A curious if invigorating first day of this 40th edition of the Ryder Cup yesterday ended with Europe occupying familiar territory, on top of the heap.
In transforming their fortunes – recovering from a deficit in the fourballs to dominate the second session, that of foursomes, and consequently establish a 5-3 advantage – Europe seized the higher ground. It had been hard earned, which made it all the sweeter.
On a dry day which brought with it winds gusting up to 56km/h (35mph), increasing the difficulty in finding fairways off the tee and on club selection for approach shots, Europe and the United States entered into a battle which was uncompromising. Three of the four afternoon foursomes reached the 18th hole and Paul McGinley’s men got something from each of them. It was a sign of fortitude, even if it involved riding their luck just a little. It gave them a 3½ to ½ win in the foursomes, a record for Europe.
Perhaps there was an unintentional helping hand, too. Watson had watched two of his rookies, Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, produce the best golf of all in the morning fourballs (in beating Ian Poulter and Stephen Gallacher 5 and 4). Rather than urge them to continue and bring that momentum on to the foursomes, the two American players were benched for the foursomes and reduced to the role of cheerleaders, or supporters, as the USA team became a pale shadow.
Had the USA captain erred? “You can’t play everybody, you’re going to be second guessed,” admitted Watson, who had a brief exchange with Reed after
.“How does that make you feel?” inquired Watson of Reed, a rookie.
“Well, I’m all right with it . . . well, really captain I’m not all right with it,” came the response.
“That’s the way I want you to be,” responded Watson, in a curious demonstration of captaincy that appeared at some odds to that of McGinley, who utilised his five vice-captains in keeping communication lines open to all of this players.
Rather than press any emergency buttons after the fourballs setback, McGinley kept to his strategy. “It’s important not to panic and it’s important to look at the 24-hour period rather than just one session and then go again. It’s not black and white. I had an overall, as I call it, skeleton plan and you bob and weave. What I saw in the morning (fourballs), there was no need to change that skeleton plan. I wanted to get all 12 players out on the course.”
With a cool, crosswind adding to the challenge of a course with narrow fairways and heavy rough, and greens slower than accustomed for fear the wind would lead to oscillating balls, players also had to contend with slow rounds.
Of course, there were successes and disappointments along the way. The Justin Rose-Henrik Stenson partnership – going two for two – looked like a masterstroke, an inspired move; and, yet, McGinley refused to accept it had been wrong or unwise to put Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia together, the two managing just a halved point from two matches.
“I think the dynamic is strong between them and . . . you’re playing at the very elite level here in professional sport and sometimes you go out and it just doesn’t click,” said McGinley, who nevertheless decided to split the pair for today’s session of fourballs with Poulter partnering McIlroy.
Poulter suffered a heavy defeat in his only appearance yesterday, alongside Gallacher, and McGinley believes he will respond by playing with “the world’s best player.”
Meanwhile, Garcia was dismissive of a comment from Nick Faldo – his team captain in 2008 – who described him as "useless." In the Spaniard's defence, McDowell retorted: "You've got one of the best Ryder Cup pairings [Garcia and Westwood] being sat down on a Saturday afternoon of a Ryder Cup that we go on to lose. I'd say Sergio was fairly useless that afternoon, yes, because he wasn't able to play!"
This time, it would seem that McGinley has his players on side. The task now is for the captain and the team to go on and finish the job.
It will be far from easy.
