Australian Senior Golfer

Get up close to the Presidents Cup action

NOT just as a golf writer but as a golf fan it was verging on pure bliss to able to be so close to the public and behind the scenes action at the recent 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.

It is just three weeks back now that Fred Couples and his US Team snatched the title from the valiant Greg Normanites and we’re struggling with the concept of not spending our days surrounded by some of the greats of the golfing world.

ASG was part of the whole Media Centre scene and we followed the Cup from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony where life was so grand we didn’t even seem to mind that much repeatedly hearing from the Victorian Premier that Melbourne was the centre of the sporting universe.

For those few days, for golf fans at least, it probably was.

It was a particular privilege if, like us, you had some of the priceless inside the ropes passes and could get up close and personal with all the action, the captains, the assistants, the players, the wives and girlfriends, the interviews, the crowds and all the drama and pathos that makes up this amazing international event.

The US PGA Tour and their partners involved in staging the cup put on perhaps a flawless tournament where even the extremes of the changeable Melbourne weather only added to the drama and the experience of the participants and spectators.

Now comes the opportunity to relive at least some of the intensity and passion of that historic week in Australian golf with news the Official Film of the 2011 Presidents Cup is available for pre-order.

Produced by PGA TOUR Entertainment, it is being promoted as giving golf fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes ticket to this world class event with behind-the-scenes footage, event highlights, interviews with the captains and players, and more.

The official blurb says: “The Presidents Cup Official Film will take fans inside the ropes for an exclusive look at of all the pageantry and competition that makes The Presidents Cup one of the premier team events in any sport.  From the Teams’ arrivals to the black-tie Gala Celebration featuring entertainment by Delta Goodrem and performances representing each country participating in the event; from the captains’ press conferences to the pairings’ process; from the Opening Ceremony to the final celebration, fans will experience first hand why The Presidents Cup has set the standard for sportsmanship and stellar competition.”

The 2011 Presidents Cup Official Film can be pre-ordered now for $14.95 by visiting the PGA Tour Shop by clicking here.

It will be shipped mid-February 2012 so don’t order it as a Christmas gift unless your intended recipient will be happy with an IOU on Christmas morning.

Tiger Woods takes his turn with the Fanatics

IN the end, Freddie Couples and his US Team even conquered the Fanatics Aussie cheer squad at Royal Melbourne on the final day of the 2011 Presidents Cup.

Having beaten Greg Norman’s Internationals 19 to 15 after the final round of singles, Couples took his team over to the Fanatics on the 16^th tee like a victorious footie captain.

The Fanatics, you know them as the group dressed in yellow and green at the tennis shouting “Lets go Leyton” all the bloody time, had been giving the Americans stick all week singing their little ditties about the players.

Couples took the team over and one by one they embraced what became a crowd and media photographers’ scrum, with the captain even encouraging the reluctant ones such as Tiger Woods to take part.

As Norman said later at the official closing ceremony: “For the USA team to go over there and play with the guys, have fun with the guys, that’s what [the Presidents Cup] is all about.”

It was a huge day at Royal Melbourne, finally a day of perfect weather, with football crowd like cheers and groans coming from across the course as the 12 singles matches were played out.

Early on it seemed like the Internationals could pull off a famous victory by making up the four point deficit they faced at the start of the day, but in the end it was not to be. The six all score line reinforcing the point that the difference between the teams after four days was the Internationals’ poor performance in the alternate shot foursomes sessions.

There were some marvellous performances on the day, particularly from the youngsters with Korean KT Kim beating the previously undefeated Webb Simpson 1UP and Ryo Ishikawa defeating Bubba Watson 3 & 2.

In the other matches Adam Scott beat Phil Mickelson 2 & 1 after jumping to an early lead, Geoff Ogilvy beat Bill Haas 2UP, Charl Schwartzel beat Dustin Johnson 2 & 1 and Retief Goosen defeated Matt Kuchar 1UP.

The US winners were Hunter Mahan over an out of sorts Jason Day 5 & 3, Nick Watney over KJ Choi 3 & 2, Tiger Woods 4 & 3 over Aaron Baddeley, Steve Stricker 2 & 1 over YE Yang, David Toms 7 & 5 over Robert Allenby and the unlikely star of the American challenge, Jim Furyk 4 & 3, over Ernie Els.

After being in the worse form of any of the US team members all year (he got in mainly on his 2010 performances) Furyk ended the week with a 5-0-0 record.

