President's Cup, Day 1 Recap

The Americans lead the non-Americans by a score of 5.5 to 0.5 after day one. The only reason the Internationals - potentially - are even on the board is because of the concession of the final 3.5 foot putt on the last hole of the match between Weir/Singh and Mickelson/Austin. Here's the detail from the Toronto Sun:

With the International team's Vijay Singh facing a 3O-foot putt on the 18th green for a half, Nicklaus, the American captain, leaned into the ear of Phil Mickelson.

In a gesture of sportsmanship that has characterized his career, Nicklaus apparently told Mickelson and partner Woody Austin to concede Singh's putt, giving the Fijian and partner Mike Weir the half.

It would be the only scrap the Internationals could cling to yesterday. Well, that's the way Mickelson told it, anyway.

"Captain Nicklaus said for us to do it, and when he says do something, we just do it," said Mickelson. "If it was me, I don't know ... but (the putt) was too short, too perfect. I haven't seen (Singh) miss one of those in four or five years."

Nicklaus, however, had a different version of events, saying it was Mickelson's and Austin's decision to concede the putt.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," said the Golden Bear. "It's the spirit of the thing ... I think that Phil and Woody made the right decision. They both felt that Mike had played a good match and Mike being a Canadian and being here, that it was the right thing to do. They just felt they all played well and I thought ... I guess they felt there shouldn't be a loser in the match. I would say if it was the second, third or fourth round, we probably wouldn't do that."

Whoever conceded it, I think this shows two things:
1. Jack Nicklaus is a class act who is not out there to embarrass anyone, especially a man playing so hard in front of his home fans. Whether Nicklaus ordered Left Woody to make the concession or if he merely suggested it is moot. The point is that Nicklaus saw this was the classy thing to do and it got done - especially since fans were paying $350 to see the thing for the week.

2. The President's Cup is not within striking distance of the importance of the Ryder Cup. Were this a similar situation against Europe, I would bet my life savings that the putt would not be conceded. The level of rivarly in the Ryder Cup is to the point that I could imagine the Americans actually heckling the Euros while they putt.

The rest of the day, though, was pure American domination. There might be a good reason for that (and why the US gets slugged at the Ryder Cup): Captain Nicklaus. David Toms explains:

"He asks us who we want to play with and if we don't like something, he tells us to tell him. He just wants us to have fun," said Toms. "But then he'll remind us, 'You'll have more fun if you win.' "

Sounds like a guy I would want to play for, even if his name weren't Nicklaus. Maybe he should become the Ryder Cup captain instead, since that is more important. There are some people calling for that, and Jack has said that he would accept if he were called. (CALL HIM!)

In the end, it seems like only one thing really went wrong for the Americans on day one. Here it is from the AP copy:

The opening tee shots were in play at Royal Montreal when the strap on Hunter Mahan's bag came undone when caddie John Woods lifted it.

In what looked like an emergency rescue mission, a half-dozen officials scurried over to the bag to try to fix it. Woods simply picked it up by the handle and was on his way when an old friend bailed him out.

Jim Mackay, the looper for Phil Mickelson, showed how many times he's been around the block by pulling out a carabiner he keeps in his bag for such emergencies. Woods used the mountain climbing tool to fasten the strap back on the bag, and he was on his way.