Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 22

SPORTSM0MDAY THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC C6 MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2009 PRESIDENTS CUP PRESIDENTS CUP NOTES Wood lefty gets surprise visit keys U.S. win with perfect tourney ii.lll nw.iMir.il. I DAVID CANNONGETTY IMAGES U.S. captain Fred Couples (left) congratulates Tiger Woods after Woods earned the clinching point by defeating Y.E. Yang 6 and 5 on Sunday to win the Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

team that easily defeated the International team for the sixth time in eight tries. One went to Tiger Woods, one to Steve Strieker and one to Anthony Kim as a way to motivate the young player. And one was given to Amy Mickelson. Jordan was an unofficial assistant captain on the U.S. team, and he bonded with players from the moment they arrived in San Francisco.

He was a constant presence in a golf cart on the course and an even bigger presence in the team room and at team gatherings. Couples said the smartest thing he did after being named captain was bring Jordan aboard because he was a winner. And when asked if he had any advice to Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, he had just one thing to say. "Maybe sign up Michael Jordan." Pairing panic Couples never was obsessed with having the perfect pairing for the U.S. team, confident that his players were so good they could win no mat- ter who they played with or against When he did make the choices, he said he found it a lot easier than what he thought.

Then came the pairings for Sunday's singles matches, and suddenly the easygoing Couples was feeling uneasy. He thought International captain Greg Norman would try to front-load his pairings in an effort to win some early points since his team was down, and Couples had trouble adjusting when that didn't happen. "I woke up at about 3:30, and for three hours all I did was think, 'How are we going to do this and how are we going to do That's the only night of the whole week where I worried about anything." Turned out Couples could have rested easy. The first four matches ended in U.S. victory for an insurmountable lead.

The Americans won the singles session, 7-5. By Doug Ferguson Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO This was the 15th time Phil Mickelson has played in the Presidents Cup or the Ryder Cup, and the first time he came alone. His wife, Amy, is recovering from breast cancer and stayed home in San Diego. Or so he Mickelson had no idea when he returned to his hotel room Saturday night that his wife was hiding in the bathroom. "It was an incredible surprise," Mickelson said.

"I didn't think she was coming up, and she actually hid in the bathroom when I walked in the room. I didn't know she was there, and she scared me pretty good. It was an awesome surprise, though." It was a treat for the rest of the team, too. They had worn pink ribbons on their hats during the week to commemorate breast-cancer awareness. Players and wives alike were surprised to find Mickelson and his wife at the team dinner Saturday night.

"It was pretty neat," Mickelson said. "It was pretty emotional. Just everyone seeing each other was pretty cool." Amy Mickelson, who faces more tests over the next few weeks in Houston, did not make it out to Harding Park. Mickelson said she can only leave the room for a few hours at a time because of her medicine that saps her energy. "Couple good hours each day," he said.

She stayed behind in the hotel during the Sunday singles, when her husband won the final match on the course against Retief Goosen. She was waiting back in the team room for the celebration. "She looked great," U.S. captain Fred Couples said. "All the wives were excited." Jordan rules Michael Jordan helped the U.S.

team win the Presidents Cup. Then some players went home with his jersey. Couples handed out four limited-edition No. 23 jerseys to show his appreciation for a i 4 It Presidents Cup At San Francisco 7,137 yards, par 71 UNITED STATES 19 INTERNATIONAL 14 SUNDAY'S RESULTS Singles United States 7, International 5 Hunter Mahan, United States, def. Camilo Villegas, International, 2 and 1.

Stewart Cink, United States, def. Adam -Scott, International, 4 and 3. Mike Weir, International, halved with Justin Leonard, United States. Anthony Kim, United Stat, def. Robert Allenbv, International, 5 and 3.

Geoff Ogilvy, International, def. Steve Strieker, United States! 2 and 1. Sean O'Hair, United States, def. Ernie Els, International, 6 and 4. Ryo Ishikawa, International, def.

