Will Americans' Cup runneth over?

    Writing from Medinah, Illinois
    Saturday, September 29, 2012

    Not even Duke Ellington could explain Saturday at the 39th Ryder Cup Match.
    This was more than golf beyond category. This was sport on the grandest of stages played with the most fervent of emotions. Alabama-Auburn, move over.
    And to think that David Duval once called the Ryder Cup a “glorified exhibition.”
    Maybe he never met Ian Poulter. Or Keegan Bradley. Or Phil Mickelson. Or Luke Donald.
    Duval knows at least three of the four – Bradley was just out of diapers when Duval had a cup of divots as No. 1 in the world. They get it. But he never got it.
    Everyone else is getting it. The 45,000-plus on hand over Medinah Country Club’s now-dusty No. 3 course really get it.
    Saturday featured everything from players driving to cheers off the first tee – Bubba Watson, hello! – to skywriting with snark floating over Medinah’s bright blue skies supplied by a marketing group from Wales, complete with “Has anyone seen Tiger?”
    Look! There’s Webb Simpson making four straight birdies and seven in 10 holes.
    Look! There’s Poulter making birdies on the last five holes to wrest a vital point from the U.S.
    Look! There’s “Keegleson,” the dynamic duo of Bradley and Mickelson, trouncing Lee Westwood and Donald in the morning, a 7 and 6 rout that matched the Ryder Cup record for 18-hole team matches.
    Look! There’s Woods with five birdies on the back nine for the second afternoon running.
    Yes, Tiger was very much seen. He slept in, having not been assigned to a morning match, then woke up the echoes, playing like the Tiger of old rather than an old Tiger.
    Everyone saw him on the back nine post meridian. That barrage of birdies scared the wits out of Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, but for a third time in as many matches, he and teammate Steve Stricker failed to earn a point. Donald, Northwestern’s very own, was like a wildcat with three birdies in the last five holes, including a three-footer for a deuce after the best tee shot on the treacherous par-3 17th.
    The failure of Woods and Stricker to convert was about all that went wrong for the Americans. A 3-1 romp in the morning’s alternate shot competition, followed by a 2-2 split in the afternoon best-ball showdowns, earned the U.S. dynamic dozen a 10-6 advantage entering Sunday’s singles showcase.
    Lest it be forgotten, this is not an insurmountable lead. Thirteen years ago, the Americans trailed by as much at The Country Club, Ben Crenshaw said, “I’ve got a feeling” on Saturday night, and the Europeans felt it on Sunday. It remains the greatest rally in Ryder Cup history.
    Now, Europe has to duplicate it, and on the road. And with Martin Kaymer, Peter Hanson and Francesco Molinari in the lineup. It won’t be easy.
    “Tomorrow is going to be a big day,” European captain Jose Maria Olazabal said.
    He meant for his side.
    “At one point in this match, I believe that momentum will come our way, and why not tomorrow?” Olazabal said.
    There are no other options on the calendar. That’s why Olazabal front-loaded his lineup, opening with Donald, Poulter and Rory McIlroy. Davis Love III, the best captain in Chicago since Chris Chelios, opens with Watson, Simpson and Bradley. That’s the current Masters champion, U.S. Open champion, and the 2011 PGA Championship winner, who goes up against this year’s PGA winner.
    Then Love has Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker. Olazabal has Justin Rose and Paul Lawrie.
    This is what is known as American depth.
    “I wouldn’t want to play anybody on our side,” Love said.
    Europe had trailed on all four matches in the morning, and in three of the four in the afternoon, but garnered just enough points to stay in the game if the 1999 formula is followed.
    “It’s given us a heartbeat for tomorrow,” Donald said.
    “We obviously need to play amazing and win at least eight points, but I’d rather have to win eight points than 10,” Garcia said. “We’re going to give it our best shot.”
    Poulter’s rousing finish, eyes wide after he sank birdie putts on the last five holes, was astonishing. He hadn’t played in Friday’s best-ball matches – Olazabal may come to regret that – but went insane at the end. A birdie on the par-5 14th matched Jason Dufner. A chip to gimmie range on the 15th squared the match. A curling 16-footer on the par-4 16th moved he and McIlroy 1 up. A 9-footer on the par-3 17th was matched by Zach Johnson’s 3-footer for a deuce.
    Then, with the sun having set and the light quickly failing, Poulter his his 159-yard approach to 10 feet and rolled the birdie putt home, on top of Dufner’s 3 1/2 footer, for matching 3s and 1 up victory, and a 10-5 margin in the Americans’ favor, rather than 11-5.
    “It was an outside right putt, and she went in,” Poulter said.
    “I thought he pushed it,” McIlroy kidded.
    This festival of shotmaking and putting on surfaces made of green marble made for incredible theater, and with a minimum of catcalls until the late going, when the liquor started talking. Sunday, the gates open four hours before Watson and Donald commence firing. That’s a lot of time to buy beer.
    Every time you looked around on Saturday, there were amazing sights. Even when you looked up. Who expected skywriters? But there they were, five planes jotting out pro-European team comments, from a touching “Do it for Seve” at the start to “Fore! Tiger’s back; Go Team Nordegren” in the afternoon. (Woods, incidentally, ran his spectators hit record to three on Saturday, a tee shot on No. 7 hitting a lady. He gave her a glove and a hug, along with his regrets.)
    It’s rather stunning that he and Stricker haven’t at least grabbed a halve along the way. Woods    has birdied 34.3 percent of the holes he’s played on his own ball. According to stat guru Jason Sobel, Woods birdied 27.3 percent of the time in 2000, when he began his Grand Slam run.
    Sunday’s pairings finish with Woods against Molinari. Woods against one player? He should be able to handle that. And he may not have to.
    No matter what, it will be loud on Sunday. At least from the spectators – with U.S. fans asked to wear red like a certain player – this will be the Indianapolis 500 on a golf course. Gentlemen, start your drivers.
    – Tim Cronin

