MONTREAL -- Is it better to give than to receive?
In match play, that axiom is very, very debatable. Two star-studded matches at the Presidents Cup ended on the 18th green in oddly asymmetrical fashion Thursday when putts of comparable lengths -- and whether or nor to concede them -- became the talk of the opening day of play.
|
|
| Jack Nicklaus concedes a putt to Mike Weir and Vijay Singh in Weir's home country. (AP) |
In the premier match of the day, Vijay Singh faced a 3½-foot putt for par on the last hole, which would have ensured that his alternate-shot match against the American team was halved, when U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus asked teammates Phil Mickelson and Woody Austin to concede the putt.
Nicklaus said it was the sporting thing to do since Singh's teammate, Mike Weir, is a native Canadian.
"If it was played somewhere else, I would say if it was the second, third or fourth round, we probably wouldn't do that," Nicklaus said. "Maybe the last round, if it sits there, if it makes the outcome of the match, in the spirit of what we are playing these matches, I think that's the important part."
That sentiment was hammered home two groups later when International teammates Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera, needing to win the hole to salvage a tie in their match, were in similar straits. Cabrera lagged a 60-foot par putt to within 4 feet, and Els could have clinched a halved point by tapping in the ensuing putt.
What ensued a moment later was downright comical. For the Americans, anyway. And only for a minute or so.
Mickelson, standing directly beside Nicklaus on the apron of the 18th green, grabbed the U.S. captain by the shoulder and said, "Don't you dare give them that putt."
Damon Green, Zach Johnson's caddie, was stationed directly behind Nicklaus and said to Mickelson, "Don't worry, I've got ahold of his shirt back here."
It was all meant in jest. When Els badly missed the par-saver and blew the ball four feet past the other side of the hole, the Americans conceded the bogey effort and David Toms coolly tapped in from 40 inches for a bogey and a 1-up win.
It happened so quickly, few could absorb it.
"Can I say there, too, that was great sportsmanship, to give that putt," International assistant captain Ian Baker-Finch said. "Ernie's putt went four feet by and David and Jim (Furyk) gave them that putt, and then had to hole their putt. So I thought that was something else that you may not have seen that was great sportsmanship again."