Kenny Perry, United States, 2 and 1. Tim Clark, International, def. Zach Johnson, United States, 4 and 3. Tiger Woods, United States, def. Y.E.

Yang, International, 6 and 5. Vijay Singh, International, halved with Lucas Glover, United States. Phil Mickelson, United States, def. Retief Goosen, International, 2 and 1. Angel Cabrera, International, def.

Jim Fu-ryk, United States, 4 and 3. Arizona residents and college golfers in bold. play early and put the first point on the board by overwhelming Adam Scott, a questionable captain's pick who contributed only one point for the week. Sean O'Hair and Anthony Kim followed with big victories of their own, and Hunter Mahan eventually won his leadoff match over Camilo Villegas of Colombia, the only player to get Tiger notches 5-0 mark, earns clinching point By Doug Ferguson Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Tiger Woods provided a fitting conclusion Sunday to a perfect week at the Presidents Cup, for him and an American team that remains perfect at home. With a flop shot out of the trees to set up one last birdie, Woods won the point that clinched the cup and made him only the third player in the Presidents Cup to win all five matches.

His 6-and-S victory over Y.E. Yang was a tiny token of revenge for Woods blowing a final-round lead to Yang in the PGA Championship this summer. Even so, it was the first time in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup that Woods earned the decisive point. And he didn't even know it. "Oh, perfect," Woods said, an apt choice of words.

"All I knew was I was trying to get my point, and I was 5 up trying to make it 6." Phil Mickelson wrapped up another anticlimactic finish with a 7-foot birdie putt For a 2-and-1 victory over Retief Goosen, leaving Lefty unbeaten (4-0-1) in the Presidents Cup for the second time in the past three contests. The Americans won 19'2-14'2, the same margin as last time against an overmatched International team. The United States leads 6-1-1 since the Presidents Cup began in 1994, and it improved to 5-0 on home soil, the previous four victories coming across the country in Virginia. "I'm sure we tried our best all week," Geoff Ogilvy said after his 2-and-l victory over Steve Strieker. "Coming in today we had too much to do, and the U.S.

team was obviously very motivated." British Open champion Stewart Cink, disgusted with his performance Saturday, asked to NASCAR SPRINT CUP Johnson Driver takes Pepsi 500, top spot in standings for 1st time this season By Will Graves Associated Press FONTANA, Calif. Jimmie Johnson sat in his No. 48 Chevrolet during a lengthy red-flag delay 6 laps from the finish at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday and worried he didn't have enough car to hold off Jeff Gordon. Gordon, second next to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, had no such fears. It's California.

It's the Chase. It's Johnson's time. "What else can you say? They're the best out there," Gordon said after Johnson roared away from the field to win the Pepsi 500 and take the lead in NASCAR's Chase for the Championship. "They've won the last three championships. They're going to be hard to beat for this MOTORSPORTS NOTES grabs Chase lead shut out at Harding Park.

That set the stage for Woods, whose performance has been mediocre since he started playing these team competitions in 1997. He won four holes in a five-hole stretch in the middle of the round, pouring in one birdie putt after another, then sealed it with a 9-foot birdie on the 13th hole. Woods went 5-0 for the week, joining Mark O'Meara (1996) and Shigeki Maruyama (1998) as the only players to win all five matches in the Presidents Cup. Woods has 18 victories, the most of any player in this event. U.S.

captain Fred Couples was the first to greet Woods with a hug. When Couples was appointed captain, he called Woods and jokingly asked for a big favor: Make the team so Couples wouldn't have to waste a captain's pick on the world's No. 1 player. What he didn't tell Woods were the expectations Couples had for him at Harding Park. "I needed him this is going to sound stupid to go 5-0," Couples said.

to stub our toes," he said. There was certainly a familiar feeling creeping in among Johnson's contenders after watching the native Californian stamp himself as the Chase favorite heading into the final six weeks. Juan Pablo Montoya was third, his fourth consecutive top-five finish since the Chase began. Yet he's failed to make up any ground on the Chase leader. He started the playoffs 40 points behind Martin, now finds himself trailing Johnson by 58.