U.S. up 8-4 after Saturday morning

    Writing from Medinah, Illinois
    Saturday, September 29, 2012

    They’re known as Keegelson now, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley.
    And they’re the best couple on the course since Danny Noonan and Maggie the waitress.
    All this hugs-and-high fives duo did Saturday morning at Medinah Country Club is dust Lee Westwood and Luke Donald 7 and 6 in the alternate shot competition, known officially as “foursomes.”
    Seven and 6? That’s like an election in the 11th Ward. It’s no contest, and tied a Ryder Cup record for margin in an 18-hole team match.
    So how can American captain Davis Love III not play them again in the afternoon best-ball match? They’re 3-0, and account for 37.5 percent of America’s points through three of the five sessions in the 39th Ryder Cup Match.
    Keegleson – the nickname is courtesy of Golf Channel commentator Kelly Tilghman – combined for six birdies in the first 10 holes, building a 6-up lead. When Westwood and Donald bollixed up the par-4 12th, it was over, and the thousands encamped at the hole roared like they hadn’t roared all morning.
    Well, maybe it was as loud at the first hole when Ian Poulter and Bubba Watson each teed off with the crowd roaring, bringing the movie “Happy Gilmore” to life. And did so as skywriters flew overhead jotting out “Do it for Seve # Go Europe” and other sayings in the clear blue sky. It was sensory overload, and that was before the Americans held leads in all four matches for a time.
    By the time morning play was over, the U.S. held an 8-4 lead, which is commanding but not insurmountable. The Americans trailed by that margin in 1999 through three sessions and came back to win at The Country Club.
    But back to Keegleson. They got the afternoon off, with Love revealing he didn’t want anyone to play in all five matches, which could have meant as many as 90 holes over three days.
    So afternoon play begins without Keegleson, but with Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker together again for the umpteenth time, playing against Sergio Garcia and Donald. Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar are matched with Nicolas Colsaerts and Paul Lawrie, Watson and Webb Simpson are playing Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari, and Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson face Rory McIlroy and Poulter.
    A full report tonight. Check Twitter @illinoisgolfer for updates when we’re not on the course.
    – Tim Cronin

