LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- We've been waiting for another one. Not for another Tiger Woods, exactly, because getting one Tiger Woods was miraculous enough. But we've been waiting for another one, another superstar, another American golfer with the moxie and the mental toughness to match his superstar skill.
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| Anthony Kim and the gallery applaud each other as he builds his lead over Sergio Garcia. (AP) |
No ordinary Ryder Cup rookie, cocky young American Anthony Kim drew the enormous assignment of playing the first of Sunday's 12 individual matches -- and responded by destroying the best Ryder Cup player of this generation. Kim's 5 and 4 demolition of Sergio Garcia gave the United States an enormous psychological lift and just enough of a scoreboard cushion to hold off Europe and bring home the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999.
With some of America's most experienced players coughing up lungs elsewhere -- Ryder Cup veterans and major winners Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard went out early, routed by Justin Rose and Robert Karlsson -- Kim, 23, stood up to Garcia from the very first hole. He kept pace on No. 1 by drilling a perfect tee shot and launching a lawn dart of an approach to within 2½ feet for a birdie, and then did it again on the second hole to take the lead. Garcia couldn't match him there, and never recovered. He never won a hole.
Metaphorically speaking, Kim stepped on Garcia's neck and invited thousands of strangers to pile on. Every time he hit a great shot -- and several times after Garcia hit terrible ones -- Kim would wave his arms to the crowd and demand more noise.
This was the performance, and this is the golfer, America has been awaiting. Not even Tiger Woods has given this sort of show, at least not in the Ryder Cup. Woods is ruthless when he's playing for himself, winning some majors by record margins and winning others at less than full health, but he has never been a great Ryder Cup player. Or even a mediocre one. Woods, who missed this event with a knee injury, is 10-13-2 in the Ryder Cup.
Mickelson is no better. He is 10-14-6 in the Ryder Cup after winning just one of his five matches at Valhalla, cementing his status as one of the most infuriating players in U.S. history. Mickelson has something approaching Tiger talent, but he doesn't have Tiger's head or his heart. World rankings be damned, Mickelson already has conceded his place as the second-best player in the world, a title that belongs to Padraig Harrington.
Soon enough Mickelson won't be recognized as the second-best American. Because Anthony Kim is coming. Maybe he's here already.
That's an argument, and a rivalry, to be settled another day. For this weekend, Kim and Mickelson were teammates, and in more ways than one. They played together twice Friday and once Saturday, beating Harrington and Graeme McDowell in Friday's four-balls for the only match Mickelson won all weekend.
The Ryder Cup doesn't bring out the best in Woods or Mickelson, but it agrees with Kim. This is a different event, requiring equal parts cool and fire, and Kim has it all. He's cold-blooded enough to show up Friday with a huge silver belt buckle with his own initials on it -- the kind of brash bling you'd see in the NBA, not the PGA -- and passionate enough to yank off his hat and twirl it for the crowd after spinning a wedge 20 feet back to the hole on No. 9.
Kim is so cold, he refused Garcia's request on the first hole to concede both putts. Garcia was farther away, maybe 3 feet to Kim's 2½, and when he looked at both ball locations and raised his eyebrows, Kim shook his head. No, Sergio. You're going to have to putt that one. Nothing comes easy today.
And nothing did. Kim poured it on like Georgia Tech against Cumberland College, hitting shot after shot near the pin and getting up-and-down from greenside bunkers. Kim was so confident, he made the most remarkable concession I've ever seen. It came on the fourth hole when Garcia ran a low pitch to within 3 feet of the hole. Pick it up, Kim said from the fairway, before running his own approach shot to within 4 feet and burying his putt to halve the hole.
Garcia was done. He dunked two shots in the water on No. 7. The crowd was hooting, and Kim asked them to be even louder. On the next hole Kim reached into Garcia's chest cavity and removed his heart by getting up-and-down for par from a bunker as Garcia was missing a makable birdie putt.
Kim, who has won twice this year on the PGA Tour, was just toying with Garcia. It was almost cruel to watch. On No. 12 he nearly holed out from the fairway. On No. 13 he blasted an approach to within 5 feet, causing a Tiger roar to ricochet around Valhalla.
Kim was so dialed in, he won and didn't even know it. Another up-and-down on No. 14 prevented Garcia from winning the hole with a par and gave Kim a five-hole lead with four to play. Unaware of the score, Kim stalked off the green and toward the 15th tee when tournament officials stopped him and broke the news.
This match was over.
Soon enough, so was the Ryder Cup.
So is the search for the next American superstar.
