Presidents Cup 2011: USA Takes The Win, 19-15

Coming into team tournaments like the Presidents Cup, much like major tournaments, all eyes are on the highest ranked players in the world. The exception for the 2011 Presidents Cup was captain’s pick Tiger Woods of the USA, who didn’t exactly have a golf season that suggested he was one of the best 12 American golfers on the PGA Tour. Fred Couples picked Tiger for his experience and ability and that pick paid off, but he was far from the team’s biggest star in the Americans’ 19-15 win over the International team.

Instead of Woods or any of the top-ranked golfers on the United States team, Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan were the best performers for their squad. Furyk was perfect, going 5-0 as he played all five rounds of action. He partnered Phil Mickelson in their wins in the first three rounds of competition, then partnered Nick Watney in a huge one-up win over Ernie Els and Adam Scott in Saturday four-ball. On the final day, he defeated Els easily, 4&3, after the USA had lost six of the first eight singles matches.

The 2011 Presidents Cup is winding down at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia and the USA is poised to take the cup. With all 12 players on each team in action, there’s plenty of points up for grabs, and the USA only needs four to take the cup after a strong first three days. As it stands now, the USA leads in six matches, with the International side leading in the other six.

Tiger Woods, playing in the second-to-last match of the day, is up by two through eight holes, putting together a strong round thus far. David Toms, five up through nine, Steve Stricker, three up through eight, Jim Furyk, three up through 10, Nick Watney, one up through 12, and Hunter Mahan, four up through 14, are also leading at this time.

The first day of the 2011 Presidents Cup is in the books and the United States is on top despite a lackluster effort from its final pair. Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were the last ones on the course and one of the first off it after being thoroughly dominated by Adam Scott and K.J. Choi in a 7&6 loss -- the Americans’ only loss of the day. But despite a stumble from his anchor pairing, Fred Couples’ squad leads after the Thursday foursome matches, 4-2.

Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson put away Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa in the first match of the day, 4&2, notching a point for the American side. The second match, Bill Hass and Nick Watney vs. Joe Oglivy and Charl Schwartzel, was halved, giving each side 1/2 a point. Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar also halved their match against Aaron Baddely and Jason Day.

The 2011 Presidents Cup gets underway on Thursday in Australia -- late night on Wednesday in the United States -- with the opening foursome matchups. The first set of matches will be of the alternate shot variety, with six pairs from each side facing off against each other at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Coverage of the event begins at 9 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel, making for a late night for those who plan to watch the action live. Coverage is scheduled to run until 2 a.m., or through the conclusion of the final match of the day -- Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker vs. Adam Scott and K.J. Choi.

The Presidents Cup will kick off Thursday in Melbourne, Australia with a surprise pairing: Tiger Woods and Steve Strickler will face Adam Scott and K.J. Choi. Scott’s caddie, of course, is Woods’ former caddie Steve Williams, who has a long and recently contentious history with his former employer.

Williams has taken shots at Woods every chance he’s had since being replaced, starting with his over-the-top celebration when Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational this summer and culminating with a remark earlier this month that many interpreted to be racist. Williams met with Woods face-to-face on the eve of last week’s Australian Open to apologize, but the acrimony has been thick for a long time.

One of the oldest and truest cliches in sports is that golfers don’t play each other, they play the course. In match play, that’s not entirely true, as a great score can still lead to a loss and a bad score can still mean a victory. Few golfers in the world know that better than Tiger Woods, which should at least partially explain why Fred Couples made him a somewhat surprising selection to the 2011 Presidents Cup team that will tee off at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Thursday.

Despite the fact that Woods has not won a tournament since 2009 and is coming off a first-round exit from the Match Play Championship in February, he is still one of the most intimidating players in the world.