While Johnson surged, several Chase contenders stumbled. Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers all saw their Chase hopes likely evaporate for good. Hamlin was leading with 60 laps to go when he collided with Montoya on a restart and finished 37th. After a debris caution bunched up the field, Kahne and Biffle collided with about 15 laps to go. Biffle ended up 20th while Kahne slid to 34th.

comeback NHRA Full Throttle Series world championship. In Top Fuel, Brandon Bernstein ended a more than two-year winless streak that spanned 52 races when he blew away An-tron Brown, 3.844 at 307.09 to 9.099 at 75.99. Brown, the regular-season champion who is now fourth, cut his deficit behind points leader Tony Schumacher from 120 to 81. In Funny Car, Del Worsham played spoiler with his milestone 25th career win over still-in-contention Tim Wilkerson, 4.091 at 305.98 to 4.179 at 81.13. Wilkerson moved up from eighth to fifth place on the day, but he still trails first-place Robert Hight by 82 points.

MARK J. TERRILLASSOCIATED PRESS Jimmie Johnson celebrates after winning the Sprint Cup Pepsi 500 on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. one. Really, unless they make a mistake, I don't see how they lose it." Johnson's fourth win at the 2-mile oval propelled him into the lead in the standings for the first time all season. He'll take a 12-point lead.

over Mark Martin into Saturday night's race at Charlotte. Given the way Johnson dominated the second half of the race while picking up his fifth Sprint Cup victory of the season and 45th of his career, don't expect him to give up the top spot he's made his own during his historic run easily. Johnson hardly is ready to declare himself the favorite to capture a record fourth consecutive title, not even after his 16th career Chase win. He enjoyed an uncharacteristically drawn-out postrace celebration at a track he loves, one that took so long he needed to be reminded to go to victory lane. "Today we did a good job of it, but there are still six more times the first caution-free and second-fastest race in series history.

It was Franchitti's second championship, and unlike after the first crown in 2007, he is not abandoning open-wheel racing, for NASCAR this time. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," Franchitti said. "In '07, there was a lot of satisfaction in getting that one done. And now to come back from where we were a year ago, I think that's what makes it sweeter." NHRA Pro Stock driver Mike Edwards went wire to wire at the NHRA Virginia Nationals in Dinwiddie, on Sunday, earning the maximum 150 points to all but clinch his first career Franchitti completes his MOTORSPORTS SCOREBOARD NASCAR Sprint Cup Pepsi 500 Fontana, Calif. Sunday's results 1.

(3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 250 laps, 148.5 rating, 195 points, $302,801. 2. (10) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 250, 117.2, 175, $211,426. 3. (4) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 250, 128.6, 170, $195,773.

4. (9) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 250, 114.8, 165, $136,625. 5. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 250, 92, 160, $143,248. 6.

(11) Carl Edwards, Ford, 250, 98.2, 150, $158,356. 7. (31) David Ragan, Ford, 250, 83.3, 146, $117,500. 8. (24) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 250, 102.6, 147, $121,925.

9. (8) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 250, 88.7, 138, $113,950. 10. (7) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 250, 104.8, 134, $142,828. 11.

(16) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 250, 94.2, 130, $121,525. 12. (22) Sam Hornish Dodge, 250, 72.9, 127, $120,810. 13. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 250, 79.3, 124, $144,340.

14. (6) Joey Logano, Toyota, 250, 80.3, 121, $144,951. 15. (36) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 250, 72.7, 118, $128,054. 16.

(14) David Stremme, Dodge, 250, 56.6, 115, $131,215. 17. (34) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 250, 51.9, 112, $105,575. 18. (42) David Reutimann, Toyota, 250, 67.2, 109, $121,348.

19. (40) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 250, 48.7, 111, $104,000. 20. (2) Greg Biffle, Ford, 250, 90.9, 103, $113,400. 21.

