Golf
TIGER WOODS LEADS US TO PRESIDENTS CUP VICTORY
The emotions poured out of Tiger Woods, just like they did at Augusta National in the spring, except this felt different.
The Masters was for him.
This was for 11 players – at times his teammates, always under his captaincy – who delivered another American victory in the Presidents Cup and a moment that nearly brought Woods to tears.
And when the decisive point was on the board on Sunday (Dec 15) at Royal Melbourne, he celebrated with everyone he could find by hugging them hard enough to take the breath out of them.
“Any time you have moments where you’re able to do something that is bigger than us as an individual, it’s so much more meaningful and so much more special,” he said.
The Americans felt the same way. Trailing the International team for the first time in 16 years, they followed his lead.
Woods, the first playing captain in 25 years, went out in the first of 12 singles matches and outlasted Mexican Abraham Ancer 3 and 2 to set the Presidents Cup record by winning his 27th match.
It also set the tone for his team. Patrick Reed, winless in three matches and heckled so badly for his rules violation last week in the Bahamas that his caddie shoved a spectator and was kept from working the final day, was 6 up through seven holes before beating Taiwanese C.T. Pan 4 and 2.
Dustin Johnson, playing for the first time since the Tour Championship because of knee surgery, was 4 up through seven holes before defeating China’s Li Haotong 4 and 3.
Perhaps most inspiring was Tony Finau in the second match. He was 4 down to Hideki Matsuyama through 10 holes when when won the next four and earned a half-point that put even more pressure on the Internationals.
Matt Kuchar delivered the winning point without even winning his match. His five-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole assured the Americans the half-point they needed to win for the eighth straight time. The last two matches ended in halves for a 16-14 score.
The Americans tied a Presidents Cup record with an 8-4 margin in singles, the largest since the first event in 1994.
“It was really cool being part of this team and having Tiger as captain,” Kuchar said.
“We had a roomful of some of the greatest golfers in the world, and when he speaks, we listen. I think all of us will look back and have these pictures hanging on our walls and say, ‘We played for and alongside Tiger Woods, the greatest player ever.’ It was awesome.”
It was crushing for the Internationals, hoping to end two decades without a victory. Ernie Els, who has finished second to Woods more times than anyone in golf, assembled the youngest International team ever and inspired them with equal doses of purpose and analytics.
They had the lead, 10-8, going into Sunday for the first time since 2003, the tie in South Africa. It just did not have enough to cross the line.
“I followed a plan, and it didn’t quite work out, but we came damn close,” Els said.
“If you compare our team on paper with other teams in other sport, you would have laughed us out of the building. But we gave it a hell of a go and we came mightily close to winning and upsetting one of the greatest golf teams of all time.”
That team included the greatest player of his generation. Woods was appointed captain in March 2018 and suggested he might be a playing captain, which he later said was a joke.
And then he won the Masters, his 15th Major and first in 11 years, to cap off a comeback from injury made even more meaningful by the hugs he shared with family and those who never left his side.
Two weeks before he filled out his team with four captain’s picks, Woods won in Japan for his 82nd career victory, leaving him no choice but to be the first captain to pick himself.
He was the only player to go undefeated at Royal Melbourne, winning twice with Justin Thomas and on his own ball against Ancer, one of seven rookies for the Internationals.
“We were very inspired to play for Tiger – with Tiger – and it’s so satisfying to win this cup because of that,” Finau said.
Emotions were raw on the golf course as the Americans celebrated their first comeback since the four-point deficit at Brookline in the 1999 Ryder Cup.
In his TV interview, Woods was fighting back tears, yet another indication to his players how much it meant.
“I love seeing other people cry, especially Tiger Woods,” said Steve Stricker, one of three vice-captains who allowed Woods to hold dual roles at Royal Melbourne. And then Stricker had to hold back tears of his own.
The International team at least kept it close, unlike two years ago at Liberty National when it was one putt away from being eliminated on Saturday. Even with so much American red on the scoreboards, they still had a chance in the final hour.
Matsuyama lost a 1-up lead with a three-putt from 25 feet that led to the halve with Finau. Canadian Adam Hadwin had a 15-foot birdie putt to beat Bryson DeChambeau on the 18th hole, but had to settle for a halve when he missed on the high side.
South African Louis Oosthuizen lost a 3-up lead at the turn against Kuchar, who caught up on the 15th hole and set off the celebration two holes later. Their matched ended in a halve.
At the closing ceremony, the Internationals stood with their arms crossed. The frustration was evident, even among the seven rookies. The Americans now lead the series 11-1-1, the only International victory coming at Royal Melbourne in 1998.
