SOME PRESIDENTIAL THOUGHTS

Right before I left for a Thanksgiving feast, I was able to watch the Sunday singles match-ups at the Presidents Cup and thankfully, I got to see Tiger Woods close out his newest arch-nemesis Y.E. Yang 6 & 5 to clinch the President’s Cup for the Americans.

After a weekend of cold weather – it reminded me more of a weekend of October golf in Ottawa, and not San Francisco – the Americans came out on top, as they always do on home soil, with a convincing 19 ½ to 14 ½ victory.

The closing ceremonies of the President’s Cup usually mean the closing of another official golf season, as most pros will take lengthy breaks to be with family after a grueling 10 months of travel and mental strain.

Or, if you’re Adam Scott, it’s back to the tour grind for another couple weeks to try to sort out what the heck has gone wrong with your game. Seeing yourself dip from #3 in the world all the way down to #69 has got to be brutal on your mental attitude, and it was put on display for all to see this week, posting a 1-4 record. Had it not been for Ernie Els in his opening match, he would have put up an 0-fer, almost unbelievably, just as Camilo Villegas did in his debut President’s Cup.

The excitement of my friends regarding the President’s Cup, and more than anything, the performance of Tiger Woods, reached whole new levels on Saturday night. Meeting up with people I have been friends with since elementary school for the first time since school started, our conversations usually reach loud, argumentative levels about hockey, football, our schools, or anything else a group of 21-year-old guys like to talk about.

This weekend though, our conversation switched to golf, and after a thorough discussion about the President’s Cup, a friend of mine proclaimed “I have never heard golf being argued this loudly before in my life.” Definitely put a smile on my face.

Some food for thought, as the week at Harding Park comes to a close:

The Kids Are Alright

Besides the mental gaffe by Greg Norman to use one of his captain’s picks on Adam Scott (maybe he was too upset at his separation from tennis legend Chris Evert?) Norman made a great pick by choosing 18-year-old Japanese phenom Ryo Ishikawa. Ishikawa was only three-years-old when the first edition of the President’s Cup was played, but has already won four times on the Japan Tour this year, looks like a grizzled veteran out there. With a record of only 2-2-1, let that not speak to the way he competed this past weekend. The ‘Asian Sensation’ duo of himself and Y.E. Yang laid a beat down on the duo of Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair 4 & 3 on Friday, then again to Perry and Zach Johnson on Saturday 3 & 2. They ran into the buzz-saw of a partnership Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker on Saturday afternoon, but you live and you learn.

At 18, he may have channeled his inner David Duval, with the sunglasses constantly being down over his eyes, despite the overcast conditions in San Francisco. Could have been the nerves? But how could you blame him. Sunday singles saw another chance to take down Perry, who, at 49, was the oldest person in the competition. He took full advantage of the opportunity, as Ishikawa won 2 & 1 and prompted Perry to say “he sent me right into retirement, that kid.”

Not be out done by a high school student, the American contingent of 20-somethings also performed very well. Sean O’Hair (27) finished up for a record of 2-2-1, including a convincing singles win over Ernie Els. He did, however, lose a bunch of money to assistant captain Michael Jordan in a practice round. Anthony Kim (24) also had a good week finishing with a 3-1 record, also including a big singles win. He was helped along by some of his veteran teammates during the team portion of the event, but his singles win proved that he could turn it on if needs to.

This is all very good news for the game of golf, as when the Olympics rolls around in 2016, we may see some of these younger guys rolling just into their prime. As Johnny Miller stated during Sunday’s broadcast “…wouldn’t be surprised to see Ishikawa as the #1 ranked player in the world 10-15 years from now” and although TW might have something to say about that, Ishikawa has all the tools to do it.

Little People, Big World

I can’t say enough of the performances by Tim Clark and Canada’s own Mike Weir this past week. By the end of the broadcast, I was pretty sick of hearing jabs at Clark’s 5-foot-7 frame by Miller and Dan Hicks, even as he poured in eight birdies on Sunday for a 4 & 3 victory. The little man with the big putter (the only man in the even to use a “broomstick” for a putter), finished the week with a 2-2-1 record, and played true to the steady style which saw him knock off Tiger Woods in the Accenture World Match Play event earlier in the year. Captain Norman called him his “bulldog” and it’s looking as though this success may transfer into 2010 and his first win on North American soil.

Weir (standing 5-foot-9) also performed well this week, finishing with an identical record to Clark at 2-2-1. He was primed to take a win from Justin Leonard on Sunday, but after finding out that the Cup had already been clinched by the Americans in the Woods/Yang match before theirs, they decided on a Halve. Although nothing could compare to his dominance at Royal Montreal in 2007, where he was a captain’s pick, finished 3-1-1, and took out Tiger Woods in a singles match up, he will continue to be Canada’s main representative for the next couple of years at least.

The Man

It wasn’t like I was going to go through a whole column without mentioning Tiger Woods. What he did this week can go down in the books as one of the greatest performances in a team competition in history. He joins Mark O’Meara and Shigeki Maruyama as the only men to finish 5-0 at a President’s Cup, but neither of those guys did it in such dominating fashion. His pairing with Steve Stricker was a match made in heaven, and arguably he got carried in two of the matches, but when Woods needed to show up, he did in a big way.

We saw some flashes of Tiger’s swagger circa-2000 with huge fist pumps and also the now infamous club twirl/walk towards hole on 18 on Saturday. We also saw him extract his revenge on Y.E. Yang after the PGA Championship loss – beating him not only with partner Stricker, but also on Sunday in singles, Woods’ point clinching the cup for the Americans.

This week, he played up to his world no. 1 standing, and after going 1-1-2-2-11-1-2 in his last seven stroke-play events since August, and going undefeated at Harding Park, he’s looking forward to a bit of a break. Coming back from knee surgery last year, Woods won six times on tour this year, and this week could have merely been a coronation for a Player of the Year award. Funny enough, he’s not out of the running for a Comeback Player of the Year award, too.

Even though Tiger didn’t take any Majors this year (his best chance was dashed by the aforementioned Yang at the PGA) 2010 sees a return to some of Tiger’s favourite major championship venues: Augusta National, Pebble Beach for the US Open, and St. Andrews for the British. We could be on the edge of another fantastic season from The Man.