and, on a golf course where there is such a fine line between pleasure and pain, things got even more demanding.
Today’s four-ball matches were eventually tied at three points apiece and the slender two point margin sets up Saturday’s five four-ball and five foursomes matches as crucial encounters and importantly for tournament organisers keeps the event from developing into a one sided affair.
It appeared for much of the day as if it might become just that, the Americans leading early in four of the six encounters before the tide turned for the Internationals when Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley fought their way back into their match against Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson.
Day’s par at the 8th was good enough to get things back on level terms after a brilliant sliding left to right putt by Woods at the 4th got his side ahead early. A birdie by Baddeley at the 13th took the Internationals ahead and Baddeley’s fine play over the closing stages got them home by one. Baddeley holed a tough and testing three footer at the last for the important victory.
After the gut-wrenching finish yesterday it was a relieved Baddeley who played a key role in the success of he and Day. “Yesterday was very disappointing, even though we still got a half. But it was great to bounce back today. We are a team and I feel like we feed well off each other and we get on great out there. And we are really supportive of each other, so I feel like we are a team out there. To win today and to beat Tiger and Dustin, which is a tough pair to beat, it’s pretty special.”
Day was delighted and sang the praises of his teammate . “It’s very special. “Obviously it was a tough match out there. It’s very tiring and very hot out there, but Badds played wonderful golf today. It was very, very tough with the wind. It was very gusty and I’m just glad I had him as a teammate today.
Scores were then level on day two as nearly and hour earlier Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson had continued their impressive play of the opening day when defeating Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa 2&1.
“It was tougher,” said Simpson making perhaps the understatement of the year. “We got off to a pretty good start but the pins are real hard today and tough to get close to. I struggled a little bit but had a good partner and he kind of helped me in there. We finished off strong.”
Steve Stricker bounced back from his horrible opening day effort when he teamed with Matt Kuchar to defeat Robert Allenby and Y.E. Yang 4&3. Stricker too had bounced back from a horror opening day when he and Tiger Woods had been trounced by Adam Scott and K.J. Choi.
“We had each other’s back when the other guy wasn’t in the hole, and that’s important in the best ball play,” said Stricker. “It’s tough conditions, too. You’ve got a 100 yards and in sometimes, and it’s difficult just to hit the green. So you have to play hard every shot and play it out. But we had each other’s back. It was good.”
Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson continued on their winning way when they accounted for Adam Scott and K.T. Kim by 2&1. The Internationals were always behind although they did recover from a 3 hole deficit to get within one with two holes to play. They would lose the 17th however continuing a tough Presidents Cup initiation for Kim.
“They were good early on and I kind of left KT hung out to dry on the front nine the three times I was out of play, said Scott. “ So he did well just to keep us where we were but we got off to a tough start and it was a battle.
“When you’re behind early on a day like today against Mickelson and Furyk it’s always going to be a grind but we hung in there good and made a match of it and just came up a bit short.”
“It’s carnage on a golf course like this today. Thank goodness it is match play and we weren’t actually counting our strokes. It’s a great golf course when it can still play fairly in conditions like this. That’s a true testament to how good of a golf course it is. It’s just very, very difficult. You have to really control your golf ball on every shot.”
Next to finish and bring to score to 7 to 4 with their victory over Bill Haas and Nick Watney was the pairing of Geoff Ogilvy and K.J. Choi.
“We both played quite well; the other two, Bill and Nick played very well,” said Ogilvy. “So it’s hard to tell how you’re playing out there, because it’s such a hard golf course at the moment. So fun to play the golf course when it’s that hard, but frustrating, as well, but nice to get a point.”
The final match finished at exactly 4.30, nearly six hours after they had begun, when the South African pairing of Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel were never behind in their match against Hunter Mahan and David Toms.
“We sort of dovetailed really well today,” said Schwartzel. “I played the second and third hole, I was basically not even in the hole, more just supporting Retief, and he won both those holes, making a birdie and a par and we were 2 up through three.
“We played really solid from there. I helped him on a few occasions coming in, and, you know, we made the birdies at the right time and just kept the match going. Every time they made a birdie, we made a birdie on top of it.”
So there it was and an hour after the last match had finished, captains Norman and Couples announced their teams for tomorrow.
Norman has stood down KT Kim and Y.E. Yang for tomorrow’s morning foursomes but they will play the Fourball tomorrow afternoon. Couples has stood down Steve Stricker and Nick Watney.
“He’s feeling fine,” said Couples when asked about Stricker. “But there’s no way that Jay, I or John would put him through that. He felt like going best ball would be better for him tomorrow, and at the same time, you know, if you understand this system, that alternate shot, for some of our guys, is going to be a pretty quick round.
“And then for Steve to go out and play in the afternoon, weather forbidding, he might be out there 5 1/2 or six hours. So some of these guys on both teams are going to have one long day tomorrow. So that’s why we put Strick in the afternoon instead of with Tiger in the morning.”
The pairings tomorrow are therefore
Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson verses Robert Allenby and Geoff Ogilvy
Bill Haas and Matt Kuchar verses Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa
Hunter Mahan and David Toms verses Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel
Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson verses Adam Scott and K.J. Choi
Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk verses Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day.
Tomorrow’s matches start at 7.00am
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