U.S. escapes alternate shot with 2-2 tie

    Writing from Medinah, Illinois
    Friday, September 28, 2012

    There was a point during the front nine of the opening matches of the 39th Ryder Cup where Europe led all four matches. And Medinah Country Club sounded like the reading room of the library down the street.
    Then the Americans rallied, and scraped out a 2-2 tie after the alternate shot competition.
    The comebacks were authored by the teams of Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, and Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson.
    Mickelson and Bradley trailed Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia 1 up after eight holes, won the ninth to square the match, then won their last four holes beginning at the 12th to score a 4 and 3 victory. Bradley ran home a 30-foot birdie on the 15th to finish the match off, eliciting the loudest roar of the morning. It was the first loss in alternate shot – foursomes on the scoreboards here – for either Donald or Garcia, a combined 14-0-1 entering Friday’s extravaganza.
    The dominance of that duo in the final holes was amazing, but Dufner and Johnson were as good in the clutch. They were also 1 down after eight holes, training Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari, the only rookie Cupper on the European team. But birdies on the ninth and 10th gave Dufner and Johnson a 1 up advantage, and they held it until the 15th, when Westwood plunked his tee shot into the middle of the new pond on the right. Dufner birdied for good measure after a solid bunker shot by Johnson, and another Eurpoean bogey on the 16th brought Dufner and Johnson home a 3 and 2 winner.
    Europe’s wins came thanks to the teams of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, and of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose.
    It can’t be said that Poulter and Rose were the beneficiaries of Tiger Woods’ erratic play, because Steve Stricker saved Woods’ rump on the three occasions he was especially wayward. But Pounter and Rose won a pair of holes with birdies and three others with pars, taking a 2 and 1 victory.
    Woods’ tee shot on the first hole set the tone for his day. It sailed well to the left of the fairway, bounced off the roof of the “Captains Club” chalet, and bounced along the out-of-bounds fence, remaining barely playable for Stricker. He created a remarkable recovery, landing the ball just in front of the green for a stunning par save.
    Woods hit a wayward tee shot at the par-5 seventh, this time well to the right. It landed in a merchandise bag. Stricker managed to get the ball on the green for a two-putt birdie, and the U.S. won the hole.
    Finally came the par-4 15th. Woods, trying to drive the green, or at least come close, from the 285-yard forward tee, again double-crossed himself, going left of left. The ball hit the first chalet on a hillside to the left – one rented by Rolfing Sports, a company owned by the NBC analyst – and caromed to a cushy spot in front of the green. The also turned into a birdie, and the U.S. won the hole.
    The morning’s first match saw both McDowell and Jim Furyk play shaky tee shots, and why not, considering the setting and the number of eyeballs watching at 7:20, with the sun just creeping over the clubhouse roofline. McDowell hit a wicked hook toward the fence, and Furyk was only a few yards short of him on the same line. McDowell and Rory McIlroy took the match, 1 up, but not before no little amount of histrionics, including Furyk questioning McDowell’s right to a drop by a sprinkler head at the second green – the head referee was brought in and ruled against relief – and the two Northern Islanders running off a string of six birdies in seven holes.
    Furyk and Brandt Snedeker, nervous as a cat in a piano factory, 3 down after 12 holes, managed to square the match at the 16th with three straight birdies. Then Snedeker’s leaked tee shot into the trees on the right of the 18th hole gave Furyk next to nothing, giving McIlroy and McDowell the match, 1 up, with a final par.
    The afternoon best-ball matches are underway, and as of 2:55 p.m., three of the four American pairs are leading. Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson are 6 up on Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson after 10 holes thanks to playing the front nine in 7-under 29, while Mickelson and Bradley are 3 up on McIlroy and McDowell at the turn. Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar are 2 up[ on Rose and Martin Kaymer through 6, while Woods and Stricker are all square with Lee Westwood and Nicholas Colsaerts.
    A full report at the end of the day; updates as warranted.
    – Tim Cronin