A LITTLE piece of Michigan fell to a charm offensive by Europe’s golfers earlier this week when Bernhard Langer encouraged his men to interact with American spectators and thereby won themselves countless new friends. If the Ryder Cup is a series of psychological and tactical skirmishes, then the first went to the Europe captain. So did the second, in even more spectacular style.
Langer’s shrewdly selected and expertly marshalled squad swamped the United States in the opening four-balls. The 3½-½ lead that they established was a record margin for Europe, better than the 3-1 advantage at the same stage at The Belfry two years ago. Such was their dominance that not once in any of the four matches was the Europe pairing down. Of the 64 holes played in the four matches, the US won only six.
Hal Sutton, the US captain, who had arrived in a black cowboy hat before switching to a cap, said at the halfway stage of the opening day: “Nothing is going wrong for us, but everything is going right for Europe. They’ve made enough putts to lay down a road from Detroit to Chicago — but this is early on.” A delighted Langer said: “This is definitely what I was hoping for. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts and hopefully it will last a long time. I have a lot of faith in my guys.”
Darren Clarke and Miguel Ángel Jiménez had too much firepower for Davis Love III and Chad Campbell, a rookie who was required to carry the load of his older, more experienced partner, and Sergio García and Lee Westwood emulated their performance of two years ago, when they recorded three victories, by beating David Toms and Jim Furyk.
The only match about which Langer could have had any real concern was that between Paul McGinley and Luke Donald and Stewart Cink and Chris Riley. There was never more than one hole in it and after Cink had done what he was put in the team to do, namely hole some putts, to level the score on the 14th. There followed a series of tense halves before the match itself finished all square.
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Colin Montgomerie led from the front at The Belfry in a performance that has rightly been hymned to the heavens and ended with victory by Europe. This time, paired with Padraig Harrington, Montgomerie reproduced some of that magic. The result was that he and Harrington defeated Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the stellar US partnership of whom so much had been expected.
“It has been a super morning and I am delighted,” Montgomerie said. “Padraig wanted to play with me and I wanted to play with him, believe me. And yet again we’ve done OK. It was very important that we won and we did.” Harrington said:
“Colin showed what a class act he is — he’s an unbelievable partner.”
This was a victory that was worth far more than just a single point for Europe. It was the inspired and inspiring performance from his leading pairing that Langer wanted, as well as a huge boost to his team’s morale.
It was also an immense blow to the US team, one to rock it to its foundations. If the two best players in their team, the world’s No 2 and No 4 players, could not live with their rivals, what chance did the rest of them have? “We’re thinking of declaring Fiji the 51st state,” an American joked in a reference to the assistance that Vijay Singh, the world No 1, would have given to the US had he been eligible.
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“It’s been a long week and we were excited to get out,” Clarke said. “Momentum is huge in the Ryder Cup and we got it. Last night we said we’d go out and enjoy it and smoke a cigar or two.”
The margin of Europe’s morning superiority cast a new light on the tactics of Sutton, the booming-voiced, barrel-chested United States captain who was here, there and everywhere as he sought to rally his men by putting in strategic appearances.
He was not exactly from the Severiano Ballesteros school of captaincy, because at Valderrama the Spaniard used to roar from one match to another in a buggy that seemed to be permanently travelling at full pelt. But nor was it the calm, quiet manner in which Langer and his many lieutenants controlled matters either.
All week, Sutton had said that he wanted his men to prepare just as they would every other week of the year. As with so many other of his pronouncements, he had made this tactic sound thoroughly plausible.
“If you only have yourself to worry about, that is one person less than if you’re worrying about yourself and your partner,” Sutton kept explaining. In fact, though, it backfired spectacularly as Europe forged ahead.
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Quote of the day: “I wasn’t going to let Phil Mickelson near my putter. I think he would have broken it. To birdie the first four holes was required — we feel as a team this was almost worth more than a point” Colin Montgomerie after he and Padraig Harrington beat the top US pair
Shot of the day: Harrington’s tee-shot at the 3rd. Mickelson hit the flagstick but his ball bounced 20 feet away. Harrington followed with a wonderful six-iron to four feet. A birdie two was almost a formality
Player of the day: Montgomerie. The grand old man of the Europe team is its heart and soul. Admitted he couldn’t have won without Harrington, but there was no doubt who was the boss
Stat of the day: A total of 64 holes were played in the morning four-balls and the United States won only six of them. Humbling for them but a huge psychological blow for Europe
Alternative Ryder Cup: Day 1: Hair shot — Europe win again. Flaxen highlights for Harrington, Clarke, Donald and Westwood and something that looks like a furry rodent on Jiménez’s head. The Americans: boring and balding