Decisions to make
Nicklaus ponders U.S. pairings
Posted: Tuesday December 08, 1998 12:32 PM
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Peter Thomson (left), captain of the international team, ponders a question from American team captain Jack Nicklaus AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Jack Nicklaus, while keeping his Presidents Cup pairings under wraps, did offer one hint -- Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods are better friends than they were partners in the Ryder Cup.
On Tuesday's bus ride over to Royal Melbourne for the first team practice, Nicklaus asked Woods about the three matches he played with O'Meara at Valderrama last year.
"He said, 'We felt like oil and water. We didn't do very well.' So probably the only thing you might find is they probably won't play together," Nicklaus said.
"That doesn't mean they won't," Nicklaus added. "I said probably won't."
O'Meara and Woods have played countless matches against each other at home in Orlando, Florida, and figured to be the dominant U.S. pairing at Valderrama. But they went 1-2 in their team matches.
They wound up defending themselves today.
"It wasn't like we were playing all that bad," O'Meara said. "Like Tiger said, these team efforts are very unique. You're taking players out of their normal elements, and that's where the difficulty lies. Normally, I'm out there trying to beat him, he's out there trying to beat me.
"Would we team well together? I think we would," O'Meara said. "I know his game probably as well as anybody playing on our team."
Asked whether he expected to be paired with O'Meara, Woods said only that "it's up to the captain."
Then again, the way this U.S. teams seems to mesh, it almost seems as if Nicklaus could simply draw names out of a hat and send them out to take on some of the blind tee shots, sloping fairways and mounded greens of Royal Melbourne. Every American has cup experience -- either a Presidents or a Ryder -- under his belt, and all of them are coming off strong seasons.
"Usually when there is a team, there is going to be four or five pure rookies, and there is none on this team," Nicklaus said. "I don't worry too much about that, anyway. If a guy has played well enough to earn his right on the team, he is obviously playing well this year."
That's the Nicklaus way. He has been asked about the Presidents Cup nearly everywhere he has been over the past six months, and has said he won't think too much about pairings until the matches near.
Tuesday was closer, but not close enough to reveal any secrets.
"I will know on Thursday what's on my mind," he said. "I'm not going to pay a whole lot of attention to it until then."
As for some of the pairings three days before the matches begin against the International team? Woods was paired with Fred Couples, and they took money off O'Meara and John Huston. Davis Love III went off with Justin Leonard, while Scott Hoch was with Lee Janzen.
Love is back in competition for the first time since he tweaked his back in the Shark Shootout four weeks ago. He decided to skip the Million Dollar Challenge last week in South Africa to be sure he was ready to go this week.
"I didn't want to miss this," Love said.
Love has a long history of being paired with Couples. They are 3-1 in best-ball matches in the Presidents Cup, although Couples said he was willing to tee it up with anyone.
"What you really need to do is play with someone you know and like, and if his game is different, I don't have any problem with that at all," Couples said.
The only other hint Nicklaus revealed stems from his own experience in the 1971 Ryder Cup when he and Dave Stockton were paired together in an alternate-shot match. Stockton was short and accurate off the tee, while Nicklaus was long and occasionally wild.
"I think unlike games sometimes come together, but they have a chance of being pretty far apart," Nicklaus said.
What Nicklaus recalls about that match is having to hit 2-irons from the fairway instead of 9-irons, while Stockton was hitting an 8-iron from the rough instead of a 3-iron from the fairway. They lost 3 and 2 to Brian Huggett and Tony Jacklin.
"I didn't think that was a very good combination," Nicklaus said. "I put that up in my head and said, 'Don't do that again, Jack."'
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