THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409180203
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The Presidents Cup, which resembled a landslide after the first day's action, was suspiciously beginning to resemble Harry Truman's 1948 election comeback Saturday afternoon.
Then Corey Pavin, who's become accustomed to succeeding on the match-play stage, decided that the United States team wasn't going to play like Thomas Dewey for a group of international golf stars.
Pavin, instrumental last year as the U.S. beat the Europeans to hold onto the Ryder Cup, did it again late Saturday. Pavin and playing partner Loren Roberts came from 3-down with six holes to play to squeeze out a 1-up victory over Craig Parry and Fulton Allem in the afternoon's second-to-last alternate-shot foursome match.
Pavin, who beat Nick Faldo to win last year's World Match Play title, showed why he's called ``Little Bulldog'' when he blasted in from a greenside bunker at the 15th, coaxed in a tough 4-foot putt for birdie at the 17th and hit his approach to 6 feet at the closing hole.
``Unbelievable,'' Pavin said. ``I've been in a lot of matches, but I don't think I've ever been in one like that. They won a bunch of holes in a row (four), but we fought back.''
Roberts didn't have to make the final putt as Allem and Parry three-putted and conceded the match.
Combined with Phil Mickelson's and Tom Lehman's come-from-behind 3-and-2 victory over Bradley Hughes and Mark McNulty, the U.S. gathered itself to maintain a solid 12-8 lead heading into today's final matches (2 p.m., WTKR) at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
Before those final two U.S. wins, the foreigners appeared ready to even matters. They led four of the five afternoon matches at the midway point, and were doing so without much help from Nick Price, the No. 1-ranked player in the world.
Price had teamed with Steve Elkington in the morning four-man best-balls to salvage a tie against Mickelson and Pavin, then called it a day due to fatigue.
``I just have no strength at all,'' said Price, who has won six times this year, including last week's Canadian Open. ``I'm beat in more ways than one. I think it showed in the way I played the last few days.
``I just thought I'd be better off relaxing this afternoon. I would have really struggled if I'd had to play.''
With Price on the sidelines, South Africa's David Frost took center stage momentarily with a hole-in-one at the 210-yard fourth hole with a 4-iron. That paced a Frost-Peter Senior 6-and-5 rout of Hale Irwin and Jay Haas.
But Pavin's heroics made Frost's theatrics an afterthought.
Final-day individual match play between the 12-man teams begins at 12:20 when Australia's Robert Allenby meets Irwin. Price returns to meet Fred Couples in the day's premier pairing, set for the 10th match. Couples also sat out the afternoon matches to rest an ailing back.
If the Cup is still in question as the end nears, the last three matches promise to give this event an all-star finish. After Price vs. Couples, Davis Love III faces Australia's Elkington. Then Pavin meets Craig Parry.
``There's a big difference between 11-9 and 12-8,'' Pavin said.
``We're starting to see how strong the international team is. They played great today. I think they're getting used to the format. At the start, we had an advantage with our Ryder Cup experience.''
Co-captain Paul Azinger made an obvious display of how he intended to use that Ryder Cup experience in the singles.
Of the six Americans who have it, Azinger put three in the opening three matches - Irwin, Haas and Jim Gallagher Jr. - and the other three in the final three matches.
``Going for the jugular,'' international team captain David Graham said of the early pairings. ``I know you guys. You're so competitive . . . no different from me.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nick Price, worn out from all that winning, took an afternoon break
in the Presidents Cup. He'll take on Fred Couples today.
by CNB