Fred Couples revs up the rever-uppers

THE Internationals won the afternoon Four-ball matches 3 to 2 but face an uphill battle going into the final day of the 2011 Presidents Cup.

The US lead 13 to 9 after an epic Saturday of 10 matches with 12 singles matches on Sunday to go.

The American team need just 17 ½points to win the contest, meaning the Internationals need to win at least eight of the 12 singles matches.

Long-time Internationals team member Ernie Els said they needed to pull off “a miracle” to win

“We have to do a Brookline, we have to do a miracle tomorrow,” the big South African said.

“It can be done. The guys are in there and they are ready to go. It’s going to be a once in a lifetime deal if we pull it off, but it can be done.”

There were some heroic performances on both sides of the dual today, with Royal Melbourne throwing another curve ball into the mix, turning on some bitterly cold and wet conditions to contrast the turbo-blasted furnace that was Friday.

Play began at 7 am with five alternate shot foursome matches and ended near dusk after five four-ball matches.

The bane of the international team all week has proven to be the alternate shot format, much more familiar to the Ryder Cup playing Americans. The US team won the morning foursome sessions 4 to 1.

In making their singles match-ups for Sunday, both captains said they had put their “older” players last to give them more time to recover from the conditions and little sleep that all players had experienced.

Explaining his selection strategy, US captain Fred Couples said: “I think just like Greg’s team, we are all cold, tired and we put some of our older guys later so they could sleep in until eight or nine o’clock and that’s basically about it.

Internationals captain Greg Norman said he was extremely proud of his team.

“We won the session today,” Norman said. “When you look at the four-ball compared to the alternate shot you can see where the balance of our power really sits.”

Norman was adamant the Internationals could still win.

“Right now we have our backs against the wall, no question about it. You’ve got to believe that you can come back, win nine matches out  12 to win this. I believe the guys can.”

Couples was full of praise for his players but wanted his more experienced team members to stress to the team that the tournament was far from over.

“These last two days have been kind of ridiculous on how hard they have been,” he said.

Els looking for a miracle

IN conditions described as “brutal” the Internationals have fought back to trail the Americans by just two points after a hot and windy day at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

The US Team now leads by 7 to 5 after the day finished three games all.

Royal Melbourne really turned it on with a hot gusty northerly wind and rock hard greens making birdies from 24 of the world’s best players a rarity.

“It was awesome,” said Phil Mickelson, who won his match with partner Jim Furyk against Adam Scott and K.T. Kim 2UP on the 17^th hole.

“We’ll never see something like this on an everyday golf course. We’ll never see that. We rarely see it in a major.”

“To have green speeds over 14 with wind blowing 15, 25 miles an hour, that was incredible; to have to read the wind of a putt more so than the break?  That’s pretty cool.  Provided that your score really doesn’t count, which it doesn’t here, because it’s match play.  That’s why it’s so fun.”

“If you have that situation in a U.S. Open or a British Open, we would probably curse.  But it was so much fun today because you’ve got a partner that you can rely on in best ball format and I thought we had a good time.”

Royal Melbourne “local” Geoff Ogilvy agreed Royal Melbourne was playing as tough as it ever gets.

Ogilvy sunk a pressure four foot putt on the 18^th for a wildly received 1UP win with KJ Choi over Bill Haas and Nick Watney.

With the team captains, assistants, wives and thousands of others watching the Ogilvy putt the Presidents Cup atmosphere is really starting to build.

In the other matches Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson had a 3 & 1 win over Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa, Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day went right down to the wire with a 1UP win over Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker won comfortably 4 & 3 over Robert Allenby and YE Yang, and Retief Goosen and Charl Schwartzel beat Hunter Mahan and David Toms 2 & 1.

“Well from my perspective and my team’s perspective, we are extremely pleased with the end result today,” Internationals captain Greg Norman said.

“We were looking for a long time like being 4 – 2 again.  We are extremely proud of the way Aaron Baddeley bounced back from yesterday.  I know he was kind of gut wrenched a little bit by what happened on the 18th, but to see what he did, holing that 3 1/2 footer for a win on the last hole did him a world of good, did the team a world of good and followed up by Geoff Ogilvy doing what he did and holing the same length putt, just as difficult, really helped us generate a lot of momentum.

“We got a huge amount of confidence in the room right now.  Yesterday took it out of us; today, we got it back again, with a little bit more energy and gusto in us this evening.”

US captain said the conditions were brutal with few holes won with birdies.

