International team win its first Presidents Cup

MELBOURNE, Australia - Nobody wanted another War on the Shore. Nobody expected a Massacre in Melbourne.

A hungry and relentless International team made short work of the United States on a rainy Sunday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, winning the first two singles matches to clinch its first Presidents Cup and the first one played on International soil.

Craig Parry, who pulled off one of several stunning shots that carried the International team to a 14½-5½ lead after two days, steamrolled past Justin Leonard for a 5 and 3 victory. Thirty minutes later, Nick Price polished off David Duval 2 and 1, and the celebration was on.

The Americans were leading most of the singles matches when the loudest roar of the week rang out across Royal Melbourne.

No matter. Barring a late charge - something they haven't had all week - the Americans were headed for their worst loss ever in a cup.

Jim Furyk won his first match of the week, 4 and 2 over Frank Nobilo, and Scott Hoch beat Joe Ozaki 4 and 3. Phil Mickelson needed a birdie on the last hole to halve his match with Carlos Franco of Paraguay.

Tiger Woods and Greg Norman were tied with five holes to play. With six of the 12 singles matches completed, the International lead was 18-7. Only 16 1/2 points were required to win.

International captain Peter Thomson described the U.S. team as the ''greatest collection of golfers in the world'' during the opening ceremonies. Not this week. And particularly not at Royal Melbourne.

The worst loss by the United States in the Ryder Cup was 16½-1½ in 1985 at The Belfry, the start of European domination. Could the Presidents Cup be headed down the same path?

''After the 1996 matches, the International team wanted to show that they're as good a group of players as any in the world,'' said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. ''I think they demonstrated that.''

The Presidents Cup was born in 1994 to give foreign players born outside Europe a chance to compete in matches styled after the Ryder Cup. The Americans won the first two played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

Norman and the International team campaigned hard for the matches to leave the United States, and now the Americans know why.

''What a great feeling for us, especially after the last two times,'' Price said after Duval conceded his par on the 17th hole.

Despite the move to Australia, both sides said these matches would not take on the war-like mentality of the Ryder Cup since Europe started winning in 1985.

No worries.

The United States barely managed to put up a fight, despite having the top four players in the world rankings and eight of the top 15 on their side.

''I'm so proud of our guys,'' Price said. ''They played their tails off this week, from No. 1 right down to No. 12.''

Indeed, from the time Nobilo sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th to give the International team its first point of the matches on Friday, the Americans were never in the game.

The Americans needed a miracle on Sunday and instead got the same old story: putts breaking away from the cup at the last minute, the International putts falling right in the heart.

Parry, who grew up in Melbourne and has played the course under every imaginable condition, never trailed in his match against Leonard and took control in typical fashion. After Leonard hit a wedge to three feet on the fifth hole, Parry dunked a 20-footer, and all Leonard could manage was to halve the hole.

Parry made another 20-foot birdie hole on the sixth, then went 3-up on the next hole when Leonard three-putted from about 30 feet.

Right behind, Duval was tasting a similar fate.

He had a 4-foot birdie putt on the fifth to square his match with Price, but it somehow slid by on the left. Price went 2-up on the seventh with a 25-foot birdie putt and never looked back.

Duval made only two birdies, both on par-5s, and conceded the match when yet another 20-footer was off line.

Price gave a high-five to his caddie, threw his ball into the crowd and hugged assistant captain Wayne Grady before shaking hands with Jack Nicklaus, a losing captain once again.

Nicklaus was in charge of the U.S. team when it became the first to lose a Ryder Cup on American soil. These matches were played on Thomson's home turf, and he was beaming.

''This is the greatest thing I've ever done,'' Thomson said.

Thomson melded together a team that came from all over the world, from Japan to Fiji to Paraguay, and six players from Down Under.

It may have started two years ago in a cabin at the Robert Trent Jones course, where the International team had an emotional meeting and vowed that next time the Presidents Cup would be different.

And it was - different country, different outcome.

''We had a sour taste in our mouths from last time,'' Parry said. ''We wanted to have champagne in our mouths tonight.''

Pour the biggest drink for Shigeki Maruyama, the might mite from Japan who went 5-0 this week against some of the biggest names in golf - team victories over Woods and Fred Couples and Tiger Woods, Duval and Mickelson, and a 3 and 2 singles victory over John Huston.

And he wasn't the only unknown star.

Franco, who barely earned his PGA Tour card at qualifying school two weeks ago, made his first contribution of the Presidents Cup by halving his match with Mickelson, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour.

''We've had a great week,'' Price said. ''I think we surprised ourselves.''

The Americans had no excuses and offered none.

''They just played so well,'' Duval said.

The Americans have been through this before. A year ago at Valderrama, they were upset by Europe in the Ryder Cup in matches that came down to which team could read the greens, which team could make the putts.

Once again, the Americans were helpless, hopeless and cupless.

By The Associated Press

TRW 07:22 13/12/98