Prez Cup Perspectives

Day One is a wrap and do we think Nick Price wishes he had more matches with which to stage a comeback?  As good a first day as one could wish for the Yanks, per the AP:

INCHEON, South Korea (AP) – Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson won the only match

Way too much emotion in THAT handshake, boys.

that reached the 18th hole Thursday, the final touch on another dominant day for the Americans in the Presidents Cup. 

The rest of the foursomes matches were not much of a contest as the Americans built a 4-1 lead after the opening session.

It was the fifth straight time the Americans have taken the lead in the opening round of this one-sided contest, and the three-point lead was their largest margin since they had a four-point lead in 2007 in Canada.

Well, if you've heard Terry Gannon say it once, you've heard it a million times, Americans make putts in the Presidents Cup.  Actually these guys make them week in and week out, there's only the one place they don't make'em, and that's not an issue until next year.  On the other hand, when it's J.B. Holmes making them, that's a tad unusual...

The gang at The Loop gives out birdies and bogies for the first day, including one to Cap'n Price:

As the leader of the underdog International Team, Price had an obvious chance to generate some excitement from the crowd and some early momentum by playing South Korean native Sang-Moon Bae. Instead, he stuck to his pre-determined teams for Day 1 and left Bae on the bench because his partner Charl Schwartzel didn't feel well. That move obviously wasn't the only thing that went against Price on Thursday when he saw his team fall into a quick 4-1 hole, but it certainly didn't help do anything to change the general sentiment that this is going to be another easy U.S. win in the event.

That squares with my thinking yesterday, but see how you feel after hearing Price's logic:

But say this for International captain Nick Price: he's sticking to his game plan. Question is, will it stick him back? 

Bae was scheduled to be paired with former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who arrived in Korea with a virus. They played a practice round together Tuesday, and according to Price, the duo won their intramural team contest. But when Schwartzel missed Wednesday's practice session because he was feeling increasingly poor, Price fought the urge to shoehorn Bae somewhere in his lineup. 

"It was certainly very tough, very tough," Price said wearily when asked how difficult it was to bench the home country's hero. "First of all, I didn't want to break up the other teams that had played so well together. The other thing is Moon hasn't played a lot of alternate shot. It was unfortunate because he and Charl played unbelievably well [Tuesday].

Not sure how I feel now, but there's little doubt that, ex post facto, Nick wishes he'd played him.  Or Charl...or just about anything because it really couldn't have gone any worse.

As for this bit of teamwork, I'll agree with the grade assigned:

Bogey: ZJ's handshake

Winning a Presidents Cup match is cool. Celebrating a big moment in said match with a formal handshake? Not so cool. That's what Zach Johnson did when Phil Mickelson went for the big slap-five. Lighten up, ZJ! It's the Presidents Cup, not a business conference.

I actually thought Phil was the one to start it, but I'm definitely not going back to that videotape.   

They also give Jordan and DJ a birdie, though I thought they played pretty poorly.  They were fortunate to not have any opposition, but the teaming of those two seemed, for this day, uninspiring.

No issues with this grade either:

Birdie: Fanatics

Who says the Presidents Cup lacks passion? The Australian-based fan club serenaded players on the first tee with the likes of, "Matsuyama Yama Yama Yama Chameeeeleon" and "Speaking words of wisdom, Danny Lee." Given most in America needed a cup of coffee to power through the late-night showing, the Fanatics provided a much-needed energy boost.

Yeah, but that was about the only time the crowd was a factor, though we like funny...

Fact is, that execpt for the King Louis-Branden Grace pairing the In'ls (does that name work?) looked flat and putted horribly, most notably Hideki Matsuyama.  I'm guessing that the Jason Day Era has officially lapsed, because he did little except for that birdie putt on No. 17, and the Phil-Zach pairing was quite beatable.

Looking forward, Fave Shedloski sees a strategy in Jay Haas' fourball pairings:

U.S. captain Jay Haas looks like he is going for the early knockout in this 11th edition of the Presidents Cup, front-loading his Friday four-ball lineup that, frankly, doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses. 

Getting the Americans to admit that this is their strategy is only slightly less difficult than the International team’s task of winning a point, but Nick Price, the International skipper, wasn’t fooled. 

“He’s going for the kill,” Price said. “I’d do the same thing if I were in his position.”

And here are those matches:

Match 6, 9:35 AM:

Dustin Johnson / Jordan Spieth (USA) vs. Louis Oosthuizen / Branden Grace (INT)

Match 7, 9:50 AM:

Rickie Fowler / Jimmy Walker (USA) vs. Danny Lee / Sang-moon Bae (INT)

Match 8, 10:05 AM:

Zach Johnson / Phil Mickelson (USA) vs. Adam Scott / Jason Day (INT)

Match 9, 10:20 AM:

J.B. Holmes / Bubba Watson (USA) vs. Marc Leishman / Steven Bowditch (INT)

Match 10, 10:35 AM:

Bill Haas / Chris Kirk (USA) vs. Char Schwartzel / Thongchai Jaidee (INT)

 OK, I think that's a bit over-stated, as the U.S. roster is pretty loaded from top to bottom.  But no doubt the weakest group is the last, so call it front-loaded if you will...

Sitting out for the U.S. are Patrick reed and Matt Kuchar, the only losing team from Thursday.  That'll teach those boys not to drop a point.  For the other guys. Anirban Lahiri and the aforementioned Matsuyama will spend more time with their WAG's.

Speaking of which, here's your official WAG slideshow (you're welcome, Maggot).  

And in the buzzkill department, they apparently played this at the opening dinner:

On the other hand, that could explain Hideki's putting.

Coverage comes on at 8:30 tonight East Coast time, and I wouldn't be surprised to see things tighten up a bit.