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Kim Led U.S. Charge By Defeating Garcia

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - From the moment Anthony Kim stepped on the first green and saw two golf balls within 2 feet of the cup, he made it clear he wasn't going to give Sergio Garcia anything Sunday in the Ryder Cup.

"Good, good?" Garcia asked, suggesting they concede the birdies.

"Let's putt them," Kim said.

Garcia rapped in his short birdie, and as he plucked his ball from the cup, picked up Kim's coin.

That set the tone for a testy opening match at Valhalla in which the only thing Kim gave Garcia was his worst loss in the Ryder Cup. Kim rarely conceded any putt and closed out Garcia with an 8-foot par on the 14th to win, 5 and 4.

"Sergio and I are good friends and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him," Kim said. "He's a great player and a great guy. But out there, we're out there to do business, and we battled all day. And now we can start being friends again."

It was an intriguing pairing between two of the best young players in golf: Garcia, the 28-year-old Spaniard who won The Players Championship and Kim, a 23-year-old from Los Angeles who won the Wachovia Championship and AT&T National.

They played the first two rounds of the PGA Championship and appeared to enjoy their time together. Kim, however, made it clear that he wanted a shot at Europe's best Ryder Cup player and was disappointed when he and Phil Mickelson didn't get Garcia and Lee Westwood in the opening match Friday.

Kim got his wish Sunday, and played like it.

He birdied the second hole from 3 feet to take the lead, then Garcia returned the silence on No. 4. The Spaniard pitched up to 2 feet, and Kim conceded the putt. Kim then pitched up to 2 1/2 feet and was forced to putt. Garcia walked to the back of the green and turned his back on Kim, walking off when he heard the cheer.

Kim was so excited with his par putt on the 14th that he didn't realize he had won the match.

"I wanted to come out here and give the fans what they wanted to see," Kim said. "I got chills up my spine the whole day."

Garcia, virtually unbeatable in team play, fell to 1-4-0 in singles. His only victory came against Phil Mickelson in 2004. This was the first time in his five Ryder Cups that he failed to win a match.

"It was a hard day because I played against a guy that played awesome," Garcia said. "It's hard when you're in those kind of situations, but unfortunately I just couldn't get anything right today."

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