Golf: Captains opt to get Woods v Scott sideshow out of the way early

Greg Norman admits he wanted to get today's titillating Presidents Cup match up between Adam Scott and Tiger Woods out of the way in case they meet in a potentially decisive singles match on Sunday.

International team captain Norman and USA counterpart Fred Couples gave golf watchers worldwide the clash they wanted when they pitted the pair against each other in the opening day foursomes at Royal Melbourne.

It is a prospect much discussed since Scott's caddie Steve Williams referred to Woods, the former boss who sacked him, as a "black arsehole" at a caddies' function in China recently.

While it looks blatantly contrived, both Norman and Couples claimed the matching of Scott and partner KJ Choi against Americans Woods and Steve Stricker was pure coincidence when they produced it yesterday.

Norman said he talked about it only with his assistants Frank Nobilo and Tim Clark, but it seems unlikely his wish to play a Scott-Woods match early in the event could have been achieved without Couples' co-operation.

"We [he, Nobilo and Clark] said if we had to defuse anything and just get this thing over and done with, wouldn't you rather have it sooner rather than later?" Norman said.

"Because I personally wouldn't have wanted to be sitting down at the singles and everybody is playing a really tight match and it comes down to the last group or the second last group and all the pressure is coming on because it's the first time the two met."

A further suggestion of premeditation came during the draw process in which the respective captains took turns to pit one pair against the other's.

They could have placed either Scott or Woods into any of the six matches but both left them till the last one.

"It needed to be done," Norman said. "I think it's great for the tournament. It is not premeditated ... I never had a conversation with Freddie about it."

Couples agreed: "We did not plan anything, but I think it worked out awesome for everybody involved to have Tiger and Adam play."

Williams apologised for his comment and met with Woods last week, with Woods saying he was hurt but didn't believe Williams was a racist and he would put the issue behind him.

Whether he is ready to forgive Williams yet wasn't clear.

- AAP