“It was a very exciting day,” Couples said. “I think I’m proud of all 24 players as a witness to this.  It was not much fun out there, I’m sure, for any of them.  Obviously there were three teams that won on each side, so they had fun.  But it was brutal.

“Our team, we didn’t lose ground.  We still have a two point lead.  So any time, any slot time you can do that in six matches, I think we’re fine with all that.”

Saturday will be an epic day for all with foursomes in the morning and best ball in the afternoon.

“We know tomorrow is a big day for us and we know tomorrow the International side is going to come out gunning for us,” Mickelson said, “[to] try to get some momentum and gain ground heading into the singles [on Sunday].

Pairings for Saturday Morning Forsomes

Here are the pairings for the five Presidents Cup foursomes (alternate ball) matches that will be played Saturday morning at Royal Melbourne.

Five four-ball (best-ball) matches will follow in the afternoon, with the captains announcing their pairings on Saturday morning at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time.

The U.S. will take a 7-5 advantage going into Day 3.

Pairings listed in order of announcement, with the captains alternating selections. Tee off from 7am.

MATCH 13 – Robert Allenby-Geoff Ogilvy, International vs. Webb Simpson-Bubba Watson, U.S.

MATCH 14 – Bill Haas-Matt Kuchar, U.S. vs. Ernie Els-Ryo Ishikawa, International

MATCH 15 – Retief Goosen-Charl Schwartzel, International vs. Hunter Mahan-David Toms, U.S.

MATCH 16 – Tiger Woods-Dustin Johnson, U.S. vs. Adam Scott-K.J. Choi, International

MATCH 17 – Aaron Baddeley-Jason Day, International vs. Jim Furyk-Phil Mickelson, U.S.

Not playing – Steve Stricker (U.S.), Nick Watney (U.S.), K.T. Kim (International), Y.E. Yang (International)

Greg Norman, Jason Day and other Internationals watch Ogilvy on the 18th green

THE 2011 Presidents Cup is being broadcast live in Australia on both Channel 9 and FoxSports.

FoxSports have a more extensive coverage including replays later in the early evening (and probably won’t be switching to regular programming in the middle of matches if they run over).

The Presidents Cup Australian television schedules are as follows, but with tee times brought forward on Friday to 9.35 am the times for Friday may be rescheduled on 9. FoxSports coverage had already been scheduled to start at 9.30am.

Presidents Cup tee times can be changed on relative short notice depending on weather and other issues.

FoxSports Presidents Cup TV times

Friday November 18, 9.30am – 4.00pm

Saturday November 19, 7.00am – 6.00pm

Sunday November 20, 10.30am – 6.00pm

Channel Nine Presidents Cup TV times as scheduled:

Friday November 18, 11.30am – 5.30pm

Saturday November 19, 9.00am – 5.30pm

Sunday November 20, 10.00am – 5.30pm

Woods tees of on the par 3 fifth at Royal Melbounre

The Americans were down early in a number of the Foursomes matches but reversed the momentum to lead 4 points to 2 after the completion of the first round.

Fred Couples’ team won three matches quite convincingly, the Internationals won one and the remaining two were halved.

In the last match on the course, Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley had a point seemingly in the bag but bogeyed the last two holes to allow Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar to salvage a draw. It was a bitter blow and a poor end to the day for the Internationals who had seemed to be sailing along quite nicely mid round.

Geoff Ogilvy and Charl Schwartzel also blew what seemed another point for Greg Norman’s International Team when they were 2 up with four holes to play. Bill Haas and Nick Watney got back to square on 16 and the match ended all square on 18.

In what was seen as the feature match of the first round, Adam Scott and K.J. Choi went 1 up after the second hole and were never headed. They won at a canter on the 12^th hole 7 & 6, inflicting the first ever Presidents Cup loss to the Woods/Stricker duo.

In the first match Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa faced the popular US pairing of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.

The Americans received a very warm welcome when they were introduced to the crowd. But the roar that greeted the Internationals made it plain where the spectator loyalty will lie this week.

The young Japanese and the iconic South African got off to a great start and were two up after four holes.

Els downhill 15 foot birdie putt on the 4^th hole, probably the fastest and slickest surface on a course notorious for its greens, brought the house down.

However, two holes later it was all square and the slide continued till the Americans won 4 up on the 16^th.

In the fourth match the elder statesmen of the US Team, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk were also down early but turned it around on the 8^th hole, went to 4 up on the 12^th and retained that lead to the 15^th, winning 4 & 3.

