Thursday, September 23
Marquee matchup: Tiger meets Sergio
By Steve Adamek
The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
BROOKLINE, Mass. — United States vs. Europe for the Ryder
Cup is rather large all by itself these days. But the 33rd edition
of the once-quaint, now-mammoth competition opens this morning
with something that kicks it up an extra notch.
Tiger meets Sergio. Golf's newest and hottest rivalry is renewed.
Officially, it's Tiger Woods and Tom Lehman against Sergio
Garcia and Jesper Parnevik in the second of four alternate-shot
matches that will christen the three-day competition at The Country
Club. Still — and purely by chance, since each captain makes
his pairings without knowing what the other is doing — Tiger
and Sergio go at it again, even closer than they did in last month's
PGA Championship, when Tiger beat Sergio to the finish line playing
in different groups.
“Sergio and Tiger going after it is every golf fan's dream,”
said Lehman, admittedly caught by surprise by the pairing.
“It just happened; it's amazing how it happened,”
American captain Ben Crenshaw said. “Obviously that's something
people want to see, there's no question about that. Really, 1/8European
captain3/8 Mark 1/8James3/8 and I didn't have any control. But
it's amazing, there it is in the first round.”
“It's not one-on-one,” said Woods, 23, who is the
No. 1-ranked player in the world, and four years older than Garcia.
“It's alternate shot and you only hit half the shots. It's
not what the media is speculating. I know they want to see us
play head-to-head, but it's not necessarily head-to-head. We have
to rely directly on our partners now.”
Garcia was even less forthcoming, simply saying: “They're
a good pairing, but we're good, too. Probably more people will
be watching our game because it's such a good match.”
Certainly it's the showcase match of a morning that also includes
David Duval and Phil Mickelson against Colin Montgomerie and British
Open champion Paul Lawrie in the opening match, Davis Love III
and U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart vs. Padraig Harrington and
Miguel Angel Jimenez in the third match, and Jeff Maggert and
Hal Sutton facing Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood in the finale.
Ultimately, 28 matches will be played, with four better-ball
matches also this afternoon. Pairings for those, also blind, will
be submitted following this morning's round.
They are matches in which the Americans, who've lost four of
the past seven competitions and tied a fifth, have established
a simple but imperative goal.
Win.
“We need to win,” Lehman said. “I think it's
a must-win for us.”
On paper, they should. Their roster is deeper and far more
talented, topped by Woods and Duval, the second-ranked player
in the world. None of the Americans is ranked below 28th, while
half of the European roster is. Duval is the only American rookie,
while seven members of the European team are.
Crenshaw has also set up The Country Club's historic course
to American standards, with minimal rough and wider fairways that
favor long hitters and encourage aggressive play. Then there's
the home-crowd advantage, evident during Thursday's opening ceremonies
as a chant of “U-S-A, U-S-A” erupted as Crenshaw was
introduced.
Everything is in the Americans' favor except recent history,
which also includes two European victories in the past three competitions
on U.S. soil. That only heightens their sense of urgency.
“There should be more pressure on the people who are holding
the Cup,” said Mark O'Meara, one of four Americans sitting
out this morning along with Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard, and Steve
Pate. “But certainly we feel like we need to go out and play
well and try to bring the Cup back to America, absolutely.”
Crenshaw insists that Tiger — just 1-3-1 in his team's
14 1/2-13 1/2 loss two years ago — can't set a positive tone
alone if he and Lehman beat Garcia and Parnevik this morning.
Nor necessarily can a strong U.S. start, for only three times
in the past seven competitions has the team that led after the
first day gone on to win.
Still, Crenshaw acknowledged, Tiger and Sergio in the same
match on the first day “adds so much excitement.” As
if this Ryder Cup needed any more.
(c) 1999, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.).
Visit The Record Online at http://www.bergen.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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