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Phil Mickelson has been dropped from Saturday’s morning fourballs by US captain Hal Sutton, presumably as a result of failing to win a point in his first two matches. His playing partner for those matches, Tiger Woods, will partner Chris Riley in the second match against Darren Clarke and Milton Keynes‘ very own Ian Poulter.

Bernhard Langer, on the other hand, is ensuring that his remaining rookies, David Howell, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey all play their first matches, while retaining the successful pairings of Garcia/Westwood and Monty/Harrington. Montgomerie will maintain his record of playing in every series since Kiawah Island in 1991, a span of 30 (and counting) consecutive Ryder Cup matches.

Giving rookies their first game in fourballs, as opposed to foursomes, is a shrewd move. It gives them a chance play their way into a match, without the pressure of knowing that every stroke they play is crucial. It also gives them marginally more Ryder Cup experience; they’ll hit 60-70 shots in fourballs, and roughly half that in foursomes. Those extra few shots may count for a lot come Sunday.

Despite the alarming amount of bleach in their collective hairstyles, Team Europe stretched their lead to 6½-1½ after day one following a 3-1 victory in the afternoon foursomes.

The talking point will of course be the pairing of Woods and Mickelson, who lost their second match of the day. Three up after 4 against Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, the “Dream Team” were pegged back to all square by the 10th, and fell 1 down on 11, where they remained until they won the 17th. With the momentum seemingly on their side on the 18th tee, Mickelson hit a wayward drive into a position from which Woods could only drop and punch out down the fairway. An average wedge by Mickelson’s standards left Woods with a 15-footer for bogey, which he missed – double bogey. After Darren Clarke left his par attempt within gimme range, matchplay’s cardinal sin of losing a hole to bogey had been committed, giving the Europeans the hole and the point.

Continue reading “Europeans Stretch Ryder Cup Lead”

What was that about the importance of the four-ball matches?

Most people would think that, if you pair together Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods – unquestionably two of the best golfers in the world – that they’d win their four-ball match. Sadly for the US Ryder Cup team, nothing could be further from the truth. Woods and Mickelson lost their four-ball match two and one to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, capping off a morning of four-ball losses and a European lead, 3½ to ½.

Continue reading “Well, That Hurt…”

Ok, the US team is definitely going to win the Ryder Cup. Check out the shoes Fred Funk donned in Thursday’s practice round. Apparently he hiked up his pants every time he got to a green so everyone could get a good look. The crowd loved it, of course. It would be great it they were standard fare for all the US players.

Friday morning, 8:10am local time to Bloomfield Hills, MI is the scheduled time for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to tee it up against Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington. This is the best of the best going head to head. It should be a good one.

The other three matches of the day:

Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez vs. Davis Love III and Chad Campbell
Luke Donald and Paul McGinley vs. Stewart Cink and Chris Riley
Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood vs. David Toms and Jim Furyk

Follow the leaderboard live here.

Phil Mickelson, world #4, skipped Wednesday’s practice. Mickelson told Sutton that he always rests the Wednesday before a major, and that he considers the Ryder Cup to be a major. Said Sutton: “Absolutely, don’t change your routine. You do what you have to do.”

Euro captain Bernhard Langer responded “I don’t know of any of my guys who would take a whole day off before a big competition.” Langer was not asked the follow-up question “how many of your players have won a major?”

Hal Sutton has issued a challenge to the world’s best golfer in the Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods. Woods’ 5-8-2 record is hardly on par with his typical level of play, and doesn’t come close to mirroring his success in other match play championships such as the US Amateur.

Sutton emphasized to Tiger that, like it or not, his Ryder Cup record will be used to judge him in the future. Tiger responded, at a press conference, by saying “I’m sure all of you guys probably know what Jack’s record is in the Ryder Cup, right?” he said, looking around a crowded room and getting no takers. “Anybody? No?” (Nicklaus was 17-8-3.)

Continue reading “Hal to Tiger: This Means Something!”

It’s often said that Americans have an advantage in the singles matches, but give it right back in foursomes and four-balls. Let’s have a look at the statistics since 1983:

  Ryder Cup Performance, 1983-2002
                 Europe         USA
Wins               5             4
Matches          123           116  
Points           143.5         136.5
Foursomes         39.5          39.5
Four-Balls        49            32
Singles           55            65

The US is seven (7) points behind in the grand total, but seventeen in four-ball. Dead even in foursomes, the US hasn’t overcome the devastating four-ball performance with only a ten-point advantage in the singles matches.

Sunday may be the most exciting day of the competition, but the Ryder Cup has – at least in the past twenty years – been decided in the Friday and Saturday morning four-ball matches.

The Detroit News is reporting that the Ryder Cup will pump approximately $100,000,000 into the Detroit economy through hotels, bars, restaurants, caterers, limo services, and more. The article states that the Ryder Cup could bring nearly as much money to the area as the Super Bowl.

Michigan intends to capitalize:

In addition to the tourism dollars it draws, the Ryder Cup provides an opportunity for business deal-making and relationship building. The state convention bureau is flying in some 60 CEOs and other top corporate executives. They will be wined and dined as they watch top players from United States compete against the best from Europe.

Golf is big business, and the Ryder Cup is currently the premier event.