Fred Couples eagled the first hole at windswept St Andrews to start the United States to a victory over Japan as it began its defense of the $1.5 Dunhill Cup on Thursday.
After both Tom Kite and Curtis Strange had dropped strokes to trail their Japanese opponents, Couples chipped in from 150 yards with a seven-iron for a two.Kite shot a 3-over-par 75 to lose by one to Nobuo Serizawa. Strange, a stroke down with three to play, took advantage of a double bogey six by Tomohiro Maruyama to shoot a 78 and win by two.
Couples, by contrast, was in charge all day thanks to his eagle and clinched a 2-1 victory by five strokes after a 75 against Yoshinori Mizumaki.
"I hit it about 8 inches from the hole and it went right in," Couples said. "I was trying to put it past the pin. It was a great way to start."
In other highlights on the opening day, PGA titlist and British Open champion Nick Price beat two-time Masters winner Bernhard Langer in the Zimbabwe-Germany match, and Paraguay came close to upsetting Scotland for the second year in a row. This time, the Scots won 2-1, but needed a playoff to do it.
The real winner was the wind. Gusts of up to 51 mph swept across the home of golf to make good shots look bad and club selection a lottery.
"Without doubt it was the toughest wind I have ever played in," said Strange.
Price believed that had the tournament been regular stroke play instead of a team event, play would have stopped.
"At one stage, I put my coin down ready to pick the ball up and it rolled away. Exactly the same thing happened to Bernhard at the next hole," the Zimbabwean said.
"It was crazy out there," said U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, who shot an 81 yet still won his match against China's Yeh Chang Ting in South Africa's 2-1 victory.
"I don't think I have played in conditions like that before."
None of the 48 players broke par and Australia's Greg Norman, Ireland's Darren Clarke and New Zealander Greg Turner were the only players to match par 72.
In other opening day matches, Sweden edged Canada 2-1, England overpowered Spain 3-0, Australia downed France 2-1, Scotland beat Paraguay 2-1 and New Zealand scored a 2-1 victory over Ireland.
Round robin group matches also will be played Friday and Saturday and the winners will advance to the semifinal and final Sunday.
Price shot a 76 to beat Langer as Zimbabwe edged the Germans 2-1. Germany's Alexander Cejka shot 76 to beat Tony Johnstone by five but Mark McNulty's 76 clinched victory for Zimbabwe, beating Sven Struver by six.
Last year, Paraguay scored a 2-1 victory over the Scots, who have never won this 10-year-old event despite hosting it every year.
If the Scots were worried of a repeat of last year's nightmare loss to Paraguay, the famous Swilcan burn which runs in front of the first green, came to their rescue.
Paraguay's Raul Fretes, one of the heros of last year's triumph, managed to find it twice. Playing against debut-making 23-year-old Andrew Coltart, Fretes dropped his second shot straight into the burn, dropped a penalty shot, and then needed two putts for a triple bogey seven.
Coltart won the extra hole to tie the match after Gordon Brand Jr. had lost to Angel Franco by five, and then Scottish captain Colin Montgomerie scored a one-stroke victory over Carlos Franco despite a 78.
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In La Boulie, France, 18-year-old Tiger Woods struggled before salvaging a 1-under par 70 as the U.S. team grabbed the lead at the Men's World Amateur Championship.
The Americans finished at 5-under 208 to head the 45-nation field by two shots. Sweden was second.
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In Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Rick Fehr and Bob Lohr shot 9-under-par 63s to share the first-round lead in the $1.1 million Disney Classic.
Buddy Gardner and Brad Bryant were one shot back.