Golf Presidents Cup

Time for damage control.

On Wednesday Anthony Kim and Robert Allenby released statements through the PGA Tour. So did tour vice president Rick George.

The need to calm a ruckus resulted from comments attributed to Allenby following Sunday's lopsided American victory at the Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

Nothing sucks worse than getting beat by a guy you think you should handle. In golf, that can happen in the worst of ways, like having an overweight 50-something take you out or some guy that looks like he's barely touched Golf Pride in his life on the first tee.

Or, in the words of Robert Allenby, you could get beat by a guy 5 and 3 that "Get(s) home at 4 o'clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6-under." Yep, that is what Allenby said of Anthony Kim after the American's singles match victory over Allenby on Sunday at the Presidents Cup. According to Allenby, Kim was seen returning to the hotel at 4AM early Sunday morning, five hours before his tee off time and, well, drunker than a skunk.

Allenby wasn't amused, and lashed out at the 24-year-old Kim.

For the last big event of the 2009 season, the Presidents Cup gave us more drama than the score might appear. A captain's pick failing to win a point (Gasp!). An 18-year-old rookie stealing the show for the losing team (Wow!). And, as you probably expected, the number one golfer in the world doing exactly what he does, week in and week out. So who left Harding Park a winner, and who will look back at this event wishing it never happened?

SAN FRANCISCO -- If there are three iron-clad certainties in golf, you have to figure close behind the balls having dimples and Tiger Woods having it all, comes the United States having its way in the Presidents Cup.

The Internationals came, they played, they got thumped.

Once more, without a lot of feeling.

Any drama a cold, gloomy-gray Sunday at Harding Park Golf Club hoped to generate, could not possibly have vanished any quicker.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- What if they threw a golf tournament and a Miss America Pageant broke out?

Such was the Presidents Cup, which again had so many hugs and kisses you expected Fred Couples would be presented a tiara and scepter at the closing ceremony.

A good time was had by all at Harding Park, which was not a good thing. If the Presidents Cup is ever going to matter, it needs a little less self-adoration and a little more animosity.

By matter, I mean give viewers a reason to click over from the NFL on an October afternoon. The average American sports fan is conditioned to expect a couple of simple things -- the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Failing those, how about a little suspense? The U.S. was so dominant I was afraid Barack Obama was going to call and apologize to the International team.

For all the things Tiger Woods has done in his career, he had never stood over a putt to clinch a team match ... until Sunday. Eying a birdie putt on the par-4 13th, Tiger needed to do what he'd done all week at the Presidents Cup, and when the ball disappeared, it was another feather in the hat of Mr. Woods and a turkey leg for the Americans.

The victory for the Americans was their third in a row, and Tiger left Harding Park, the site of his 2005 American Express Championship victory, 5-0, only the third time anyone has even finished the Presidents Cup with such a flawless record.

Of course, it wasn't all Tiger.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tiger Woods debuted this week as the first billion-dollar athlete. If that thought left you bemused, perplexed or angry, Woods showed Saturday why people throw money at him.

He's worth it.

Example No. 3,539 -- With the International team losing its grip on the Presidents Cup, he made a 24-foot putt to tie his match on the 17th hole. His next swing was a 229-yard laser that ended up 15 feet from the hole.

The International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark literally surrendered.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods had just improved their Presidents Cup record together this week to 4-0 and were about to do the obligatory network interview Saturday evening when a leather-lunged voice from bleachers behind 16 green stopped everything.

"Wisconsin and Stanford in the Rose Bowl!!"

Sticker laughed out loud. Even Woods, who can ignore a marching band, turned to look into the stands, shook his head in disbelief and responded with a smile. Some things just are not going to happen, but this week at Harding Park Golf Club the loud guy was on the right track. Stricker, a big cheese in Wisconsin, and Woods, the Stanford dropout, are the granddaddy of all golf pairings.

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He is Tiger Woods, and sometimes, it seems we forget this. He wins six events in 2009 and we complain about his performances at the majors. He is one of the better match play golfers to ever wrap his hands around a cord grip, yet we worry about his team record.

And then he goes and does stuff like he did Saturday morning at Harding Park in San Francisco, and we remember, this guy is so good at golf it's sickening. Playing alongside Steve Stricker for the third time this week at the Presidents Cup, Woods and Stricker found themselves in trouble. Serious trouble. Needing a 22-footer for birdie on 17 just to say in the match, Tiger eyed the putt with the International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark in tight for birdie.

Woods' putt looked like it might be short the whole way, but one more revolution lead to the biggest Woods fist pump since the 2005 chip-in at Augusta National and a breath of air to Fred Couples' A team. Weir missed the short birdie, and the match went to 18 all square.

There, Tiger did something only Tiger can do.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The greatest shots in Presidents Cup history? No, not a chance. All the same, Justin Leonard played them perfectly.

Let's talk shot making.

He drained them.

"It was knowing I needed to come out and play well today," he said.

Leonard teamed with Phil Mickelson for Friday's Presidents Cup second round and played top shelf. He birdied the first hole to get the American twosome going in the best-ball competition. He kept pounding until finally rolling in a 12-footer at No. 16 to finish off the International team of Retief Goosen and Adam Scott 3 and 2.

It was a performance instrumental in allowing the United State to lead 6½-5½ going into Saturday's third round.