THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130743
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, VA. LENGTH: 76 lines
The sealed envelopes will be submitted Sunday morning, just before the first of 12 singles matches goes off on the final day of the Presidents Cup.
In one, United States team captain Arnold Palmer will have written a name. In the other, a name will be entered by International captain Peter Thomson. And as far as the non-playing captains are concerned, if there is any justice, those secrets can just as soon go with them to their graves.
If the names need to be revealed, it means the five rounds of competition that begins today - four rounds of two-man play and Sunday's singles - will have ended in a 16-16 tie.
That would bring this second Presidents Cup, a match-play event featuring 12 Americans vs. 12 of the world's finest golfers, down to a sudden-death playoff overflowing with pressure - a playoff between the men named in each captain's envelope.
``I would like to hope that no one will ever know who's in that envelope but me, because I'm not going to tell anybody else,'' Palmer said. ``If I keep that secret forever, that would make me very happy.''
Of everything else, the potential for such a gripping finish is what sets the Presidents Cup apart from the venerable Ryder Cup, the biennial match-play clash of the United States and Europe.
A Ryder Cup tie sends the trophy back to the previous champion. The U.S. won the 1994 Presidents Cup 20-12, but that and $25 will get the Americans a souvenir cap.
``I think it's a good system,'' Thomson said. ``I've certainly made my choice, and I hope we don't have to use it.''
If it comes to that at the lovely and very long - 7,289 yards - Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Palmer and Thomson will have an incredible roster from which to choose.
Palmer has the top 12 Americans from the Presidents Cup point standings on his team, topped by Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara and Tom Lehman. The first 10 were automatic entries, and Palmer avoided controversy - reference Curtis Strange, 1995 Ryder Cup - by using his two captain's wildcard picks on David Duval and Kenny Perry.
On the other side, Thomson merely has the world's top-ranked, third-ranked and sixth-ranked players - Australian Greg Norman, South Africa's Ernie Els, Japan's Jumbo Ozaki - in his stable.
It bears noting that none of those three played for the Internationals in '94, and that this team is much stronger than the one that went before.
It also speaks to the relevance of the Presidents Cup, in its hunt for world-wide acceptance and respect, that all of the 24 men who were asked to play are playing. No phantom backaches or viruses here.
``If it had been any other week outside of a major championship I probably wouldn't have played,'' said Zimbabwe's Nick Price, whose wife delivered their third child Monday and who's been struggling with a sinus infection.
``These players have been excluded from the Ryder Cup since its inception, and here's the big chance to demonstrate that there's a third team in the world which can take the other two,'' said Thomson, a five-time British Open champion. ``They're very determined to prove a point in that regard.''
What everybody will do today and Saturday is pair up, as per their captain's decision, and play what are called ``four-ball'' and ``foursome'' matches.
Under the first format, each player plays his ball and the team uses the best score each hole. In foursome, the teammates alternate shots. Come Sunday, it's pure head-to-head competition 12 times, just like you and your best buddy hacking around for a buck a stroke.
It's what the pros grew up on and love but rarely get to enjoy anymore in the world of stroke-play tournaments, where you beat the course or the course beats you.
Match play requires a different level of strategy and fortitude. And because all prize money goes to charity, the players' purse at the Presidents Cup is old-fashioned honor, pride and character.
If the U.S. loses, ``I would personally take it as a disaster,'' Palmer said.
Which is one reason a Sunday playoff would send the drama off the charts. And why only the most special competitor would relish the thought of being the man in the envelope. On the spot. by CNB