Focused U.S. Is Back in Friendly Territory

This time, the Americans have no excuses.

Two years after the “Massacre at Melbourne,” the Presidents Cup returns to the golf course where the Americans have won twice, at a time of the year when their games--but not the weather--should be scorching hot.

No one is buying holiday gifts online. Only Tom Lehman, who played in the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland, last week, had to fly more than four hours to get to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, about 30 miles south of Washington.

And they act as if they care.

“The last Presidents Cup, we were in the midst of trying to take our break and trying to get ready for the holidays,” Tiger Woods said Wednesday. “It had been a long season, and the timing wasn’t the best for us. That’s probably no excuse, but we just didn’t play well.

“This year, it hopefully will be different. I think the team is playing better than we were then.”

The International team rode the energy of playing on foreign soil for the first time, and magnificent putting from all over Royal Melbourne, to a 20 1/2-11 1/2 victory, handing the United States its worst loss in team match play.

It was such a blowout that the International team, made up of foreign players born outside Europe, clinched the cup when Nick Price defeated David Duval with 10 matches still in progress.

The International team represents the best of eight countries--including two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa, Masters champion Vijay Singh of Fiji, two-time PGA champion Price of Zimbabwe and two-time British Open champion Greg Norman of Australia.

Woods has won all of those majors, but his record in Ryder and Presidents cup play combined is 5-9-1. The U.S. needs 16 1/2 points to win back the cup. As cup holder, the International team needs only 16 points to retain the trophy.

The competition gets underway today, with the Aussie duo of Norman and Steve Elkington going against Phil Mickelson and Lehman in the first of five alternate-shot matches.

Woods will join former Stanford teammate Notah Begay III against Els and Singh. Ken Venturi decided to sit his two captain’s picks, Loren Roberts and Paul Azinger, while International captain Peter Thomson has benched New Zealand’s Michael Campbell and Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama, who was 5-0 in Melbourne.

Unlike the Ryder Cup, these matches will include five games today, five each of alternate-shot and best-ball on Friday, five of best-ball on Saturday, and the 12 singles matches on Sunday.