Presidents Cup day one: Americans in the driving seat

How’s that for openers? And who said the US doesn’t do team competitions? This might not be my favourite event, but that was as compelling a day’s golf as I’ve come across in a while. The Americans really did seem fired up for the job.

Worldgolf.com’s Brandon Tucker brought up an interesting take on this after chatting to Charlie Hoffman at the Viking Classic. Hoffman thinks the point of the FedEx Cup was to get the American guys together and instill some camaraderie. I think the actual point of the FedEx was to generate some increased public interest at the end of the season, but if a bit of US bonding comes with it that’s a big plus.

Yet for all that the Americans almost got away with a whitewash, the matches were surprisingly close, with only two failing to go the distance. Best match of all was undoubtedly the Phil Mickelson-Vijay Singh foursome, with the conceded putt to halve the match a great touch at the end. I think Vijay knows who Lefty is now. As they say in the colder parts of Scotland, what goes around comes around.

Early days yet, but the Internationals have it all to do to get back in this. Based on Thursday’s performances, the Americans again look to be in the driving seat.

Mickelson paired with Hunter Mahan looks an especially potent brew and we all know how much Tiger Woods loves playing with Jim Furyk. However, to give the Europeans some hope, I would look to Rory Sabbatini possibly striking back with Trevor Immelman, Ernie Els getting on top of his putter to better effect, and Adam Scott being a little less wayward in his pairing with the indomitable K J Choi. If Geoff Ogilvy can tighten things up his pairing with Nick O’Hern could be an interesting one too.

Meanwhile, down at the Viking Classic, are we in for another horses for courses story? Defending champion D J Trahan is clearly up for a scrap, which is more than he has been in his recent outings. Leader Briny Baird is going to have to watch out for a lot of challengers, not least John Senden picking up where he left off last week. In fact Baird’s price of just under 7 looks far too skinny to me and worth taking on. But things are already looking glum for favourite Carl Pettersson, 8 shots off the pace with three holes still to complete from his first round.