U.S., Woods Never Let Up in Presidents Cup Victory

The Americans didn’t simply reclaim the Presidents Cup at Gainesville, Va., Sunday, they gave the International team a beating even worse than the one they suffered two years ago in Australia.

And they gave captain Ken Venturi the victorious send-off he wanted.

“All of our guys gave me 100%, and I’ll always be indebted for what they did for me,” said Venturi, who won the 1964 U.S. Open at nearby Congressional and watched his team grow up during his 32 years as a television analyst.

Hammered and humiliated in Melbourne in 1998, the Americans won back the Presidents Cup with a 21 1/2-10 1/2 victory, the largest margin in the short history of the cup and their biggest international rout since a 15-point decision in the 1967 Ryder Cup.

“We didn’t want to go out today and let our guard down,” said Tiger Woods, who beat Vijay Singh and finished with his first winning record in team competition, 3-2.

The only thing missing was the celebration. No one sprayed champagne from the balcony or doused their teammates with beer. Davis Love III, who clinched the cup by beating Ernie Els, was careful to not even walk on the 17th green to congratulate Stewart Cink.

They simply hugged Venturi and soaked up a job well done.

“You start to make a little bit of money, and now all of a sudden people think we’re spoiled and don’t care,” Love said. “We’re a little spoiled, but we care.”

Whether that’s true will be determined in 2002 when the Presidents Cup goes to South Africa. Some Americans have already complained about another trip overseas.

“We’ll see how much they love this cup they just won,” said Els, a native of South Africa.

Notah Begay closed out the matches with a 1-up victory over Retief Goosen, the final measure of payback.

Coming off a 20 1/2-11 1/2 loss in the last Presidents Cup, the worst beating suffered by an American team, they wanted to repay the favor.

“Keep it up, you’re point 21,” Paul Azinger said to Tom Lehman, who struggled to stay in his match with Steve Elkington. Lehman didn’t get it done, but two rookies bringing up the rear--Kirk Triplett and Begay--did.

For Woods, it also was personal.

After missing a rare putt in his best-ball loss to Singh on Saturday, he noticed Singh’s caddie, Paul Tesori, wearing a cap with “Tiger Who?” stitched on the back.

Few putts were conceded in a match between the players who won all the majors this year--Singh the Masters, Woods the other three. On the fourth hole, Woods already had a bogey but refused to give Singh a 10-foot birdie putt--or the 18-inch par putt that followed.

Woods finally closed him out with a 15-foot birdie putt on 17 for a 2-and-1 victory.

“I wanted him, and I know he wanted me,” Woods said.

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Karrie Webb beat Dottie Pepper on the first hole of a playoff to win the AFLAC Champions tournament at Mobile, Ala., and clinch LPGA player-of-the-year honors for the second consecutive year.

The victory at Magnolia Grove’s Crossings Course, worth $122,000, was Webb’s seventh of the year on the LPGA tour.

Webb won the playoff with a two-putt par after Pepper got in trouble when her drive trickled into the rough, leaving her with a bad lie from which she could not advance the ball to the green.

Pepper closed with a 67 and Webb a 69 as they tied at 15-under 273. Nancy Scranton, the tournament leader for three days, shot a 72 and was one stroke back after a 72nd-hole bogey cost her a chance at the playoff.

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Hale Irwin shot a final-round, six-under-par 65 for a four-stroke victory over Joe Inman in the Kaanapali (Hawaii) Classic.

The Senior PGA victory gave Irwin four titles this season and 29 in six seasons on the older tour, tying Lee Trevino for the senior record.

Irwin finished with a 15-under 198 total, earning $165,000, to pass the $2-million mark for the fourth consecutive year at $2.09 million. Inman extended his bogey-free play to 91 holes, six short of the record.

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John Huston overcame a four-shot deficit with a final round six-under 65 to beat Carl Paulson by three strokes in the Tampa Bay Classic at Palm Harbor, Fla. Huston took the lead with a birdie at 16 and finished the 72-hole event at 13-under 271 after a 20-foot birdie on 18.