Presidents Cup day 1: Plenty of surprises?

I like the idea that every golfer plays every day. I also like the extension of the team event to four days … three or two days are way too brief for the festival that these events should be. The Presidents Cup lacks only the jingoism of “us versus them.”

After day one, I was caught off-guard by a few of the surprises. I wasn’t stunned that Steve and Tiger played like dirt and lost. Steve is injured, no matter what he says, and will be lucky to earn a single point. Dude should have manned up and let Keegan play. Tiger is Tiger and will win at least two points this week. Tiger coming back from … everything is way more challenging than Phil playing with brand new clubs a few Ryder Cups ago.

I wasn’t surprised by the Mahan-Toms shellacking of Kim and Yang. Yang’s whining about Royal Mel’s greens took him mentally out of the week (see Stricker footnote above) while Kim is a rookie, for goodness’ sake. Should have paired Kim with Choi for calm and Yang with Scott. Then, Scott’s caddie could have told Yang to shut his pie hole and quit whining.

I guess I wasn’t surprised by the battle of the old guys. Mickelson and Furyk are certainly capable of defeating Goosen and Allenby. Allenby is one of those Receiver3 (Tommy Armour III, JD Blake, et al.) kind of guys who go hot once every two years and cold the rest.

I was surprised by Haas/Watney coming back with two birds in the final 4 holes to saw off versus Ogilvy and Schwartzel. Didn’t think they had it in them, but hey, that’s what happens on the big stage.

Simpson and Watson might be the most successful law firm, errr, partnership of the last three years. Two guys who like each other, at the top of their games.