By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- This is a team event. This is when golf makes it "us'' against "them,'' country against country, or more specifically in the Presidents Cup, one country, the United States, against a group of them combined, Australia and Japan, South Africa and South America.
And yet this four-day competition held at a muni course on the western edge of San Francisco, Harding Park, a muni course that is not very far from the San Andreas Fault and very near the Pacific Ocean is not much different than most tournaments.
It's all about Tiger Woods.
He's only one player on a 12-man American team, a group that includes Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and two of this year's major champions, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink. But as always, Tiger is a majority of one.
He's the focus. He's the main man. In press conferences, where he's practically invisible behind a wall of television cameras. On the fairways, where his galleries dwarf those of other players.
Tiger brings them in. Michael Jordan, his pal, is an unofficial assistant captain, chosen by Fred Couples as much because he is Tiger's confidant as anything else, is at Harding. So is Barry Bonds, back in the area where he grew up and played. So is the great Jerry West, a scratch golfer himself.
The event is special. San Francisco knows its place among the globe's chosen cities. Narcissism is not exactly unknown among the citizenry. When there's news breaking, no matter what the story and where the location, the live shot is always of someone standing with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Unless it's the Bay Bridge in the background.
But this Presidents Cup is special. Because in the last 20 years, since the Earthquake World Series, there have been only two notable sporting events that actually took place in the region: the 1998 U.S. Open and the 2002 World Series.
And because Tiger Woods is playing.
He once went to school at Stanford, but that was 13 years ago, before the legend had been established. Tiger doesn't come around here very much any more. But he's here now. So is the Presidents Cup.
On Day 1, Thursday, Woods teamed with Steve Stricker, who might be described as the anti-Tiger. Stricker is pure Midwest, quiet, unassuming, content to play the game and earn his money. A good guy. A very good golfer. But not the sort who has fans chanting his name. As they chant Tiger's.
Northern California weather can be mysterious. You're familiar with the line that Mark Twain probably didn't say but no matter who did say it is wonderfully accurate, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.''
Earlier in the week it was among the warmest autumns anyone had ever spent in San Francisco. But the fog and chill arrived just before the first tee time. So there was Tiger, who doesn't like long sleeves because they restrict his swing, in a long-sleeve sweater.
Bright red. For the U.S.A. But, as locals noted, for Stanford.
Team golf is a bizarre animal. There's four-ball or better ball, in which two guys from, say, the U.S. play two guys from the Internationals. All four balls are in play. And the golfer who takes the fewest strokes wins the hole for his team.
But on Thursday, the game was foursomes, or alternate shots. That meant Tiger hit the drive, then Stricker the next shot, then Tiger the next shot and so on until the one ball they were playing was holed out. It's a form of torture when your teammate hits into a bunker or the rough and you are forced to make up for his wildness.
When John McEnroe still was active, the toss-out line around tennis was that the best doubles team in the world was McEnroe and whoever was his partner that day. Same thing, in foursomes, with Tiger.
In the match-play format, meaning every hole is a separate entity and a match is over when one side leads by more holes than remain, Woods and Stricker overwhelmed Geoff Ogilvy and Ryo Ishikawa, 6 and 4. That's like beating someone by three touchdowns.
Woods now has the best foursomes record of anyone in the nine years of Presidents Cup play, eight wins, two losses and a half.
"I felt a little extra pressure going out today,'' said Stricker. "I was comfortable having Tiger as a partner, but I wanted to make sure he was comfortable having me as a partner because I didn't want to feel he had to hold up my end as well as his end.''
Tiger Woods will hold up both ends and the middle. He's a big reason the Presidents Cup is a sellout. He's a big reason the U.S. has the first-day lead.
"Where's Tiger?'' some breathless fan asked when he and Stricker were still in the distance.
Where's Tiger? Where he always is. By himself in the world of sport.
As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.
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