Kim Not Bothered By García's Tactics

LOUISVILLE, Sept. 21-- Anthony Kim insisted Sunday that he had no problems with Sergio García's attempt to get relief out of what eventually was declared an unplayable lie at the sixth hole of their opening singles match.

García's drive landed in deep grass down the right side, and when he found his ball, he tried to take a stance that looked to be impeded by some stone steps behind him. He initially wanted relief to take a better stance, and at one point, Kim came over and said, "You gotta do what you gotta do," then added "You call that a normal stance?"

There was a long discussion as European Tour rules official John Paramour tried to explain to García his options, none of which included relief from the stone steps. Paramour told García he would not grant relief because, according to a statement released by tournament officials, "It was clearly unreasonable to play this stroke. García agreed. García then declared his ball unplayable."

Paramour helped García determine that he could take a drop for his next shot from the fairway. García hit his third shot from there on to the green, then missed a par-saving putt. Kim made par on the hole and took a 2-up lead on his way to a 5 and 4 victory.

Kim was asked about what appeared to be some gamesmanship on García's part several times during the match, but said afterward he had no complaints.

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

Poulter Impresses

Ian Poulter had been a controversial wild-card pick by European Captain Nick Faldo, but he justified Faldo's faith in him by posting a 4-1 record and leading his team in scoring with four points, including a 3 and 2 victory over Steve Stricker in singles Sunday.

"I feel a little bit of disappointment with not being able to take this trophy back for Nick," he said. "Yeah, I played great this week, but it's not just about an individual, this is about a whole team ."

Fans Irk Westwood

Englishman Lee Westwood was not happy with the some of the fans at Valhalla Golf Club, and particularly not pleased to get an anonymous telephone call in his hotel room at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

"All of the abuse I got [on the course Sunday] was fairly nasty, and that was pretty shameful. That was only a minority, and the crowds were great. I expected them to get behind the American team, which they did, but some people don't know the difference between supporting their team and abusing the opposition team, which is unfortunate."

What did the fans say?

"I'm not prepared to repeat it," he said. "One was a particularly nasty reference to my mother on the 12th tee."