Woods, Stricker roll on; What’s happening here?
SAN FRANCISCO – Golf is definitely not a team sport. Golf is an individual pursuit, an exercise that often sweeps the perpetrator into monastic excess. Robinson Crusoe had more company, even minus Friday. In team events, such as the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, the individuals are individuals, no matter that in alternate shot they play only one ball, taking turns betting each other into or out of trouble. Granting all of that, however, there seems to be something strange and contradictory going on in the Presidents Cup here. It’s this: Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker seem to be a team, in the team sense of the word. They are chewing up Harding Park and everyone standing in their way, these two days, both of them with an efficiency generally seen in, say, a wolf pack.
Some backgound is necessary to understand why this is all noteworthy. All you need to know about the team match play prowess of Tiger Woods, the world’s No. 1 player, is that he is a combined 7-13-0 in alternate shot (foursomes) and 10-8-2 in better-ball (four-ball), which is healthier but hardly a bell-ringer for No. 1. All told, rather weak. Stricker, on the other hand, is a mere 2-3-1 in alternate shot and 2-2-0 in better-ball. Also unattractive.
But in this Presidents Cup – bring on the world.
In the opening matches Thursday, in alternate shot, they brushed away Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy and Japan whiz kid Ryo Ishikawa, 6 and 4. In better-ball Friday they thumped Ogilvy and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, 5 and 3. They have yet to see Harding Park’s 17th and 18th in anything but practice. And they’re doing a lot of smiling and such out there.
Woods is great with the political statement when he needs one, but not particularly smooth with the feigned warmth or anything approximating that. To appreciate what’s happening in this pairing, go back to the 2004 Ryder Cup when American captain Hal Sutton paired Woods and Phil Mickelson, in the reasonable belief that he’d put a pair of knockout artists together. Then look at the tape and watch Woods stare vacantly in any direction but Mickelson’s. Woods made no secret of how he felt about Mickelson. It was a lesson in playing golf under icy conditions. The pairing flopped like an amateur’s soufflé.
But here, in the 6 and 4 opening victory Thursday, that ended on the 14th, they combined to make six birdies and made no bogeys. They made six more birdies in the better-ball Friday, and the only bogey was Stricker’s at No. 2, a harmless one against Woods’ par. They’ve lost only one hole in two days, to Cabrera’s birdie at No. 3 Friday, which squared the match. Stricker’s birdie at No. 5 put them back ahead to stay.
It turned out to be a crucial win. The Americans were running away with it early on, leading in five of the six matches, but the Internationals rallied for a 3-3 split on the day, and leaving the Americans still with a one-point lead, 6 ½-5 ½ going into Saturday’s matches.
But is there something mystical going on here?
“I don’t know,” Stricker said. “I think we enjoy each other’s company while we’re out there. Obviously, he’s playing great. I’m trying to help out as much as I can.
“It’s tough, though, when you’ve got the best player in the world and he’s such a great iron player. You know, you just don’t want to get in his way at times. I found myself a lot of times just making sure that I hit it on the green, 20, 25 feet, just giving him the opportunity to fire right at it, like he normally does. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a great experience. I’m very comfortable with him out there, and I think he’s very comfortable with me. So I think that’s why we’re having fun and playing well on top of that.”
OK, that mystery’s solved. Next: How did Fred Couples, the American captain, come to the momentous decision to put them together?
“Well,” Couples said, “they wanted to play together. And Stricker thought they would be a great best-ball team, and Tiger thought they would be a great alternate-shot team.
“So when we got here, we were going to put them together, and they won the first match and then they won again today. So until they get tired of each other, they are going to play again and again and again.”
In Saturday morning’s alternate shot, they go out in the fourth match against Canada’s Mike Weir and South Africa’s Tim Clark.
Weir and Clark might want to call in sick.
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