USA whitewash Internationals 5-0 on day one

About 30 minutes before the Presidents Cup began, Michael Campbell laid down the challenge by doing the Haka, a traditional war dance of his native Maori tribe in New Zealand.

The Americans responded with a ritual of their own -- beating the International team like a drum at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Led by the brilliant play of its rookies and clutch putts from Tiger Woods, the United States got off to a perfect start today by winning all five alternate-shot matches, never once trailing in three of them.

"You always hope for the best, but in my wildest dreams I could not have expected 5-0," U.S. captain Ken Venturi said. "We had great shots at the right time.''

More than anything, they were on the right course.

The 5-0 lead is the same start the Americans had in the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994 at RTJ, the colorful tree-lined course on Lake Manassas. Two years later, they had a 4-1 lead after the opening session, and went on to win.

"It was a bit of a shocker,'' International captain Peter Thomson said. "They've all got to pull their socks up and play a little better.''

It was a far cry from Australia two years ago. The Americans suffered their worst loss ever in team match play, 20 1/2-11 1/2, and some questioned whether they cared about this cup.

That wasn't the case today.

"We're very happy to be here, and motivated to win,'' Tom Lehman said.

Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett, both playing in their first team competition, made seven birdies in 17 holes for a 3-and-2 victory over International rookies Mike Weir of Canada and Retief Goosen of South Africa.

"I set him up with a lot of birdies and he drained them all," Cink said. Fittingly, Triplett closed out the match with a 40-foot birdie putt.

The other U.S. rookie, Notah Begay, also won his match -- and not just because his partner was Woods, his former teammate at Stanford University. Begay sealed their 1-up victory over Ernie Els and Vijay Singh with an approach into 10 feet on the 18th.

But it was Woods who turned back any hope of a great comeback from the International team's best two players, atoning for an errant tee shot on the 16th with the kind of putt he has been making throughout his record-smashing season.

Clinging to a 1-up lead, Begay chipped from under a tree well past the pin, but the ball came back down the slope to about 20 feet.

"I just hit a terrible shot,'' Woods said. "And then Notah hit a great shot out of there, just put it on the green. And I told him the job was done, I'm going to make it."

Woods made the par putt for a halve of the hole, ramming his fist toward the cup as it fell. He and Begay slapped hands sideways and tapped fists.

"I got a little excited," Woods said with a sheepish grin.

The most excited anyone got on another otherwise tame afternoon was Campbell, and he didn't even play.

On the practice range before the matches began, the International team huddled around as Campbell did the Haka, squatting and hopping, slapping his knees rhythmically and shouting chants.

"The Haka means that we're challenging our opponents," Campbell said. "Basically, it means we are rising, rising, rising ... above the clouds."

Then they teed off, and it wasn't long before the International team started sinking, sinking, sinking into a deficit they're used to facing at RTJ.

"It was at one time a war dance, and was designed to scare off the opposition,'' Thomson said. "I don't think it had that effect.''

The Americans applauded when Campbell was finished, then gave the gallery something even better to cheer -- great shots and timely putts, a crushing blow to an International team trying to prove it can win on American soil.

"They laid down the challenge, and we accepted,'' Lehman said.

Mickelson and Lehman won six straight holes against two Aussies joined at the hip - -Steve Elkington and Greg Norman, who each had innovative hip surgery this year.

"We should get a refund,'' Norman joked.

This was no laughing matter.

The Aussies, 3-0-1 two years ago at Royal Melbourne, were 6 over par after the first eight holes and lost 5 and 4 in a bizarre match with only the final hole halved.

The other Australia duo, Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby, led after the second hole until Hal Sutton and Jim Furyk won three straight holes and hung on for a 1-up victory.

Nick Price and Carlos Franco also took a brief lead on the second hole over David Duval and Davis Love III. It was the closest match of the day until Duval made a 10-foot birdie on the 14th and Love hit it close on the 15th for a 2-up lead and command of the match.

Woods and Begay never trailed in their match and applied the pressure quickly when Woods hit a sand wedge from 83 yards that hopped over the ridge of the first green and skidded to a halt about 18 inches from the cup.

Singh, meanwhile, hit his drive 50 yards left of the fairway, causing Els to say to him, "A little pumped up there?''

They walked off the 10th hole still looking for their first birdie, 3 down in the match. They finally won their first hole when Singh hit it close on the par-3 11th, and Woods missed an 8-foot putt.

They won the next two holes and had momentum on their side. But Begay turned it around with a 3-wood from 215 yards that narrowly cleared the water on the par-5 14th, setting up a two-putt birdie.

Singh opted to lay up from the rough, and he failed to make a 10-foot birdie putt.

He and Els never made up the difference, as Woods made a 6-footer for par to halve the 15th and then made his big putt on the 16th.

"We've got a long way to go,'' Els said. "Obviously, we didn't get off to the start we wanted. The boys will come out fighting. We've got 36 holes tomorrow, and we can get it all back."

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