The ever steady team of Hunter Mahan and David Toms won the first hole against the Korean pairing of Y.E Yang and K. T. Kim. The Americans won the match 6 & 5.

Norman said at a media conference later he thought with an hour and a half to go the day would end at three all. Couples agreed 4 to 2 was better than they expected.

“Well, obviously, point wise, we are more excited than we were an hour and a half before the day ended,” Couples said. “But that’s happened before, and our guys fought hard.

“Like Greg, we had one easy match and we had two semi lopsided matches.  But really, the end of the day, it was Billy Haas and Nick Watney getting a half a point from Schwartzel and Ogilvy.  It was an unbelievable match.  And then as you saw at the end, Dustin Johnson made a very nice putt to get a half a point.

“You know, 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 is great.  Obviously 4 – 2, we are excited about that.”

Norman responded: “At the opposite end of the spectrum, we are disappointed in the 2 – 4 result.  My guys felt like they let a few matches slip away, no question about it.”

“But they all understand, it’s the game of golf.  It does happen.  Their heads are really held high.  They are not worried about the next three days going forward.  They are actually looking forward to it.  They all feel like they are playing extremely good golf.  They know the weather conditions are going to change a little bit; an adaptation to the golf course and the conditions coming forth over the next three days are going to be different than what it was today. You know, we didn’t get the job done at the end of the day.  It’s unfortunate for us we are behind, but we believe we can no doubt catch up, and probably catch up in our belief, tomorrow.”

Four Ball Matches Friday November 18

With adverse weather conditions predicted later in the day, the Round 2 Four-ball match tee times were shifted to start from 9.35am

The pairings are listed in their announced order, as each captain alternates in making the first pick for each match:

MATCH 1 – Bubba Watson-Webb Simpson, U.S. vs. Ernie Els-Ryo Ishikawa, International

MATCH 2 – Jason Day-Aaron Baddeley, International vs. Tiger Woods-Dustin Johnson, U.S.

MATCH 3 – Phil Mickelson-Jim Furyk, U.S. vs. Adam Scott-K.T. Kim, International

MATCH 4 – Geoff Ogilvy-K.J. Choi, International vs. Bill Haas-Nick Watney, U.S.

MATCH 5 – Steve Stricker-Matt Kuchar, U.S. vs. Y.E. Yang-Robert Allenby, International

MATCH 6 – Charl Schwartzel-Retief Goosen, International vs. Hunter Mahan-David Toms

Selection Notes

U.S. Captain Fred Couples said the plan all along was to split up Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in four-ball, even before the duo were thumped 7 and 6 by Adam Scott and K.J. Choi in Thursday’s foursomes. “We were going to do that on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Couples said of putting Woods with Dustin Johnson . . . International Captain Greg Norman said he split up the Scott-Choi combo because he wanted Scott to help K.T. Kim with his lines off the tee in Friday’s winds, which are expected to blow from the north-northwest. “K.T. has never played in a north-northwest win,” Norman said. “It’s going to be crucial for him getting direction.” . . . That reason is the same one that Norman used to keep Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa together, even though they lost 4 and 2 to Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson on Thursday . . . Couples said he expects Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson to “play a lot together.”  . . . The opening match features the same four players who played in Thursday’s opening match.

ON the eve of The Presidents Cup 2011, PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem announced that the next international venue for the event will be the Republic of Korea.

While the specific site is yet to be determined, The Presidents Cup will make its first trip to Asia in 2015.  Commissioner Finchem was joined by K.J. Choi, K.T. Kim and Y.E. Yang for today’s announcement.  The three South Koreans are part of Greg Norman’s International Team for this year’s Presidents Cup, marking the first time more than one South Korean is competing on the International Team in event history.

Royal Melbourne Golf Club is hosting the event this week for the second time. It was first staged here in 1998 and in two years it will return to the US.

The other previous international venues for The Presidents Cup were The Links at Fancourt, George, South Africa, in 2003 and Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2007.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Prince William County, Va., hosted The Presidents Cup in 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2005, and TPC Harding Park in San Francisco was the site in 2009.  Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, will host the Cup in 2013.

“We are delighted to be taking The Presidents Cup to South Korea in 2015,” said Finchem. “The growth of the game in Asia is well documented, and the fact that we have three South Korean players on the International Presidents Cup Team this year illustrates the strength of golf in that country – which is only going to get stronger in the next four years.  Each Presidents Cup has been bigger and better than the one before, and I’m confident South Korea will serve as the perfect stage for the event when it enters its 21st year.”

