Presidents Cup 2007

From Golf Digest
See how you match up in these 10 match-play situations

By Jack Nicklaus, Golf Digest Playing Editor, with Guy Yocom, Golf Digest, September 2004

As a captain of two Ryder Cup teams and a player on six others, I’ve learned from hard and happy experience some of the finer points of match-play strategy. Team play is fascinating on two distinct levels. The captain is charged with formulating two-man teams in the foursomes (alternate-shot) and four-balls (best-ball) competitions, and sending out players in just the right order in the singles matches. The challenge is an art as much as a science, and the captain relies on intuition, input from the team and observation of his players.

Then there is the tactical side, which rests mostly with the players during the course of the matches. Who hits first in the foursomes matches? Who putts first? Do you let your partner go for a dangerous par 5 in two or insist that he lay up? Which putts do you concede, and which partner concedes them? These are questions no captain or player has mastered completely and never will, because every match, every player and every situation is a bit different.

The following quiz reflects the subjective nature of team play, which I’ll encounter again next year when I captain my third Presidents Cup team. Some of the answers are hard and fast, others are arbitrary. If you answer more than half of them correctly—and there are a couple you won’t miss even if you disagree with me—you might make a good captain. Or at least a heckuva partner in your next weekend match.

1. One player has a 20-foot putt for birdie, his partner a six-footer for par. Who putts first?
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From Sports Illustrated

Dave Stockton, who captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory in 1991, says the key to winning in team golf is chemistry. “It’s not who’s the hottest golfer,” he says, “it’s who fits in the best.” SI asked a dozen other past and present Ryder and Presidents cuppers what they thought were the keys to victory and came up with this list of laws.

I. Thou Shalt Be Compatible
This sounds too simple to be important, but it was the No. 1 factor given by the players and captains for what makes a good pairing. You don’t have to be best friends, they said, but you have to be friendly and communicate. “You have to be comfortable,” says Jim Furyk. “You need to be excited with your pairing and say, ‘Gee, I can’t wait to play this match.’” Gee, if it’s that straight forward, how come we had to endure Woods-Mickelson last time around?

II. Thou Shalt Find the Right Partner for Tiger
Woods has a disappointing Ryder Cup record (5-10-1) in team matches, partly because he hasn’t found a soulmate while burning through 10 partners. The Americans think they found the answer — Furyk — at last year’s Presidents Cup, during which the pair was unbeaten in three matches. “Tiger and Furyk go about things similarly,” says Jerry Kelly. “They don’t talk much. They simply play their game. Furyk is seething to win. So is Tiger.”
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