CHASKA, Minn. — Phil Mickelson, as always, did not mince words.
“It was a match where I felt more pressure in any Ryder Cup than I felt heading into this one because of the last two years and the buildup,’’ Mickelson said of his morning foursomes match alongside Rickie Fowler.
The Americans beat Rory McIlroy and Andy Sullivan 1-up in their match Friday at Hazeltine and Fowler called it a “relief.”
Mickelson, of course, was the most vocal detractor of 2014 captain Tom Watson and the way in which the Ryder Cup was conducted on the U.S. side, spearheading a “task force’’ to invoke change.
“Given the buildup over the last couple years, the criticism, the comments, the pressure certainly was as great or greater than I’ve ever felt,’’ said Mickelson, who still has a disappointing 17-19-6 career Ryder Cup record.
“I could have copped out and asked to sit. That would have been a total weak move,’’ he said jokingly. “I wanted to get out there. Put me out there. I enjoy that pressure.”
U.S. captain Davis Love III sat Mickelson and Fowler in the afternoon four-ball matches, leaving open the possibility the two will play both sessions Saturday.
Fowler, who entered the week with a 0-3-5 career Ryder Cup record, won the first match of his career with that morning result, and he was choked up with emotion afterward.
“To be with someone I’ve looked up to growing up as a kid and to finally get my first full point with someone like him, pretty special,’’ Fowler said. “There’s no real way to describe it.’’
Said Mickelson: “I really cherish the opportunity to play with him. I knew when I first met him many years ago, he was something special. I never knew that we would play together in the Ryder Cup. But this is really a special moment.’’
All 12 of the Americans played Friday. European captain Darren Clarke held two of his six rookies out — Chris Wood and 22-year-old Matthew Fitzpatrick. Clarke assured that both would play Saturday. The last team to sit two players for an entire first day was the U.S. in 2006.
Kismet? The last U.S. sweep of a session to open a Ryder Cup in morning foursomes came in 1975 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa., when Arnold Palmer was captain. In remembrance of Palmer, who died Sunday, his golf bag from 1975 stood at the first tee Friday morning.
Thanks to his brother’s sophomoric internet article, Danny Willett endured his share of heckling playing in his first career Ryder Cup. Willett, whose brother, Peter, penned an article for a website in England in which he called American golf fans “fat, stupid, greedy, classless bastards,’’ was the only player who was greeted at the first tee by boos.
Among the rants Willett heard during his four-ball losswhile paired with Martin Kaymer to Brandt Snedeker and Brooks Koepka, included:
- “Danny, you’re brother’s an idiot!”
- “Hey Danny, can you get me a hot dog?”
- “Hey, Danny, want a jelly donut or would you rather some cookie dough?”
Some of the Hazeltine fans were kinder to Willett, cheered him when he birdied No. 9.
Willett’s brother is not at the matches this wee, but his parents were inside the ropes following him.
At the sixth tee, Snedeker and Koepka tried to silence the crowd as Willett tried to hit his tee shot and when he hooked it into the trees, the fans cheered.
The U.S.’s 4-0 win of the morning matches also represented its first sweep of any session since 1975. In Ryder Cup history, there have been only nine sessions swept, and in eight of those nine Ryder Cups, the team that swept a session won the Ryder Cup.
The Saturday morning pairings in foursomes have Mickelson and Fowler playing Rory McIlroy and Thomas Pieters, Brandt Snedeker and Brooks Koepka playing Henrik Stenson and Matt Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson playing Justin Rose and Chris Woods and Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth playing Sergio Garcia and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
All four of the U.S. teams are pairs that won at least one match on Friday.
The last time the U.S. swept any session on the first day of a Ryder Cup was 1981, when it went 4-0 in afternoon four-balls at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England.