Kim catches Allenby off-guard in Presidents Cup win

October 12, 2009, 3:30pm

SAN FRANCISCO, October 11, 2009 (AFP) - Aussie Robert Allenby wasn't expecting American opponent Anthony Kim to be in the best of shape for their Presidents Cup singles clash on Sunday.

But Allenby was in for a rude shock, because he was completely outplayed by Kim, who won 5 and 3 at Harding Park.

Kim posted his best performance off the tee all week, hitting six of 10 fairways, while Allenby struggled with his driver and finished with four bogeys.

"I’m just pissed off that I lost," Allenby said. "Maybe I should have the attitude of Anthony Kim, get home at 4am and go play. Maybe I should have gone out with him."

Asked why he thought Kim had been out until the wee hours on the eve of a crucial match, Allenby said some friends had told him they saw the American "come in sideways".

But Kim vehemently denied Allenby’s allegation.

"I hope he was joking," said Kim, who said he had attended his team dinner and not been out on the town.

Allenby also claimed that several spectators at Harding Park had subjected him and other players on the losing International team to verbal abuse.

"I’d say 50 guys got thrown out this week for abusing us," Allenby continued.

"They were offensive towards us a little bit. It was like playing the US Open at Bethpage.

"There was a lot of stuff on every hole, every day. That’s the trouble with alcohol at sporting events."

International captain Greg Norman made similar allegations, although it didn't seem to dim his pleasure in the event, which pits the US against a team drawn from everywhere in the world except Europe.

"You guys probably don’t hear it, but if you walked around and heard some of the stuff, you would be amazed," Norman said.

"It really is tough. You have to be a very strong, focused individual to really block out a lot of the things that we hear.

"But that’s part of (being) a team, whether you play soccer, or cricket, or rugby, or anything. If you’re only doing it once every two years, it’s pretty hard to get adjusted to it."