(21) Scott Speed, Toyota, 249, 58.6, 100, $109,373. 22. (5) Martin Truex Chevrolet, 249, 80.8, 102, $129,240. 23. (27) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 249, 63.5, 94, $106,773.

24. (19) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 248, 57.7, 91, $138,098. 25. (37) Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet, 248, 83.7, 88, $108,450. 26.

(35) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 247, 43.6, 85, $120,279. 27. (41) Paul Menard, Ford, 247, 46.4, 82, $122,906. 28. (26) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 247, 44.3, 79, $91,875.

29. (32) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 246, 62, 76, $117,593. 30. (18) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, accident, 245, 72.7, 73, $136,531. 31.

(28) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, accident, 244, 57.6, 70, $126,526. 32. (39) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, accident, 244, 47.3, 67, $97,100. 33. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, accident, 244, 57, 64, $90,000.

34. (25) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, accident, 244, 72.4, 61, $131,448. 35. (15) Max Papis, Toyota, 244, 29.8, 58, $89,950. 36.

(29) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 209, 44.1, 55, $96,900. 37. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, accident, 195, 95.8, 57, $123,050. 38. (38) Robby Gordon, Toyota, accident, 121, 42.1, 49, $107,560.

39. (13) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, electrical, 29, 31.6, 46, $88,750. 40. (43) Michael McDowell, Toyota, overheating, 25, 27.9, 43, $88,700. 41.

(33) Dave Blaney, Toyota, overheating, 22, 33.4, 40, $88,655. 42. (30) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, overheating, 13, 30.6, 37, $88,590. 43. (23) Mike Bliss, Dodge, engine, 11, 25.2, 34, $88,180.

RACE STATISTICS Average Speed of Race Winner: 143.908 mph. Time of Race: 3 hours, 28 minutes, 28 seconds. Margin of Victory; 1.603 seconds. Caution Flags: 8 for 30 laps. Lead Changes: 29 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: D.Hamlin 1-10; J.Johnson 11-24; J.Montoya 25-39; Ku.Busch 40-41; J.Johnson 42-43; J.Montoya 44-60; J.Johnson 61; J.Montoya 62-64; D.Hamlin 65-67; M.Martin 68-72; J.Montoya 73-81; J.Johnson 82; M.Truex Jr. 83-86; J.Montoya 87-114; J.Johnson 115-118; J.Andretti 119; D.Hamlin 120-124; J.Johnson 125-159; J.Montoya 160; J.Gordon 161; T.Stewart 162; J.Johnson 163-186; D.Hamlin 187-189; J.Montoya 190-194; J.Johnson 195-227; Ku.Busch 228; T.Stewart 229-233; J.Johnson 234-238; J.Gordon 239-243; J.Johnson 244-250. Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Johnson, 10 times for 126 laps; J.Montoya, 7 times for 78 laps; D.Hamlin, 4 times for 21 laps; J.Gordon, 2 times for 6 laps; T.Stewart, 2 times for 6 laps; M.Martin, 1 time for 5 laps; M.Truex 1 time for 4 laps; Ku.Busch, 2 times for 3 laps; J.Andretti, 1 time for 1 lap. Top 12 In Points: 1. J.Johnson 5,728 5,716 5,670 5,644 5,623 5,607 5,540 5,536 5,509 5,505 5,422 5,377 M.Martin 3.

J.Montoya 4. T.Stewart 5. J.Gordon 6. Ku.Busch 7. G.Biffle 8.

C.Edwards 9. D.Hamlin 10. R.Newman 11. K.Kahne 12. B.Vickers NASCAR Driver Rating Formula A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, ted Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Associated Press Dario Franchitti's path to another IndyCar series championship might have started when he broke his left ankle in a Nationwide Series crash last year at Talladega. Or when his NASCAR team was shut down. Or during an unplanned business dinner in Detroit. Or maybe even on Wall Street, when the financial markets tanked.

Really, all those events helped shape what happened at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday night, when Franchitti reclaimed his place as the IRL champion by winning the season-ending Firestone Indy 300,.