Rookies at The Presidents Cup 

As a big South Park fan, Rory is often heard singing “Blame Canada, Blame Canada.” But after The Presidents Cup in Montreal, I am certain the tune will sound more like the country’s anthem: “Oh Canada, Oh Canada!” 

What an amazing and memorable week we spent there. We were lucky to have so much family share the event with us, but were so busy with team events we barely saw them. I wish someone would have let the rookies in on that scheduling secret, but nevertheless … it was spectacular!   

I assume it would have felt better had we won, but it just didn’t seem like we lost. I was so proud of The International players. They went into the final round believing they still had a chance at rewriting history. They were the underdogs but had confidence they could come out on top.   

As wives, and team cheerleaders, we felt a need to get the crowd on the side of our guys during the final round. Hence, the hockey jerseys you may have seen on the television broadcast. Mike Weir’s wife provided us with our “Team Canada” uniforms on Sunday, and boy did they incite the crowds!   

The true winners at the Cup were definitely the spectators. Never have I seen more polite golf fans. They clapped at every great shot, international or American.  Never have I seen a crowd so supportive of Rory. (I even joked that maybe we should consider moving to Canada!)   

At the end of the day, silver medals in tow, we settled in our hotel for a relatively tame team dinner. Most everyone in the room spoke from their hearts and thanked Captain Player, who at one point played a song and danced with his wife Vivienne. The song was Willie Nelson’s famed tune, “On the Road Again.” And with that, the team began discussions of how to reclaim the Cup in San Francisco in 2009. Always the consummate competitors. Pull up your bootstraps, learn from your mistakes, and have a short memory!  That’s why these guys are good!      

P.S. Montreal — quelle ville merveilleuse!

Amy’s pre-TOUR Championship Blog

Math was never my strong suit… but there I am, sitting outside a pizza joint in suburban Chicago on

Sunday evening, crunching the numbers … doing the math … recalculating … analyzing …

Most would just wait … wait for the media to spit out the numbers and hope they were correct. But waiting is not Sabbatini-esque. I needed to know before we left on a two-hour flight to “Hot-lanta.” (Our first-date was in Atlanta, but that’s another story.)

Finally, as our entourage inhaled the last slice of deep-dish pie, I gave them the good news: ”It’s possible!”

To win the FedExCup, we have to win The TOUR Championship and Tiger has to finish outside 12th.

As I told Rory this, he kind of chuckled and said, “So you mean we have to break his legs and steal his clubs?”

Obviously, Rory was playfully acknowledging the huge task ahead of him. He wants to be Number One, and to do that he must beat Number One.

It wasn’t long ago Vijay climbed to that spot. Anything is possible with a lot of hard work and a little luck.

Rory has climbed to Number 10 this week in the rankings, and he is working harder than ever. I reminded him exactly what that means: “Rory, at this moment, there are only nine guys in the whole world better than you at your job.”

Sabo is pretty tired. Playing eight out of nine weeks will wear you down. He spent most of Monday lounging on the couch at our friends’ house in Atlanta … however trainer Jeff Banaszak managed to get a workout session out of him. (We have just hired Jeff on fulltime.)

We were glad to learn they would be opening practice rounds after all this week. It’s a tragedy that the season-ending finale will be played on less-than-perfect greens because putting on irregular surfaces can bring a greater element of luck into a tournament. The good news is everyone is in the same boat.

There are only five guys who have a mathematical chance to win the Cup. That means we have a 20% chance of winning $11 million plus (the $1.26 million TOUR Championship first prize and the $10 million FedExCup bonus).

We have a pretty raucous crowd coming in for this event and I can’t wait.

Regardless of the outcome, this week is just whipped topping on the ice cream of a great season. I’d love to finish with $11 million chocolate sprinkles on top … and Rory as the 1^st ever FedExCup Champion.

You must always hope! Now that’s Sabbatini-esque!