by G. Rennie
Wednesday was laid back and relaxed at Muirfield Village Golf Club, host venue for the 2013 President’s Cup, a tangible reflection of the easy cool of the USA team Captain, Fred Couples. Gray skies gave way to sun and high temps as players from both squads practiced in foursomes on a low key day before the competition kicks off late Thursday morning with six fourball matches.
My brother and I caught an American grouping of Tiger, Strick, Kuuuuch and Spieth on 9 green and
followed them for a few holes. Playing in alternate shot format until they reached the green (where each golfer putted and chipped to multiple spots on each green) these guys seemed to be having a ball, joking easily with each other. But the ball striking was serious as could be. Tiger blistered a fairway metal from the 11th fairway, going for the green not with the expected high cut but with a high draw up and over trees fronting the right side of the green. It rolled to kick in eagle range. Why not? Tiger has won the on this course more than any other pro, so he wasn’t surprised.
Next up was the deceptively tough par 3 twelfth hole, playing about 175 yards into the wind. No problem for Tour Wunderkind Jordan Spieth as he hit 7 iron onto the green and into the hole for an ace!
Spieth and Stricker were matched against Woods and Kuchar and you could figure that an ace would spur them to victory in their little money game but it didn’t. As Spieth explained in his afternoon media interview “We didn’t win the match. They made eagle on 7and 11”.
I was standing ten feet from Speith as he answered questions for the dozen or so media types and scribes in the MediaInterviewCenter. I stood with unexpected media credentials slung around my neck. Despite the great shot making on the course, this was the most notable surprise of my day. Thanks, Bro.
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