ADAM Scott and Tiger Woods will face off on the first day of the 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Club.

At the tradition Wednesday drawing of the Thursday pairings five sets of players were named for the Foursomes that conspicuously excluded Woods and Scott.

“Who is left?” US vice captain Jay Haas asked with tongue firmly in cheek.

Both Internationals captain Greg Norman and US captain insisted that any supposed issues between Woods and Scott’s caddie Steve Williams were a thing of the past.

“I am going to make a comment about the last pairing,” said Norman, getting on the front foot immediately. “I think it is great for the tournament , No. 1. It needed to be done. It played out the way it played out. There wasn’t any premeditation in it.

Couples agreed: “ Yes, I think Greg hit it right on the button. We did not plan anything. But I think it worked out awesome for everybody involved to have Adam play Tiger. As we said all along, they are still good friends and I think it is an exciting match.

Woods insisted at the Australian Open in Sydney that he and Williams had met and erased their issues with a shake of their hands.

Now that the much anticipated face-off will happen at the beginning of the event, perhaps everyone can just get over it and concentrate on the golf.

The Thursday format is Foursomes where the teams of two players take alternate strokes of the ball.

Woods will partner with Steve Stricker and Scott with K.J. Choi. They hit off at 2.05pm

Full Schedule Foursome Matches, Thursday Novemmer 17:

Match 1 — 1:05 p.m.

Bubba Watson (USA)           vs. Ernie Els (International)

Webb Simpson (USA)                Ryo Ishikawa (International)

Match 2 — 1:17 p.m.

Bill Haas (USA)                        vs. Geoff Ogilvy (International)

Nick Watney (USA)                     Charl Schwartzel (International)

Match 3 — 1:29 p.m.

Dustin Johnson (USA)            vs. Aaron Baddeley (International)

Matt Kuchar (USA)                     Jason Day (International)

Match 4 — 1:41 p.m.

Phil Mickelson (USA)              vs. Retief Goosen (International)

Jim Furyk (USA)                            Robert Allenby (International)

Match 5 — 1:53 p.m.

Hunter Mahan (USA)              vs. K.T. Kim (International)

David Toms (USA)                       Y.E. Yang (International)

Match 6 — 2:05 p.m.

Tiger Woods (USA)                  vs. K.J. Choi (International)

Steve Stricker (USA)                    Adam Scott (International)

The Opening Ceremony was bigger than Ben Hur. Actually, I think it really was the set from Ben Hur. Here Greg Norman addresses the thousands assembled.

The Presidents Cup arrived by mountain horsemen as "Strange Fruit" hovered nearby.

Lets get the show on the road

THE Presidents Cup officially gets underway today with the Opening Ceremony kicking off what should be an extraordinary week for Australian golf.

Fans are invited to attend the ticketed event that celebrates the start of one of the world’s premier international competitions.

The ceremony is at 4pm on Wednesday November 16 at the Sandringham Golf Course – across the street from The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, host site of this week’s event.

The Opening Ceremony will feature the Royal Australian Air Force aerobatic team, “The Roulettes;” a performance by Strange Fruit, a Melbourne-based performing arts company; and the Australian National Anthem performed by Greta Bradman and the National Boys Choir and Australian Girls Choir.

The Presidents Cup trophy will be delivered to the stage for Opening Ceremony by the Mansfield High Country Horsemen, made famous by “The Man From Snowy River” movies.

The Opening Ceremony will also be the official introduction of the U.S. and International Team players, captains’ assistants and U.S. Team Captain Fred Couples and International Team Captain Greg Norman.  They will be escorted to the stage by local schoolchildren who won The Presidents Cup 2011 Essay Challenge.  Flags from each country represented by the teams’ players will be raised by the Australian Army Representatives as national anthems are performed.

Golf and sports dignitaries from around the world will be in attendance, as will Ted Baillieu, Premier of Victoria, who is serving as Honorary Co-Chairman of The Presidents Cup 2011, and Alex Chernov, Governor of Victoria.

The ceremony features reserved grandstand seating and tickets can be purchased for $35 here at presidetns cup com or on site at Royal Melbourne Golf Club at the box office.  A special offer is available online, allowing fans to purchase a Wednesday grounds ticket – to watch the teams’ practice rounds – for $60 and receive an Opening Ceremony ticket for free.  Or any weekly ticket purchase (grounds or Captains’ Club) also includes Opening Ceremony access at no additional charge.