Day 1 headliners deliver all Cup drama expected, and more
MONTREAL -- Forget the Golden Bear.
It's becoming pretty clear as to the identity of the real coaching magician in the Nicklaus household, and the first name isn't Jack.
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| Phil Mickelson thanks Woody Austin for the putt that clinched the halve on 18. (AP) |
Turns out, if you want your husband to play well, you have to have your jewelry in proper alignment. The diamond rock on the wedding ring has to be centered in the middle of the finger, just so. She mentioned it to Austin's wife on the 12th hole.
"You have to have your rings lines up," Barbara said, a superstition she has observed for years. "So Shannon did it, and then Woody made the putt."
Austin didn't stop there. He and Mickelson, 3 down with seven holes remaining in their alternate-shot pairing Thursday at Royal Montreal Golf Club, stormed back to halve the match with Vijay Singh and Canadian sentimental favorite Mike Weir.
Everybody figured the match would have its theatrical elements, since Weir was certain to deliver the biggest gallery of the day and Mickelson draws as many fans as any player on tour. But the match itself required a dose of Dramamine to endure.
In a textbook example of what the international cup matches are all about, both in terms of competitiveness and sportsmanship, the four players traded haymakers for four hours, and it didn't end until Nicklaus told Mickelson and Austin to concede a 3½-foot par putt to Singh on the 18th hole.
"What a match," Weir said. "All the way around, we all had our chances. A tie was probably justified given the way it went."
The U.S. side was 2 up early, took a massive header on the middle and lost five out six holes in one stretch to fall 3 down, then mounted a wild rally to tie, despite the fact that Vijay Singh holed a miraculous sand shot for a birdie on No. 15 that looked like a crushing blow.
"If it continues like this," said Austin, a cup rookie, "I'm never going to make it till the end."
From the start, the match seemed preordained to deliver something special. With Weir in the mix, the majority of the estimated 35,000 fans on the grounds lined up along the sides of the first hole, 10 deep in spots, to watch the feature foursome start one of the wildest battles in event history.
"It was one of the best and coolest matches I've ever been involved with," Mickelson said.