“I’m disappointed. That’s all I can say,” said Adam Scott, who has played nine straight Presidents Cups without winning. “But I like what’s happening in the future. I can’t wait for another crack at it.”
The Internationals likely will want Els to return as captain.
As for Woods? “We are going to have those conversations in the future, but not right now,” he said. “We are going to enjoy this one.”
-AP
In the same year the FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a Thai golfer named after world soccer’s governing body will make his major championship debut at the Masters.
Fifa Laopakdee’s father, a devoted soccer fan, named his son after FIFA when he was born and that name will be on the tee sheet when the year’s first major gets underway this week at Augusta National.
“My dad is a huge soccer fan, and he was choosing between Fifa from FIFA World Cup and Uefa from UEFA Champions League,” Laopakdee said Monday. “So luckily it ends up with at Fifa.”
Laopakdee earned his Masters invitation by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai last October, becoming the first Thai player to claim the title.
He entered the final round six strokes off the lead, birdied the 17th and 18th holes to force a playoff, then birdied all three playoff holes to win — securing spots in this year’s Masters and British Open.
Laopakdee arrived at Augusta National this week as the first amateur representing Thailand to compete in the Masters, and was greeted by a locker in the club’s new Player Services Building wedged between those of five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods and two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau.
“To be walking into the locker room today, and my locker is between Tiger and Bryson. That’s a lot to soak in,” he said. “I definitely took a picture of that.”
-Reuters
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Tiger Woods was surprised that he was being handcuffed after crashing his SUV last week in Florida, per body camera footage released Thursday.
“I’m being arrested?” Woods asked of Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar, who conducted a sobriety test on him.
“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Levenar told the 15-time major champion.
The footage also shows deputies removing two pills from Woods’ pocket.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer removed the pills, which are a painkiller. Authorities later confirmed that Woods had hydrocodone.
Woods contends that he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on Jupiter Island, Fla.
The bodycam footage also shows Woods informing a police officer that he was on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump shortly after his crash.
“Thank you so much. All right. You got it. Bye,” Woods said as he walked over to an officer who had beckoned him back to the crash scene, informing them that “I was just talking to the president.”
Woods is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of the President’s oldest child, Donald Trump Jr.
On Thursday night, President Trump announced during a Fox News interview that Woods would not be playing in this year’s Masters, something that Woods had not yet announced publicly.
When asked about Woods’ crash, Trump said Woods was a “very close friend, saying, “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. There was an accident, and that’s all I know. He’s an amazing person, amazing man, but some difficulty.”
Trump previously told Reuters that Woods seeking treatment was “a good thing” and he believed the golfer was “going to be terrific.”
The release of the bodycam footage comes one day after Woods was granted a request by a Florida judge to leave the United States to enter a comprehensive inpatient treatment facility as he faces misdemeanor driving under the influence charges.
Martin County Court Judge Darren Steele granted the motion to travel submitted by Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, who cited the 50-year-old golf superstar’s need for an “intensive, highly individualized and medically integrated program” away from media and public scrutiny.
Woods released a public statement on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty in a Florida court to charges of misdemeanor driving under the influence with property damage.
The arrest affidavit stated a breathalyzer test showed no signs of alcohol, but that Woods refused a urinalysis test for other drugs.
The affidavit stated Woods was “sweating profusely,” his movements were “lethargic and slow,” his eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” his pupils were “extremely dilated” and that during the field sobriety exercises, Woods was “limping and stumbling to the right.”
-Reuters
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The inaugural edition of the Nigeria Maritime Golf Challenge will tee off on Thursday at the prestigious Ikoyi Club 1938 Golf Course, bringing together 81 golfers from across the country in celebration of World Maritime Day.
Organised by QUBES LLC, the one-day tournament is designed to commemorate the annual global observance on September 25 under the theme “Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity.”
Chief Executive Officer of QUBES LLC, Lanre Bayewu, told journalists ahead of the event that the competition aims to showcase Nigeria’s maritime industry through sport while fostering greater networking opportunities within the sector.
“The tournament structure accommodates golfers of various skill levels and ensures broad participation from both maritime industry professionals and the wider golfing community,” Bayewu said.
The championship will feature seven competitive categories, including Longest Drive, Nearest Pin (male and female), Female Winners, Veterans, General Category Winner Net, Maritime Category Winner, and Overall Best Gross. Winners will go home with trophies and cash prizes.
Top executives and senior management of Nigeria’s leading maritime agencies, including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, are expected to attend as special guests.
According to Bayewu, the event represents a strategic initiative to project the Nigerian maritime industry onto both global and sporting stages, while also strengthening professional relationships across the community.
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