Ryder Cup Day 2- Afternoon Session Results

The afternoon session went fairly well for the Americans. Better than was predicted here, in fact. The Americans came out of Saturday with a 4 point lead in the overall standings, a deficit that has only overcome once, by the United States in 1999. That bodes well for the American team tomorrow.

Matches:
J. Rose & F. Molinari vs. B. Watson & W. Simpson
This match went as expected. The American juggernaut of Simpson and Watson simply would not be denied and beat this team of Euros in much the same way they beat Lawrie and Hanson yesterday. These two Americans obviously play well together in Four-Ball competition.

D. Johnson & M. Kuchar vs. N. Colsaerts & P. Lawrie
This was a back and forth match with the Americans not wrapping up victory until taking a lead on the 17th hole with Dustin Johnson's key birdie and then halving the 18th hole.

T. Woods & S. Stricker vs. S. Garcia & L. Donald
This may be giving the match more credit than it really deserves, but to me, this match was about the face of modern American golf facing off against the modern face of Spanish golf. These two have squared off numerous times over the years in the Ryder Cup with Gracia taking the win all but once. Woods has been the great individual golfer who wins majors and Garcia has been the top notch team golfer. This match seemed to be one for the ages. The US was down 3 after 4 holes and 4 down after 9 before Woods came alive and made 5 birdies in 8 holes on the back nine including a spectacular birdie on the 17th hole. Steve Stricker missed a putt on the final hole that would have given the US a half point in the match; Stricker makes about 6 of 10 putts from between 5 and 10 feet, sadly for him one of the 4 had to come on the 18th hole of the match with 8 or 10 million people watching. But if ever one wants to see quality golf played in team competition, this is the match for it. Two titans of their generation paired with two great workmen gave us one of the finest matches I can remember seeing.

J. Dufner & Z. Johnson vs. R. McIlroy & I. Poulter
The US team got off to a strong start winning the first two holes and seemed to be going strong prior to the 13th hole. From there it was almost as though the European team flipped a switch, Poulter especially. McIlroy birdied the 13th hole to put the Euro's one down in the match and Poulter birdied the final 5 holes in what must be one of the best closing stretches in the history of the Ryder Cup. This one could have easily gone to the American side, but Poulter found the magic when it mattered the most and the Europeans pulled out a victory.

This all leads to a split in the matches in the afternoon. Tiger lost, as was expected, sadly. This leads to what should be a solid day on Sunday.