While we wait for the Presidents’ Cup Day 2 matches to begin, take a moment to check out this fine new track from the ’80s hair metal knockoff band Steel Panther. (You MUST visit their website.) Crank up the neighborhood-fertilizing music; no one at work is going to mind this peppy little number. And tell me you’re not going to be singing “If you wanna be like Tiger Woods…” the rest of the day.
Visor tip: Reader Brett.
Rounding up some midweek links to keep you up with what’s new in the golf world. Enjoy, and feel free to hold court in the comments below.
• Greg Norman had some advice for the wives of his players: behind closed doors, “take care” of your men. Hmm. What ever could he mean by that? [Shackelford]
• Tiger Woods won’t make his traditional Torrey Pines start in 2012, instead kicking off the season at the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi at the end of January. [LA Times]
• Hollis Stacy, winner of four LPGA majors, will go into the World Golf Hall of Fame via the veterans category. A well-deserved honor for an 18-time winner on the LPGA. [CBS Sports]
• Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano just won his fifth European Tour victory. Not bad for a guy whose back was so bad just nine months ago that he had to sit on a stool between golf shots. Ourch. [Reuters via Yahoo! Sports]
• Lexi Thompson, who’s still all of 16 years old, notes that she’s “not the savior” of the LPGA. Or so she thinks. [USA Today]
Got a link/tip for us? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or via Twitter at @jaybusbee. And follow us on Facebook here and Google+ here. Go!
While we wait for the Presidents’ Cup Day 2 matches to begin, take a moment to check out this fine new track from the ’80s hair metal knockoff band Steel Panther. (You MUST visit their website.) Crank up the neighborhood-fertilizing music; no one at work is going to mind this peppy little number. And tell me you’re not going to be singing “If you wanna be like Tiger Woods…” the rest of the day.
Visor tip: Reader Brett.
They’re living in the future there in Australia. Long before the West Coast even went to bed on Wednesday night, the American and International teams were teeing it up for Thursday’s first round. Above, we’ve got the breakdown of the best (and worst) of the day, from Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson‘s comeback to Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker‘s breakdown.
Current score: USA 4, International 2.
Below, the shot of the day; Webb Simpson nearly holes out his approach from the first fairway. That’s how to get your Prez Cup started.
Action starts back late Thursday afternoon because of inclement weather. Tune in and have dinner on Thursday evening as you watch what’s happening in Australia on Friday morning.
The great thing about the Presidents Cup is we get to see everyone play the first two days. Nobody sits before the weekend, so the captains must find the best pairings possible. We watched the Americans take a 4-2 lead after Thursday’s foursomes, but how did the captain’s pair the Friday four-balls? Look on.
Match No. 1: Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson vs. Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa — A rematch of Thursday that had the American rookies take Els and Ishikawa 4 and 2, but not for lack of good play. This International duo was 3-under through 16 holes, but just ran into the hottest team at Royal Melbourne.
Match No. 2: Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson vs. Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley — For the first time since 2007, Tiger will not be playing with Stricker, but that’s probably a good thing after that once successful team was handed the worst team loss in the history of the Presidents Cup.
Match No. 3: Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk vs. Adam Scott and K.T. Kim — The American veterans were great on Thursday, but they’ll have to face the force that is Scott, one of only two International players to win their opening match.
Match No. 4: Bill Haas and Nick Watney vs. Geoff Ogilvy and K.J. Choi — Captain Couples didn’t split up many of his winning teams, and while these two didn’t necessarily win their match, it must have felt like it after being 2-down with four to play.
Match No. 5: Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar vs. Y.E. Yang and Robert Allenby — Not a bad spot for Stricker here, who struggled mightily on Thursday, but Yang and Allenby didn’t do much better.
Match No. 6: Hunter Mahan and David Toms vs. Charl Schwartzel and Retief Goosen — Mahan and Toms is the fourth of six American teams playing together for the second straight day, as they should, after a 6-up win, but they’ll have to face Team South Africa, who might be more comfortable together in this spot.
Also, quick scheduling reminder — due to the forecast, golf will be moved up two hours on Friday, so live golf will start at 5:30 PM ET on The Golf Channel in the States.
It’s impossible to predict the outcome of the Presidents Cup on Day One, but the way things have gone in the past between the U.S. and International squad, getting out to an early lead can prove to be a huge advantage.
While Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar were only able to secure a half point against Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley on Thursday, there’s no doubting it was the most important U.S. point of the day.
Two down with two to play, the American duo clawed back to send the match the distance, before making a key putt on the 18th to wrap up an improbable half point.
Early on, it appeared the Aussie pairing had the match well in hand, as Johnson and Kuchar fell 3-down thru the first 8 holes. But as we’ve seen before in match play situations, anything can happen, especially when you have a streaky rookie in Aaron Baddeley feeling the pressure.
After missing a six-footer to win the match on 17, the Aussie compounded his bad luck by hitting a couple inches behind his ball on the 18th tee, sending the shot skyward and into the high grass well short of the fairway.
It was an embarrassing moment that made you realize what kind of pressure Baddeley was under at the time. Clearly, playing in front of the home crowd with the match hanging in the balance was too much.
Sometimes all you have to do in match play is hope your opponent realizes the magnitude of a particular situation. Thankfully for the U.S., that moment came at the most opportune time.
Being down 4-2 after Day One isn’t an impossible deficit for the International’s; however, no team has ever come from two points back after the opening session to win the Presidents Cup.
It may be only a half point, but if you believe history is a good determining factor for the future, it could prove to be the most critical half point of the entire event.
Golf is never supposed to make sense. Maybe that’s the beauty of the game. You take the club back, pause for that faithful second, and go thrashing at a small ball that could literally do just about anything. The score is never the same. You play every hole different. And some days, there are no words to really describe what just happened.
Cue Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. Two men who absolutely rolled at this event in 2009 were paired together once more Thursday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, to continue their dominating duo. And while there might have been some distraction on the first tee, it was just another match for the two at the Presidents Cup.
[Photos: Team USA takes early lead at Presidents Cup]
Problem was, it wasn’t 2009 anymore. Tiger showed signs of a return last week but stumbled coming home and couldn’t close out his first win since September 2009 at the BMW Championship. And Stricker might have two tour wins this season, but he hasn’t played a tournament since the Tour Championship due to a herniated disc and is not in nearly the form he showed in San Francisco.
But nobody saw this coming. Paired up against Adam Scott and K.J. Choi, Woods and Stricker tied the worst loss in the history of this event, losing 7 & 6. How bad was it for the American team that didn’t lose a point the last time this event was played? The team didn’t card a single birdie, had three bogeys and hats were in hand on the 12th green.
It’s really just … unexplainable. Tiger and Steve both played some really uninspiring golf, Scott kept the form that has made him one of the best players in the world over the second half of this season and Choi was simply consistent, putting his player where he needed to be and draining some putts when it was his turn.
It’s fair to say that the tandem of Tiger and Steve won’t be seen again this week. There are losses that happen at these team events, but a beat-down that bad is hard to forget. Stricker’s health is an issue. Tiger’s game looked far from sharp, and sometimes, you must shake it up to find better chemistry.
[Video: Former caddie explains how much Tiger Woods hates to lose]
Back in 2006 at the match play event, Tiger beat a loose-lipped Stephen Ames so bad, he simply answered, “9 & 8,” when reporters asked Woods about the match. I’m fairly certain “7 & 6″ will be posted somewhere in the international team’s locker room before nightfall Thursday.
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• Albert Pujols continues shopping after Marlins’ offer
• Video: Does Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow need to pass more?
• Forde: College basketball benefiting from NBA lockout