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Official Pin Flag from the 2005 Presidents Cup autographed in black marker by former Presidents George Bush and Barbara Bush. A very unique addition to any golf collection. Unframed.
Sold with Certificates of Authenticity from both The Autograph Source (Lifetime Guarantee) and independent third-party authenticator Global Authentication.
RECAP OF THE 2005 PRESIDENTS CUP:
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Chris DiMarco was flattered, not flustered when Jack Nicklaus decided to send him out last in the singles competition on Sunday at The Presidents Cup.
“To tell you the truth, I thought our team was going to come out and do so good that my match wouldn’t even matter,” he said.
For a while, it looked like DiMarco would be right. The Americans won four of the first five matches at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Sunday to break what began as a tie open in a big way.
The comfort zone was short-lived, though. By the time DiMarco and Stuart Appleby came to the 18th green, the U.S. held a tenuous 17-15 lead, Phil Mickelson was in a playoff with Angel Cabrera and the disposition of The Presidents Cup hung squarely in the balance.
In a moment DiMarco would later describe as “pure exhilaration” he made the 15-footer that gave the Americans their first win in an international team competition since 2000. He greeted it with a fist pump and then cast his arms skyward in jubilation as the Americans celebrated the 18 ½-15 ½ win.
“My caddie says go ahead and hit that putt,” said DiMarco, who had hit a heroic shot from the rough, standing in a bunker, just to get there. “It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for your whole life. Go ahead and do it, and you know, I did.
“I did it for 13 other guys counting (Jeff) Sluman and Mr. Nicklaus -- let alone the whole country. It’s unbelievable. We needed this Cup, we needed it. We really did. When people get down on us and say we don’t care, I can tell you one thing, we care.”
Had DiMarco not made the putt, he and Appleby would have joined Mickelson and Cabrera in sudden death. Until The Presidents Cup is clinched, singles matches that are all square after 18 holes are played to a conclusion rather than halved.
“For Chris to win it was just so fitting this week,” said Mickelson, who had partnered DiMarco to three wins and a halve in Foursomes and Four-ball this week. “Even though he won it for us, I still felt that pressure on 18, and I take away a memory and a finish that I’ll always remember. ...
“It’s not just the winning, it’s the sharing of the week. It’s the process of each match. It’s the shots throughout the match, the things that were said, the camaraderie that was felt, and it’s amazing how these relationships last throughout our careers.”
With the Internationals trailing by two points and two matches remaining on the course, though, the possibility of a second straight tie had loomed large. Until DiMarco stepped up and rolled in a putt he said he was so nervous over that he was afraid he might whiff, that is.
“Any time you have two Presidents Cups in a row and you go to the 18th green, I mean, golf is the winner,” International Team Captain Gary Player said. “It was absolutely unbelievable.
“DiMarco’s 3 on No. 18 -- he was there in the trap with the ball above him and to get a birdie you have to take your hat off to him. He is some competitor.”
DiMarco’s match was the third to reach the 18th hole on Sunday -- and the United States made birdie in all three to win twice and halve the other. Fred Couples’ 21-footer turned back his old nemesis Vijay Singh while Mickelson’s 5-footer sent a match that saw the last five holes won with birdies to extra innings.
All three brought the partisan crowd to its collective feet, eliciting chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A.” But DiMarco’s was the punctuation mark for the team in an individual showdown that saw neither player lead by more than one hole -- and the American rally from 1 down with two remaining.
Captain Jack Nicklaus and the winning U.S. Team. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
Captain Jack Nicklaus and the winning U.S. Team. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
“It was a great match today,” Appleby said graciously. “Chris just played a tiny bit more solid, and I had to weather the storm. I just kept hanging in there. I knew it was match play -- be aggressive, be aggressive.
“I knew the guy was putting great, doing everything great. It was a real thrill. Chris and I have had some good matches, but this was by far the best.”
As had been the case throughout the tight competition -- where no team trailed by more than a point -- Sunday’s singles were a veritable highlight reel of stellar shots.
Witness the wedge to 4 inches that polished off Kenny Perry’s 4 and 3 victory over Mark Hensby -- giving the American his first points of the week. Or David Toms’ seven birdies, as he finally got untracked and beat Trevor Immelman 2 and 1.
“To come up the fairway, everybody chanting ‘U-S-A’ -- it gave me goosebumps,” Perry said. “Just brought tears to my eyes. I’ve never experienced anything like that in all of my years on the golf course.”
Almost lost in the exciting ending was the hard-fought match between the Nos. 1 and 5 players in the world -- Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen, won by the South African 2 and 1 for the first International point of the afternoon.
“I had opportunities to take control of the match,” said Woods, who wrenched his back en route to a bogey on the 17th hole that gave Goosen the victory. “I just didn’t make the putts. Goose made a bunch of them on me and consequently, he won the match.”
Like Mickelson and DiMarco, Goosen didn’t lose a match this week at The Presidents Cup. He won three and halved one playing with Adam Scott. Only Shigeki Maruyama has won more when he went 5-0 in the Internationals’ lone victory at Royal Melbourne in 1998.
“I’ve been putting very well all week, seeing the greens very well,” said Goosen, who won two of his last three individual starts. “I started playing better in the last few events. It was nice to have a good week.”
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