Was going to start a thread on this pre-tournament, but the boards were down. It probably would have said that a close affair was in prospect with the Americans slight favourites on home soil.
However, I might have to revise that with Europe 6 1/2 to 1 1/2 up after the first day. Strong performances all the way through yesterday, Lee Westwood had a solid day, Luke Donald was impressive on his debut, Sergio was effervescent as ever, Monte was predicatably inspired and how good was Padraig Harrington?
I like the fact that Langer has put in the 3 rookies that haven’t played yet in the fourballs today, if we can half that session and better and have everyone having got into the event, I think the writing will be on the wall.
Would like to get some American views on this, if any want to stick their heads over the parapets. How are the media reacting? How can a team come into the event so flat? Hal Sutton looked to be making all the right noises, but what the captain really do if his top players just don’t deliver? And, don’t you guys have any laws that you can use to prosecute Phil Mickleson for his criminally bad drive at the 18th last night??
After the Olympic basketball debacle, I kept hearing American fans saying “Good! I’m GLAD the Americans lost! All basketball players today care about is their cornrows, their tattoos, their bling bling, and their shoe contracts.”
So, when are we going to hear complaints about Phil Mickelson’s new club contract, Jay Haas’ tattoos, Kenny Perry’s cornrows and David TOms’ bling bling?
Seriously, whether it’s golf or basketball, I can’t get too excited or angry about the fact that there are now strong players all over the world, and that sometimes the U.S. is bound to lose.
But before the Euros get too excited, I should point out that the President’s Cup team (which would feature Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, among others) would probably beat BOTH squads now playing for the Ryder Cup!
I took $2.75 about the European team before the first round because only Phil Mickelson and David Toms have won more matches than they’ve lost at match play while the European team is full of experienced match play exponents.
USA 2 1/2 Europe 1 1/2, so score is 8 - 4 to Europe.
Good result for the Europeans after the Americans had looked set for a 2 point swing or better all morning, fantastic performance by the two rookies David Howell and Paul Casey to win their match after beig one down with two to play.
Americans need at least 3 points from this afternoon’s matches to have a realistic chance I think. Six more points for Europe to retain the cup…
Well the US didn’t get the 3 points I said they needed, instead the afternoon matches were 3-1 to Europe to make the score 11-5 overall. Great performances again by Sergio, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinlay and Luke Donald.
USA need 9 1/2 points from 12 in the singles to win back the cup, can’t see it happening. It’s an even bigger lead than Europe had at Brookline and the European is in much better shape now than then, when we were effectively trying to win with 9 players.
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