FanHouse Robert Allenby

CASARES, Spain (AP) -- Ross Fisher beat Anthony Kim 4 and 3 on Sunday to win the 36-hole World Match Play Championship final.

Fisher eagled the 22nd hole and birdied the next to take a 3-up lead at the Finca Cortesin golf course. Kim won the next hole before missing short putts at the next two, then squandering several chances to win holes down the stretch.

"Fortunately the putter finally got a little bit hot," said Fisher, who became the fourth Englishman to win the event. "It was slow to get going but when I needed some crucial putts, there were some really good putts I holed today."

Fisher never trailed his American opponent as the first 18 holes were played in cool, overcast conditions. The sun finally came out in the afternoon.

So much for Robert Allenby taking advantage of a rested Anthony Kim. Playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup -- where Allenby bashed Kim for partying too much and being a loose cannon and compared him to John Daly, even though the American smoked the Australian in the singles matches -- Kim again took Allenby down in Spain.

This time, it was at the Volvo Match Play Championships, and Kim won 5 and 4 on Saturday in the 36-hole semifinals match, giving Kim ownership over Allenby in both matches this season.

How did Kim take down Allenby? Well, just as you'd expect from the confident American.

In a rematch that is sure to disappoint bar owners in Caseras, Spain, Anthony Kim and Robert Allenby are set to square off in the World Match Play Semifinals on Saturday, giving us a much-needed golf treat during the offseason.

As you probably remember, Kim and Allenby played against each other at the Presidents Cup earlier this month during the Sunday singles matches, with Kim defeating Allenby 5 and 3, only to have the Australian rip Kim for partying the night before their match.

Time for damage control.

On Wednesday Anthony Kim and Robert Allenby released statements through the PGA Tour. So did tour vice president Rick George.

The need to calm a ruckus resulted from comments attributed to Allenby following Sunday's lopsided American victory at the Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

Nothing sucks worse than getting beat by a guy you think you should handle. In golf, that can happen in the worst of ways, like having an overweight 50-something take you out or some guy that looks like he's barely touched Golf Pride in his life on the first tee.

Or, in the words of Robert Allenby, you could get beat by a guy 5 and 3 that "Get(s) home at 4 o'clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6-under." Yep, that is what Allenby said of Anthony Kim after the American's singles match victory over Allenby on Sunday at the Presidents Cup. According to Allenby, Kim was seen returning to the hotel at 4AM early Sunday morning, five hours before his tee off time and, well, drunker than a skunk.

Allenby wasn't amused, and lashed out at the 24-year-old Kim.

SAN FRANCISCO -- If there are three iron-clad certainties in golf, you have to figure close behind the balls having dimples and Tiger Woods having it all, comes the United States having its way in the Presidents Cup.

The Internationals came, they played, they got thumped.

Once more, without a lot of feeling.

Any drama a cold, gloomy-gray Sunday at Harding Park Golf Club hoped to generate, could not possibly have vanished any quicker.

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For all the things Tiger Woods has done in his career, he had never stood over a putt to clinch a team match ... until Sunday. Eying a birdie putt on the par-4 13th, Tiger needed to do what he'd done all week at the Presidents Cup, and when the ball disappeared, it was another feather in the hat of Mr. Woods and a turkey leg for the Americans.

The victory for the Americans was their third in a row, and Tiger left Harding Park, the site of his 2005 American Express Championship victory, 5-0, only the third time anyone has even finished the Presidents Cup with such a flawless record.

Of course, it wasn't all Tiger.

He is Tiger Woods, and sometimes, it seems we forget this. He wins six events in 2009 and we complain about his performances at the majors. He is one of the better match play golfers to ever wrap his hands around a cord grip, yet we worry about his team record.

And then he goes and does stuff like he did Saturday morning at Harding Park in San Francisco, and we remember, this guy is so good at golf it's sickening. Playing alongside Steve Stricker for the third time this week at the Presidents Cup, Woods and Stricker found themselves in trouble. Serious trouble. Needing a 22-footer for birdie on 17 just to say in the match, Tiger eyed the putt with the International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark in tight for birdie.

Woods' putt looked like it might be short the whole way, but one more revolution lead to the biggest Woods fist pump since the 2005 chip-in at Augusta National and a breath of air to Fred Couples' A team. Weir missed the short birdie, and the match went to 18 all square.

There, Tiger did something only Tiger can do.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The greatest shots in Presidents Cup history? No, not a chance. All the same, Justin Leonard played them perfectly.

Let's talk shot making.

He drained them.

"It was knowing I needed to come out and play well today," he said.

Leonard teamed with Phil Mickelson for Friday's Presidents Cup second round and played top shelf. He birdied the first hole to get the American twosome going in the best-ball competition. He kept pounding until finally rolling in a 12-footer at No. 16 to finish off the International team of Retief Goosen and Adam Scott 3 and 2.

It was a performance instrumental in allowing the United State to lead 6½-5½ going into Saturday's third round.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The eighth Presidents Cup begins play Thursday afternoon at Harding Park Golf Club, but the action started Wednesday when team captains, American Fred Couples and International Greg Norman, matched twosomes for six first-round foursome matches.

The alternate-shot competition will begin at 12:10 p.m. PDT with the International pairing of Canadian Mike Weir and South African Tim Clark taking on Americans Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.

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