Woods offers apology but no sympathy in crushing win
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tiger Woods was left to apologize for a heckler after he and Steve Stricker crushed their International opponents to earn the U.S. a victory in the opening foursomes at the Presidents Cup on Thursday.
A scowling Woods had shook his head after first a ringing cell phone and then a rowdy fan disrupted play at the third hole of their match against Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Australian Geoff Ogilvy.
But Woods offered no more than sympathy as the American duo destroyed their opponents mercilessly, winning 6&4.
The featured matchup of the opening day took on a charged atmosphere more generally associated with the Ryder Cup when Ogilvy was set to attempt an eight-foot putt to halve the third hole.
A ringing cell phone forced Ogilvy to back off his putt five times, bringing angry calls from the Australian's caddie for the gallery to turn off their phones.
When a flustered Ogilvy was finally about to make the shot a heckler shouted "miss it" and the ball rolled past the lip, triggering outrage from the huge gallery.
"It was one of the marshals who had a cell phone and it kept going off," said Woods, who apologized to Ogilvy after the incident. "The only part that was intentional was the guy yelling out, which was absolutely uncalled for.
"This is not what golf is all about. This is not what this team event is all about.
"We all felt bad for Geoff because that's not the situation you want to be put in and unfortunately he was in it."
Ogilvy and teenager Ishikawa never appeared to recover from that episode as Woods and Stricker went two up, racking up four birdies on the first six holes in a bogey-free round.
"We didn't give these guys a chance to get into the match, we put the hammer down pretty good," said Woods after watching his foursomes record improve to 8-2-1.
The rout was a disappointing result in a marquee match-up with Woods taking on 18-year-old Ishikawa, the youngest player to compete in a Presidents Cup.
Trailed by a horde of Japanese reporters and photographers, Ishikawa was the man in the media spotlight but it was Woods the fans had come to see, providing the world number one with a rousing welcome during first tee introductions.
The foursome attracted massive galleries and the attention of celebrities, including former U.S. President George Bush Sr., basketball great Jerry West and disgraced baseball home run king Barry Bonds, who joined the media inside the ropes.
They watched Woods, the winner of 14 majors, provide Ishikawa with a Presidents Cup master class.
"I think they know they ran into a buzz saw," said International captain Greg Norman. "There's not much you can do about it. When you get behind the eight ball and you have two great putters like they are, one and two in the world, it's going to be hard to come back from that.
"When I saw Ryo a couple of times, once on the sixth hole, and then the eighth and ninth hole, I just told him, "this is a part of golf."
"This is a learning curve. Understand that this is a learning curve and it's going to be good for you in the long run.
"You might feel pretty bad right now because he felt bad. He felt uncomfortable being in that position, no question."
(Editing by Ossian Shine)
