8 1/2 to 3 1/2 on the final day.
That ties the record for the worst final day defeat in the Ryder Cup since the current format was adopted in 1981.
That level of collapse is unbelievable. It has been written here before this writers thoughts on "pressure" in athletics. Sitting here this morning, writing or reading, it occurs to me that if I messed up that bad at my job, and make no mistake about it, golf is a job, nothing less for these guys, I would go to jail.
Some people have tried to pin the loss on the poor play of Jim Furyk or Steve Stricker, the captain's picks. Yes, Steve Stricker went 0-4 in this Ryder Cup. Furyk was 1-2 in the Cup. But the fact is, the team had a four point lead going into Sunday. They only needed win four of the twelve matches and tie one to win the Ryder Cup. So that allows for seven match losses. Even with Stricker and Furyk losing on the final day, that still leaves five losses to spare. No, this is not the fault of those two golfers.
This burden lies with the whole team. Every golfer on the American side went out on Sunday and played sub-standard golf. A quick look down the list will show that nearly every player on the American side shot rounds of one or two under par. That simply will not cut it in match play. Brandt Snedeker has taken some heat for his loss to Paul Lawrie, which makes sense on the surface until you notice that Lawrie was six under par in 15 holes.
No, this was an entire team failure for the Americans. From top to bottom, the team played terrible.
But what does this mean for the US side going forward? One obvious thought is that veteran players are not exceptionally valueable for the US team. Looking back at the 2008 Ryder Cup team, the team was populated with six Ryder Cup rookies. That statistic should be noted by all given the generally terrible play of veteran golfers; even in 2008, Phil Mickelson went 1-2-2 in the competition. No, the truth is, these veteran golfers have such mental demons due to having been beaten so many times.
Whatever happens, this team will have plenty of time to think about their terrible play on the final day. No way around it, the US team truly pulled defeat from the tight jaws of victory and has let Europe retain the Cup for another two years when it had no business doing so. Obviously the Europeans got no sleep last night, nor should they have. Hopefully the Americans got no sleep either, for the opposite reasons.
Monday
Sunday
Ryder Cup- Day 3 Preview
Well, those are the pairings for tomorrow. A quick rundown says that Tiger will get his win in what will most likely be a meaningless match and that the Cup will likely be decided by the Furyk match.
In the first match, there is really no way to determine how it will end. If the Bubba that won the Masters shows up tomorrow, or the one that played in Four-Ball matches this week, and the match might be over early. However, Donald is a recent World #1, so count on him to put up a strong match. This match could go either way and depending on how fast one golfer or the other starts off will determine how the momentum goes early in the day.
Europe will need to win 8 points on the day to retain the Cup. Since the current format was adopted in 1981, only 4 times in 15 Ryder Cup matches has a team scored that many points on the final day, two of those by teams trailing going into that final day (1997 and 1999) So obviously history is on the side of the Americans but it would not be unthinkable for the Europeans to score the 8 points needed to retain the Cup. In the event that Tiger Woods is needed for the win, we can know that he's going against the man he defeated in singles competition in 2010 at Celtic Manor. The Americans are certainly hoping the final match of the event is not needed to determine whether or not they win the Cup.
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.
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.
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