Norman hopes to replicate team spirit from 1998 win

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Peter Thomson, the only victorious Internationals team captain, dropped in to Royal Melbourne golf club yesterday. So did holidaying Geoff Ogilvy who yearns to walk those fairways, drenched in hometown adulation, this time next year.

These iconic Australian players from vastly contrasting golfing generations were drawn together when the Presidents Cup returned to the venue where Thomson's eclectic mix of nationalities hoisted the gold cup skywards in triumph 12 years ago.

The five-times British Open champion and Ogilvy were content to remain in the background as current captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman stopped off on the way to the Australian Open in Sydney later this week to officially launch the Presidents Cup's Aussie rerun in mid-November 2011.

"From a sportsperson's point of view, there's no better place to play than in Melbourne. Just the atmosphere that's created,'' Norman said.

"What is it, the people, the golf courses or just the fact that support for sport in this state is different to everywhere else? It's a combination and an honor to come here and play golf because I don't care whether you're Fred Couples or Greg Norman or Tiger Woods, everybody gets a tremendous amount of support. We feel it's fun to come back and play golf here.''

Couples was an experienced member of that only U.S. team to surrender the Presidents Cup and he warned of the enormity of the task again before climbing into a golf cart with Norman to inspect a new par-three hole to be incorporated into the famed Composite layout - a combination of holes from the club's East and West courses.

"This is a world-class course. It's in the top three of my all-time favorites with St. Andrews and Augusta, but I'm not playing and we have a lot of work. We didn't even make a match of it in 1998, we weren't even in the ball-game, so this time as a captain it will be my job to ensure everyone is ready at that time,'' Couples said.

"When we lost to these guys last time, they were just better. I don't think it was because we were not on our games, they were just much better players. Last time at Harding Park, my guys were phenomenal, (Steve) Stricker, Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson) were our leaders and that's what you need when we come here. We have to have our best players play well otherwise we'll be in trouble again.''

Even after more than a decade, Couples vividly recalled the exhilaration teaming with Tiger to smash Ernie Els and Vijay Singh in a foursomes match and then the frustrations of a wayward putter in a last hole loss with Woods again to Australian Craig Parry and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama the following morning.

"I've never played a tournament here where Thursday through Sunday, it's just jam-packed with fans. And that's what we all want. I just remember the fans were incredible. I think we were behind every single round, but you go away thinking this is some great golf course,'' he said.

And the unflappable U.S. captain was momentarily taken aback by the seemingly improbable but, under the circumstances, perfectly legitimate query ... was there the possibility of no Tiger on the team this time?

"It has not even crossed my mind,'' Couples replied. "I think he's working hard on his game. He has slipped a little bit, but he's definitely the leader of our team and probably the best U.S. player and he'll be on the team for sure.''

Norman wants to replicate the sense of belonging that became Thomson's glue for the Internationals' resounding win at Royal Melbourne in 1998.

"Golf is such an individual sport and when you get high up on the tree and you're competing like Freddy and I were in the 80s, you walk in the locker room and sometimes you want to sit down and have breakfast with a guy before you tee off and just have idle chitchat. And there's guys who want to cut your throat even before you walk onto the first tee,'' Norman said.

"But get us in a team spirit and it's the total opposite. Guys who have been like a recluse now want to be involved. They voice their opinions, spouses are involved. The media and the general public don't get to see it, which is a bit of a shame because you see the true spirit of the individual come out in the locker room. That's the best part of being captain.

"The hardest thing for the international players is to pull everyone together under the one flag. It's easy when you've got the Stars and Stripes, so what does the international team represent? I try to instill into the players that we have to do it for the rest of the world. It's an interesting dynamic.

"And I think it's a little more difficult for us going into 2011 because the Americans won't want to lose the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. So you know they have a bit more stimulus to go out and win the Presidents Cup.''