International Team Rebounds At Presidents Cup

MONTREAL _ Some sanity has returned to the Presidents Cup. <br/><br/>Vijay Singh and Stuart Appelby handed Tiger Woods his worst-ever match play loss as a professional on Friday and sparked a stirring

Friday, September 28th 2007, 7:50 am

By: News On 6

MONTREAL _ Some sanity has returned to the Presidents Cup.

Vijay Singh and Stuart Appelby handed Tiger Woods his worst-ever match play loss as a professional on Friday and sparked a stirring International comeback.

They narrowed the U.S. Team's overall lead to 7-5 _ something that seemed totally unlikely when the Internationals fell five points behind after the first session.

``We needed some sanity today,'' said Appelby. ``We got totally cleaned yesterday.''

They match that got it started seemed totally insane.

Singh and Appelby played 14 holes of better ball in 11-under par and dusted Woods and Jim Furyk 5 and 4. Woods had never before been on the losing end of a match that didn't make it to the 15th hole at a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

Two of the world's top golfers simply had no answer for their lower-ranked opponents. Singh holed a bunker shot at the first for birdie before making an eagle from the fairway at the par-5 sixth. Appelby later eagled the par-5 12th by sinking a 32-foot putt.

``We needed the point,'' said Singh. ``We needed something to boost our guys up.''

It seemed to work.

The momentum carried over on a day where there were so many amazing shots that fans must have felt like they were watching video game golf.

Mike Weir got in on the act while playing with Ernie Els and had the crowd at Royal Montreal rocking. The Canadian lefty made seven birdies in 17 holes as he and Els beat Charles Howell III and Zach Johnson 3 and 1.

``He played some just amazing golf today,'' said Els.

There shouldn't be any questioning Weir's selection as a captain's pick now. He's 1-0-1 and has served as the inspiration of the International Team.

Fans sang impromptu renditions of O Canada while Weir walked the fairways and one even stopped his wife Bricia to have her sign an autograph. Weir embraced the attention and struck quality shots all day long.

``I couldn't ask to play much better,'' he said.

Every member of the International Team brought up his game.

Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera saw their match reach the 18th hole, which was very unkind to the Internationals on Thursday. But Cabrera erased any bad memories by rolling in an 11-foot putt birdie putt that secured the hole and a 1-up victory over Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan.

Nick O'Hern and Geoff Ogilvy battled Americans Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover all day long. That match also reached the final green, where Ogilvy made a four-foot birdie putt to secure another 1-up win.

The final group of the day also reached No. 18. Americans Woody Austin and David Toms had won the two holes before that to get back to all square with Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini.

Austin, who had earlier fallen in a lake, then hit an approach shot close at the finishing hole and Sabbatini followed with one of his own. They each sunk the birdie putts for the lone halved match of the afternoon.

The only American team to win a full point was Steve Stricker and Scott Verplank. They defeated Adam Scott and K.J. Choi 2 and 1.

In the end, the International Team took 4 1/2 of six points from the second session. It was exactly what they needed.

``We knew we had to dig deep today,'' said Weir. ``I think people were counting us out a little quickly.''