Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel treated themselves to some of the amenities at the Presidents Cup when a barber came to their team room to give haircuts to half the team.
The barber won 2-up.
''Louis and myself, we were guinea pigs,'' Schwartzel said. ''He went first and basically lost all his hair. And then I figured I just needed a little touch-up on the sides, and I ended up losing all my hair. None of the other guys volunteered to go.''
Oosthuizen sheepishly removed his cap to show what the U.S. Golf Association might term a ''closely mown area'' over the ears.
''It didn't work out as well as we thought,'' Oosthuizen said. ''We ended up shaving everything off. Walking into the team room last night, the two of us, we looked like we came straight out of the Army. This morning, waking up and looking at each other, we just laughed.''
Schwartzel's hair was even shorter.
''I didn't even recognize Charl when I walked in the room,'' Ernie Els said. ''It was like, `What the hell happened to you?' They don't even cut out hair like that in the Army back in the day.''
Oosthuizen thought it would at least count toward team spirit. If it's any consolation, most of the U.S. team got crew cuts on the Saturday night of the 1999 Ryder Cup, and then they produced the greatest comeback in history by rallying from a 10-6 deficit at The Country Club.
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TIGER AND DUF: Jason Dufner believes he's being selfish by asking to be Tiger Woods' partner during some of the team matches at the Presidents Cup.
''He's the greatest player in the world, maybe the greatest of all time,'' Dufner said. ''I can say I was his partner in the Presidents Cup.''
It would be the 10th partner Woods has had in the Presidents Cup, and 19th when adding the Ryder Cup.
Oddly enough, it was his first pairing with Woods as a pro that first taught Dufner how to handle large crowds.
Woods was the top draw at the 2009 Australian Masters at Kingston Heath, which featured record crowds and an atmosphere as big as any major championship that year. Dufner was between stops in China and Japan, and IMG provided the unheralded American a sponsor's exemption to the Australian Masters.
They were paired in the third round - Dufner had a 71, Woods a 72. Dufner played in the group ahead of Woods on the last day - still a huge crowd as the gallery waited for Woods - and he tied for third. Woods won the tournament, his last victory before his personal life unraveled.
''That was just wall-to-wall people,'' Dufner said. ''He was No. 1 in the world and it was my first time playing before a crowd that big. I think I did all right.''
