Presidents Cup 2009: Allenby slams Kim as “loose cannon” and new John Daly

October 12, 10:58 AMBoston Golf ExaminerEmily Kay

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Sour grapes? After losing Presidents Cup singles match to Anthony Kim,
Robert Allenby rips U.S. player for carousing (Photo: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Was it sour grapes for Australia’s Robert Allenby, who lost his Presidents Cup singles match to Anthony Kim and promptly lit into his opponent for not being a team player?

• How does Anthony Kim look to you? Check out photos of Allenby and Kim during 2009 Presidents Cup

Allenby accused Kim, who routed Allenby, 5 and 3, on Sunday, of crawling back drunk to the U.S. team hotel at four in the morning Sunday, according to Golfweek.

“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby told the publication. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under.”

Allenby went so far as to compare Kim with a golfer known more for his off-course antics than his golf skills. Kim, according to Allenby, is the “current John Daly.”

Hmmm. It looks like it wasn’t all sportsmanship and camaraderie at last week’s Presidents Cup, after all.

Sore loser? Kim has acknowledged spotty behavior in the past and has referred to his “tough” year. The U.S. golfer reportedly cleaned up his act in  the last 12 months or so. 

Either way, Allenby challenged the Golfweek reporter to seek confirmation from Kim’s United States teammates. “Ask his playing partners. Ask his team,” Allenby said. “He is the loosest cannon in that team.”

Truth or dare. Golfweek corralled Kim, who denied Allenby’s allegations. Reports that he did not return to the hotel until 4 a.m. were “absolutely false,” Kim said. “I hope that was a joke.”

Also untrue were reports of tension between Kim and his Presidents Cup teammates, the 24-year-old, two-time PGA Tour winner said. He left the team room earlier in the week because he was feeling ill, Kim said, although an anonymous teammate told Golfweek that U.S. captain Fred Couples told Kim to “be more presentable” or go back to his room.

“Somebody went up to the room and got him, and he came down and had a blast,” Couples said to Golfweek. “He’s so much younger than everybody else. He certainly doesn’t want to hang around with [49-year-old] Kenny Perry and me."

Couples did acknowledge that Kim did not settle in immediately. “I just told him, ‘You know, it’s just the team room. Come on and eat and go home,’” Couples continued. “I don’t expect him to sit and talk to the wives. . . . He was good. It took a day. That’s all it took. We picked on him a little bit and... Michael [Jordan, an assistant captain] said, ‘Just let him go, and he’ll come back to you.’”

Ticked off. Whatever Kim allegedly did or didn’t do, one thing’s for sure: Allenby was not at all happy that a hung-over or completely sober Kim thoroughly punished him in singles play.

“I’m just pissed off that I lost to him,” Allenby said to Golfweek. “Maybe I should have gone out with him.”

Kim, for his part, had some helpful advice for his International team adversary. 

“If Robert had that to say,” Kim told Golfweek, “he may need to go practice a little bit more.”

Check out the complete Presidents Cup scoring summary at pgatour.com.

Most of Presidents Cup week was awash in team play and good sportsmanship. Read about Vijay Singh’s selfless act at Good sport Singh shows class.

Smack and twirl: Tiger Woods drills a classic 230-yard Tiger shot to the 18th green to win his Presidents Cup foursome match with Steve Stricker: