GOLF: THE RATHER late arrival of US flags to dispense to home fans in the grandstands around the first tee box yesterday – delivered just moments before a shot was struck in anger in this 39th edition of the Ryder Cup – hinted, perhaps, at some lack of preparation in the home camp.
Not a bit of it, as it turned out. For, on a beautifully sunny day here at Medinah Country Club, Team USA laid down a marker towards achieving home supremacy. Davis Love III’s men were in no mood to be overly generous hosts and assumed a 5-3 lead after the opening day of foursomes and fourballs.
This was a day when Tiger Woods’s fallibility was exposed in the foursomes where he weighed down his playing partner Steve Stricker with a series of wild and erratic tee shots, but where a number of new kids on the blocks – most notably Keegan Bradley and fellow Major champions Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson – were introduced to the supposed cauldron that is the Ryder Cup and embraced it as if it were a long lost friend.
Of them all, Bradley, last year’s US PGA champion, brought a refreshing energy to the number three course on the outskirts of Chicago that spread throughout the USA team and even transcended across to Woods, a much-improved (if still losing) player in the fourballs. Chalk and cheese. Bradley, though, teamed-up with Phil Mickelson to chalk up two wins from two. What a debut!
And, not to let the Americans hog all the limelight, Nicolas Colsaerts, the first Belgian to play in the Ryder Cup, made a sensational debut. Colsaerts single-handedly carried the fourballs to Woods and Stricker – reducing Lee Westwood to the role of a minder – and had a remarkable eight birdies and an eagle in inflicting a one hole win over Woods and Stricker. It was Europe’s only win of the fourballs, but provided a critical lifeline.
Colsaerts – rested in the morning foursomes – used his big-hitting to great effect but, in truth, it was his putter that was on fire. Time and time again, Colsaerts not only rescued Westwood, who failed to contribute a single birdie, but also fought gamely to secure the point that averted a whitewash. Woods had a birdie putt on the 18th to force a half, but missed. It was no more than Colsaerts deserved and also gave a massive boost to the Europeans.
As you’d expect, the foursomes – which opened the three-day shindig – proved to be a tightly-fought affair which finished 2-2 apiece. The fourballs, though, changed the whole picture. It was like switching from analogue to digital, a flick that brought clarity and confirmed the USA’s upper-hand in their attempts to wrestle the trophy back from European hands.
In the fourballs, traditionally a strong part of the US armoury, Watson and Simpson led from the front in securing a 5 and 4 win over Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson in the top game. And if that energised the home crowds, it was nothing compared to the reception afforded to Bradley and Mickelson who took out Europe’s kingpin Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell by 2 and 1.
Bradley’s exuberance was matched by some brilliant shot execution and contributed to Mickelson winning two matches on the opening day for the first time and the first time since 1999 in Brookline that he had won back-to-back on the same day. Ironically, given Bradley’s brilliance, it was Mickleson who closed the deal with a seven iron tee-shot on the par-three 17th to 18 inches that left no way back for the two Northern Irishmen. “We tried to claw our way back,” admitted McIlroy, “but Keegan and Phil were just too strong.”
Mickelson described it as “one of the most emotional days playing in the Ryder Cup,” but it was Bradley who stole the show. “I just love every second of it, it’s another moment in my life I can’t believe I am a part of,” said Bradley.
The fourth fourball match was also claimed by the Americans, with Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson defeating Justin Rose and an out-of-sorts Martin Kaymer by 3 and 2.
The respective captains – Love and Europe’s José Maria Olazabal – managed to get all 12 players from each team into the fray. However, Olazabal’s decision to bench world number two Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter, who had shown his own fighting qualities when partnering Justin Rose to a foursomes win over Woods and Stricker, raised some eyebrows. How it will affect team harmony going into the weekend remains to be seen.
At one stage of the morning foursomes, which started in cool weather more typical of autumnal Europe before the sun broke through the clouds, Europe were up in all four to the extent that the home crowds were virtually silenced. Once the Americans found a way to get the ball in the hole, though, there was no stopping them. And that ability to deliver the goods – the crowd playing their part as a 13th man to great effect – was brought from the foursomes into the fourballs which the US dominated.
“We’ve a lot of guys playing really well and it’s going to be hard to sit anyone out,” said Love.
All is not yet lost for Olazabal’s men. In the 1995 match at Oakland Hills, Europe trailed by 3-5 after the first day. After a weekend fightback, a certain Philip Walton brought Europe over the line. History is there to be repeated. It will be a tough ask against a US team playing great golf.
