Sport
Tiger inching back: gets winning point
If there was any concern, it might have been Furyk.
Furyk had his worst full season since he was a rookie, failing to win a tournament or come even close, only securing a spot on the team in the final hour. He teamed with Phil Mickelson three times, Nick Watney once and was at his best by himself against Ernie Els to become only the fourth player to go 5-0 in the Presidents Cup.
The others were Woods in 2009, Shigeki Maruyama in 1998 and Mark O’Meara in 1996.
“Knowing Phil for as many years as I have, I’m guessing he asked to play with me, because I struggled so much this year and played poorly — the worst of anyone sitting up here right now,” Furyk said. “I assume that he asked to play with me because he felt like he could get a lot out of me this week, that maybe he could pump some confidence into me. And he did that.”
The Americans took a 13-9 lead into the final day, only the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup in 1999 at Brookline had come back from a deficit that large to win, and Couples decided to put his veterans at the back of the lineup.
There was early cause for concern.
K.T. Kim, Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Ryo Ishikawa built big leads early as the raucous Australian crowd came to life. Geoff Ogilvy knocked in a 60-foot putt on the 12th hole in the fourth match as the scoreboard filled up with blue numbers.
“I started to think, ‘Wow, this is going to be some day,'” Couples said.
But veterans Woods, Furyk, David Toms and Steve Stricker didn’t let him down. Stricker, competing for the first time in nearly two months because of a neck injury, closed out Y.E. Yang for the final point.
The Americans not only won the cup for the fourth straight time, but it was the third consecutive win by at least four points. They now lead the series 7-1-1 and earned a small measure of revenge for the last time Down Under.
