Jersey City, United States: The International team may leave Liberty National Golf Club without a Presidents Cup crown on Sunday, but they won’t leave without their spirit, captain Nick Price vowed.
After a three-day pounding by the United States, the Internationals would have to win all 12 of Sunday’s singles matches to win the biennial match play tournament.
The Americans lead 14.5 to 3.5 — with the Internationals mustering just two wins so far in fourball and foursomes matches.
“It’s been very difficult,” said Zimbabwe’s Price, who was hoping for a change of fortunes in his third stint as captain.
The Internationals have won the Cup just once, in 1998, while the Americans have won nine of the prior 11 editions with one drawn.
“There’s an outside shot tomorrow and the guys all know that,” Price said without much conviction.
“They are going to go play for their pride, they are going to play for themselves, they are going to play for the team, and they are going to play for us.
“They are going to do their best.
“You’re not going to be able to take the spirit away from our team, that’s for sure.”
After eight matches on Saturday Price was again left to wonder why his players couldn’t maintain the leads they built in matches. In each of the day’s four-match sessions the Internationals were up in three matches early on, only to falter.
It was the same story over the first two days, and Price was at a loss to explain it.
“We’ve just had no momentum,” he said. “I don’t know how you get that. The American team has made a lot of putts. They have hit great shots.
“Every time we had an opportunity to do something, we seemed to take the wrong road or the wrong direction.”
He said he and his four assistant captains had “racked our brains” to come up with pairings that could change things.
“It seems like everything we tried kind of backfired on us,” he said.
For all of Price’s faith in his players’ spirit, Australian Jason Day sounded dejected at the thought of turning up for what promised to be a humbling Sunday.
“We have to somehow get up for it,” he said. “We can’t just pack our bags and go. We have to come out and play for a participation trophy tomorrow.” — AFP
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