I know he is going to have no cake-walk in the Ericsson for I understand Suny

I know he is going to have no cake-walk in the Ericsson for I understand Suny Bay will be running.
“But we have to expect to take on top-class horses if we want to beat them and eventually win the Gold Cup.”Florida Bay can’t afford to need the Leopardstown race for we want to win. WILLIE MULLINS, the trainer of the Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite, Florida Pearl, yesterday had some ominous words for his rivals as he prepares the gelding for his first run of the season in the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown on 28 December. “He is more forward now than he was at this time last year,” Mullins said. “He recently had a schooling hurdle at Punchestown and he looked really good. Non-playing captain: P Thomson (Aus).AMERICA: M Calcavecchia, F Couples, D Duval, J Furyk, S Hoch, J Huston, L Janzen, J Leonard, D Love, M O’Meara, P Mickelson, T Woods Non-playing captain: J Nicklaus..

They have a really strong team, but this is the best team we have had and this time we are at home.”INTERNATIONALS: S Appleby (Aus), S Elkington (Aus), E Els (SA), C Franco (Par), S Maruyama (Jap), F Nobilo (NZ), G Norman (Aus), J Ozaki (Jap), C Parry (Aus), N Price (Zim), V Singh (Fij), G Turner (NZ). Another match-up might be Fred Couples against Vijay Singh, the pair who were involved in the crucial game two years ago.The American holed a 35-footer to clinch a one-point victory but irritated his opponent with a jig across the green into the arms of his team-mates when Singh still had a putt to keep the match alive. “It is going to be as close again,” said Steve Elkington, one of four Australians on the international team who know the Royal Melbourne lay-out well “It will come down to a holed putt or chip. Neither do the captains put in their order in isolation from his opposite number.

Instead there is the pantomime of one captain choosing a player or pairing, and the other responding before getting first choice in the next match.Already the speculation is that Woods will play either Greg Norman, who was determined to recover from shoulder surgery in time for the event, or Nick Price, who beat the American in a play-off at Sun City last week. “Isn’t the Tasman Sea between here and Tasmania?” Nicklaus had queried.The President’s Cup, unlike the Ryder Cup, is set up more for the players, and they will each donate a share of the proceeds to the charity of their choice.Extended daylight allows for five foursomes and fourballs to be played on each of the first two days, meaning only two players sit out a session from each side, but other modifications have the hint of a “made-for-TV” event.Each player must play each day while “halved” singles have to go to extra holes until one team is assured of victory.There can be no such thing as a tie in the overall match; should the score be level at 16-16 after all 32 games have finished, one player from each side will be nominated for a sudden-death play-off. “He’s playing in the cricket game,” said Thomson, to the bemusement of Nicklaus, whose knowledge of either Steve or Mark Waugh is as great as his local geography. “I can tell already the atmosphere is a little different from the Ryder Cup,” Woods said “To me it is more how it should be. The Ryder Cup is treated by the media like life and death but it should just be a friendly match.”This is not the first time Woods has voiced his concerns about the biggest event in the game and when asked if he was looking forward to next year’s match with Europe he replied: “N.