The matches for the Saturday morning session have been released and perhaps the most shocking thing about them is that Tiger Woods has been left off the pairings for the first time in his career. Though given his play during day 1, this is not surprising. Now, on to the matches.
Webb Simpson & Bubba Watson vs. Justin Rose & Ian Poulter
This has potential to be another blow out from the team of Simpson/Watson or a tough match between two teams that both won on Friday. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Bubba Watson might not be the best golfer for Foursomes given his ability to hit the ball from one side of the course to another, but Capt. Love obviously has confidence in him. The Americans would be well served to get off to a strong start here to keep the good momentum from Day 1 on their side.
Keegan Bradley & Phil Mickelson vs. Lee Westwood & Luke Donald
The Americans are certainly hoping this team keeps up it's solid play and can pull out another point in this competition. Westwood should be riding high after today's play, getting a win over Tiger Woods. If Bradley and Mickelson can maintain their solid play this should be a point for the American side.
Jason Dufner & Zach Johnson vs. Nicolas Colsaerts & Sergio Garcia
Given Colsaerts world beating play Friday afternoon, this one will likely have the Americans sweating it out, possibly for a loss. Dufner & Johnson won their Friday morning match but that was against players not nearly as hot as Colsaerts and Garcia.
Jim Furyk & Brandt Snedeker vs. Rory McIlroy & Graeme McDowell
One has to suspect the Northern Irelend pairing will not be changed out for Saturday afternoon either, given their fair results on Friday. Expect this match to turn out the same as it did on Friday morning.
Projected Saturday Morning session results: 2-2
Projected Overall: 7-5 USA leading
Have to wait and see what the actual matches bring and then on into the afternoon.
Friday
Ryder Cup- Day 1
Today was certainly a day for the young guys on the US Ryder Cup team.
Tiger Woods continued his poor play in the Ryder Cup going 0-2 in the days matches while Phil Mickelson was buoyed by the strong play of Keegan Bradley and went 2-0 on the first day of play for the first time in his career. The shot Phil hit on the 17th hole in the afternoon Four-Ball match was simply magnificent. The day's good play gives the American team a lead going into the second day for only the second time since 1995.
The first match of the day with Rory and Graeme facing off with Furyk and Snedeker went much as one would expect before the Americans ran off 3 birdies in 4 holes on the back nine to extend the match. Indeed, the American team was lucky to make it past the 14th hole, as was mentioned on this site in the preview. From there, the teams of Mickelson & Bradley and Dufner & Z. Johnson won their matches, showing that perhaps these matches will hinge on the play of the younger players on the American side. After those matches, the perpetual Ryder Cup underachiever Tiger Woods went off with Steve Stricker and Woods did what is somewhat standard for him in the Cup, that is, of course, lose. So with that, the American team came out of the Morning session with a 2-2 tie, which given recent American failures in Foursomes is solid.
In the afternoon, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson came out of the gate like men beating out a fire and wound up winning the match 5&4, which is closer than the match really was given that the Americans were up 6 through 8 holes. From there the young teams came out and won two more matches before Woods & Stricker lost to the exceptional team of Colsaerts and Westwood; Colsaerts had 7 birdies and an eagle on his own ball. But that put the Americans up 3-1 in the afternoon matches for an overall lead of 5-3 after Day 1.
Captain Love should announce his pairings for Saturday shortly, though if he has any intelligence at all he will under no circumstances break up the pair of Mickelson & Bradley while breaking up Woods and Stricker quickly. But whatever he does, he need not stop this train while it's got good momentum. More to follow once pairings are released.
Tiger Woods continued his poor play in the Ryder Cup going 0-2 in the days matches while Phil Mickelson was buoyed by the strong play of Keegan Bradley and went 2-0 on the first day of play for the first time in his career. The shot Phil hit on the 17th hole in the afternoon Four-Ball match was simply magnificent. The day's good play gives the American team a lead going into the second day for only the second time since 1995.
The first match of the day with Rory and Graeme facing off with Furyk and Snedeker went much as one would expect before the Americans ran off 3 birdies in 4 holes on the back nine to extend the match. Indeed, the American team was lucky to make it past the 14th hole, as was mentioned on this site in the preview. From there, the teams of Mickelson & Bradley and Dufner & Z. Johnson won their matches, showing that perhaps these matches will hinge on the play of the younger players on the American side. After those matches, the perpetual Ryder Cup underachiever Tiger Woods went off with Steve Stricker and Woods did what is somewhat standard for him in the Cup, that is, of course, lose. So with that, the American team came out of the Morning session with a 2-2 tie, which given recent American failures in Foursomes is solid.
In the afternoon, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson came out of the gate like men beating out a fire and wound up winning the match 5&4, which is closer than the match really was given that the Americans were up 6 through 8 holes. From there the young teams came out and won two more matches before Woods & Stricker lost to the exceptional team of Colsaerts and Westwood; Colsaerts had 7 birdies and an eagle on his own ball. But that put the Americans up 3-1 in the afternoon matches for an overall lead of 5-3 after Day 1.
Captain Love should announce his pairings for Saturday shortly, though if he has any intelligence at all he will under no circumstances break up the pair of Mickelson & Bradley while breaking up Woods and Stricker quickly. But whatever he does, he need not stop this train while it's got good momentum. More to follow once pairings are released.
Ryder Cup 2012
Obviously Captain Davis Love III does not share the NHL superstition of not touching the Cup prior to the win. Hopefully his grasping the Cup goes the same way it did for Sidney Crosby when he grabbed the Prince of Wales Trophy prior to the Stanley Cup.
Recent history is not the best place to look if one is to have high hopes for American victory. The American team has won only 4 times since 1985 and two of those wins are rather controversial. And indeed the record of American players is just as bad as the team record. Hopefully, though, having 4 rookies on the team will give the team a needed infusion of new, "dumb" talent. Dumb meaning not having those demons in the bag from multiple losses. Hopefully these rookies step up and take some control because if we are to go with history, waiting on Tiger or Phil to lead the charge to victory will only lead to 2 more years without the Ryder Cup.
Hopefully the American team can start off well in the Friday morning Foursomes session. However, the first match, on paper, does not look very appealing. The inconsistent Jim Furyk teams with the currently hot Brandt Snedeker to face World #1 Rory McIlroy and his countryman and good friend Graeme McDowell. The Americans will likely be lucky to make it past the 14th hole in this match. The two middle matches seem relatively even on paper. The anchor match of the morning has Tiger Woods, who, despite his records elsewhere, has been a perennial underachiever in the Ryder Cup, and Steve Stricker facing off against Justin Rose and good friend Ian Poulter. That should be a solid match.
A perfect situation for the Americans would be to come out of the session leading 4-0, but considering recent American mediocrity in Foursomes, a 2-2 tie would be a good result. The Americans need a good start to the event to make sure the Chicago crown is energized and even a bit rowdy heading to the afternoon matches.
And, if there is any question of this writers objectivity during the upcoming matches, let us settle that quickly:
Clear enough??
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