Europe stand on the threshold of their most famous Ryder Cup victory. To beat the Americans is always difficult; to beat them in America is doubly difficult; to beat them soundly, which is more than likely, would be an achievement without precedent.
After a day of typically fluctuating Ryder Cup fortunes at Oakland Hills, in which the USA fought for their pride and seemed likely to make a match of it after their first-day drubbing, Europe’s team of honest troopers, fought, resisted and finally pressed home their advantage. With 12 singles to be played today, Europe lead by 11 points to five. To retain the Cup, three points are required; to win the match, three-and-a-half.
Is it dangerous to conclude that it is all but done and dusted? Not really. The events of Brookline five years ago, when the American overturned a five-point lead, will not be repeated. There are many differences: Europe’s lead is even greater; their rookies have been bloodied; the team has greater strength in depth; the Americans are clearly a weaker side. And most of all, Europe has Bernhard Langer at the helm. His captaincy has been impeccably astute.
Thus far, two factors have been crucial in the establishing of a position of such superiority. The first was the pairing of the American superstars, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, which was the brainwave of Hal Sutton and the motif of his entire captaincy. It was a miscalculation from which the Americans never recovered. The second was the point won at the conclusion of the morning’s fourballs yesterday by two European debutants, Paul Casey and David Howell. They arrested the American advance, turned the tide, and made possible an afternoon of renewed European dominance.
“Our team had been hammered all morning,” Howell said. “We felt we had dodged a bullet.” Bernard Langer, Europe’s captain, was much relieved. He had told his young pair that they were not being sent out as a sacrifice but to win a point. They did as they were bid.
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The difference it made was incalculable but immediately effective as Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, partnered once more for the foursomes, won the first hole of the afternoon against Jay Haas and Chris DiMarco. After 11 holes, they were four up and cruising. Clarke had rediscovered his form, while Westwood was superb throughout. Haas, at 50, had hardly had time to bite a sandwich before setting out on his second round of the day, which suggested another, though minor, error by Sutton.
Westwood and Clarke won as they pleased, 5&4.
Once more, the momentum had swung. Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald, the two youngest members of Europe’s team, took a grip of their match against Jim Furyk and Fred Funk, playing the front nine in three under par. Furyk and Funk managed to win the 17th and take the match down the 18th. The Americans needed to win the hole to earn half a point, and a scrap of hope for their wounded team. Both pairs hit the fairway and the green on the monstrous hole, but huge, swinging putts, even by the extreme standards of Oakland Hills, were left. Funk’s long putt was average; Garcia’s superb. Europe’s wonderful afternoon was completed by Donald’s two-footer.
As Garcia and Donald won the 10th to go three up, so Woods and Davis Love III, who had won the first two holes against the Irish pair, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, went behind at the ninth. Woods, for the second hole running, missed from seven feet. For Woods and Love, it got worse. They were out-thought and outplayed over the back nine to be comfortably eclipsed, 4&3.
The only foursomes match which the United States was able to command was the second, in which Mickelson and David Toms took on Thomas Levet and Miguel Angel Jimenez. The story of that one was simple and painful: Levet missed too many putts, including two four-footers which would have won the eighth and ninth had they dropped. Mickelson and Toms provided the only victory for the Americans in the afternoon, by 4&3.
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The big initial question as to whether the Americans would be able to recover from the their disarray on Friday evening was answered with the dew still on the grass.
All the signals of the opening morning were reversed. It was the Europeans who missed short putts, Americans who drilled them home. Colin Montgomerie, out of sorts, alarmingly reduced to a half-Monty, mishit a bunker shot and had to move quickly to avoid the ball as it rebounded towards him.
Woods, who looked like an Easter Island statue in the company of Mickelson on day one, was transformed, smashing a magisterial drive down the centre of the first fairway and establishing, with his new partner, Chris Riley, an immediate two-hole lead over Clarke and Ian Poulter. Around the course, the scoreboards, which had been awash with blue on Friday, were a sea of red. America was on the march; Europe digging in.
The first match out, which put Haas and DiMarco, the only full-point winners for the Americans on Friday, against the formidable, energetic partnership of Garcia and Westwood, was of particular significance. Sutton chose his opening pair to establish the momentum for which he had become desperate; Langer chose his men to stop it in its tracks.
Haas set the pattern for the morning by holing a sliding birdie putt from 10 feet to win the first. His partner, DiMarco, is the most irrepressible American, while Garcia easily holds that title for the Europeans. It was Garcia who responded by winning the par-three third with a birdie, and a tremendous battle was joined. Haas and DiMarco took a two-hole lead on the sixth, but Westwood and Garcia brought them back to all-square on the 11th when Garcia made his fourth birdie of the round.
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Both pairs were six under par for their better balls after 14 holes, which represented terrific scoring on a course that boasts just about the most difficult greens in America. The match, unusually, went to the 18th all square. Garcia had hit a wonderful iron to five feet on the par-three 17th but missed the putt. Both pairs made a mess of the 18th to halve it in bogey fives, for half a point each.
Woods, playing with his 10th partner in Ryder Cup matches, was all smiles and played solid, sometimes spectacular, golf as Riley helped him to dispose of Clarke and Poulter. When Riley birdied the 12th to stretch their lead to three up, chants of “USA” resounded around that part of the course farthest from the clubhouse. Riley seized the moment by knocking his tee-shot on the par-three 13th to 18 inches. They were four up, and were soon the first to return to team quarters, victors by 4&3.
With Friday’s heroes up against it, it was left to Casey and Howell to resist the American surge. They showed steady nerves as they traded halves with Furyk and Chad Campbell for five holes, won the sixth with a birdie by Howell and briefly held a two-hole lead when Casey birdied the long 10th. That was a feat in itself, but this was a match of attrition. Furyk produced three consecutive birdies from the 11th to turn two down to one up and to put another splash of red on the scoreboards.
Undaunted, Howell won the 17th with a rare birdie, and left his partner to secure the win with a fine four on the last.
That was the fulcrum of the entire match. After a tremendous afternoon of foursomes, and the third defeat of the great Woods, it has left Europe with a tremendous advantage and America in shock. Today, the US will need a minor miracle.