SAINT-QUENTIN-en-YVELINES, France — No, you cannot blame Tiger Woods for what happened to the US Ryder Cup team Friday.
Woods is one of 12 players on this American team that’s trying to bring the treasured gold chalice home from foreign soil for the first time in 25 years.
And his was only one match in the eight that were played Friday at Le Golf National, where the Europeans took a 5-3 opening-day lead that felt more like 15-3 by day’s end because of the way Europe got to that end result — winning the final five matches after falling behind 3-0.
But it was Woods’ match — a 2 & 1 loss with partner Patrick Reed to Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood from the anchor position in the morning fourballs — that began the landslide that threatens to bury the US side before Sunday’s singles matches begin.
Momentum is a fickle creature in sports.
And, unwittingly, Woods and Reed provided it for a staggered European team.
Woods is the biggest star in the sport — possibly in all of sports.
Reed, who’d earned the nickname “Captain America’’ for his Ryder Cup prowess — a 6-1-2 career record before Friday’s defeat — also represents a lightning rod.
So this Woods-Reed duo, as polarizing a pair as the US captain Jim Furyk could trot out to the first tee other than Woods and Phil Mickelson, turned out to be exactly the elixir the Europeans needed when they were down and possibly on the way out, trailing 3-0.
Two years ago at Hazeltine, on the comforts of home soil, the Americans ambushed the Europeans 4-0 in the opening session and the visitors never recovered, losing 17-11.
There’s no way to predict whether the same might have happened to the Europeans this time had Woods and Reed been able to maintain control of the match they led 2-up with eight holes to play to repeat that 4-0 feat Friday.
We’ll never know.
But this much we do know: That point Europe swiped from Woods and Reed in the fourth and final match of the morning session acted as a Viagra pill of sorts for an older gentleman prepping for an important date.
“It could have been a whitewash … and that [Fleetwood and Molinari] stand up in the end and holed the putts on 15, 16, 17 to win the match when it really matters, it gives them belief, but also gives their teammates a hope,’’ Europe captain Thomas Bjorn said. “If I’m going to be honest, I think the guys that played at Hazeltine probably feared a little bit at one stage that we would go the same route as there because we knew how much an uphill battle that was.
“All of a sudden 3-1 didn’t seem as bad as 4-nil would have, certainly.’’
Woods and Reed and were in control after a Reed chip-in for birdie on No. 10 and then they saw the lead disappear as Molinari won Nos. 11 and 12 with birdies and Fleetwood did the same on Nos. 15 and 16 with long putts and demonstrative celebrations. Suddenly, as the four walked to the par-3 16th tee, the Europeans were 2-up on Woods and Reed with two to play.
“We both played well early,’’ Woods said. “Unfortunately, once we got to 2-up through [10] holes, we never made another birdie. We were putting it on them and then on the back nine, it flipped. They put it on us and we couldn’t answer.’’
The loss worsened Woods’ already-unimpressive career Ryder Cup record to 13-18-3 overall, including 5-9 in fourball play. Woods is now 2-8 in matches where he batted cleanup, as the fourth match of a session.
The loss, too, relegated Woods and Reed to the bench for the afternoon matches, which Europe would sweep in four stunning runaway results. It was the first time in Woods’ eight Ryder Cups that he was held out of a first-day session.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating for Pat and I to not contribute to the team,’’ Woods said. “When you lose a point, you feel like you’re contributing to the wrong team.’’
It’s something impossible to measure, but that contribution felt like a lot more than a mere point.