Americans up 5-3 in rollicking Ryder Cup

    Writing from Medinah, Illinois
    Friday, September 28, 2012

    The easy way to explain Friday’s opening day of the 39th Ryder Cup Match is to use all the usual superlatives: dramatic, electric, spellbinding, thrilling, unpredictable, and so forth.
    But that would only cover the first five or six minutes.
    The next way would be to assemble a highlight package of the best shots of the day at Medinah Country Club, but you don’t have that much time, we don’t have that much bandwidth, and this site isn’t NBC.
    So settle for this, the phrase Duke Ellington created when something wowed him: Beyond category.
    That’s what the opening day of the biannual tag-team match was. Beyond category.
    There were birdies, an eagle, shots caromed off tents, holed bunker shots, Bubba Watson smacking a tee shot with the crowd cheering, and even the equivalent of a 10-under-par 62 scored by the one, the only, Nicolas Colsaerts.
    You know. The one from Belgium.
    He was about the only guy among the 24 players who didn’t waffle at some point during the day. Eight birdies and an eagle across 18 holes – yes, he played Medinah’s No. 3 course like everyone else – put him in the pantheon of Ryder Cup rookie sensations.
    A round like that hadn’t been seen in this cauldron of self-induced pressure since never.
    Could be he was oblivious. This is the first time the Ryder Cup has been seen on Belgian television.
    At the least, he was unconscious in doing what he did, holing about 253 feet of birdies – the exaggeration is small, believe it – in the course of the best-ball match he and Lee Westwood, soon to be featured on milk cartons, had against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker.
    Remember Woods? Remember him at Medinah? Two PGA Championship appearances, two PGA Championship wins.
    He and Stricker, paired morning and afternoon, came away with nothing on Friday. Not even a by-your-leave. They were trumped – the Donald was sitting in the grandstand – 2 and 1 in the morning alternate-shot carnival by Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, then beaten by Colsaerts and, nominally, Westwood in the afternoon. Woods shot the equivalent of 7-under 65, which is the stroke-play course record, and that only got him and Stricker to the 18th hole. They halved the hole and the Europeans won the match.
    Ah, and here’s the rub for the visitors. It was the only match they won in the afternoon. That, and a 2-2 split in the morning alternate shot, when the Americans were expected by many, including this corner, to fold like road maps, put the U.S. ahead by 5-3 entering Saturday’s action.
    This, American captain Davis Love III likes.
    “There was a lot of noise this afternoon,” Love said. “It was kind of quiet in the morning.”
    Except, perhaps, for the clunk of Woods hitting the roof of a tent, the whap of him hitting a fan with a tee shot for the second day running, the rasp of Stricker picking that tee shot out of a bag, and the plink of him caroming a shot off a camera tower to a spot in front of the 15th green. And that was just in the morning. He got his game together in the afternoon, when the genius of Love’s course setup, including rough just a tad deeper than Augusta National’s so-called second cut, came into play.
    The Americans, Woods included, could hit it everywhere and either salvage par or make a birdie. That’s how Phil Mickelson could hook one into the trees on the par-4 12th, yet use his skill and carve a rising slice through two trees, over the mighty oak that guards the green, and still let it land oh so softly on the putting surface and save his par.
    Beats the old USGA chop-out from the rough, no?
    Mickelson and Keegan Bradley are the hottest item since Bogie – no, not bogey – and Bacall. They meshed like a chain link fence and ran away with their morning alternate shot match against Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, 4 and 3. It was the first loss for either European in “foursomes” after a combined 14-0-1 record. Then Lefty and his acolyte bounced Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell 2 and 1 in the best-ball showcase, with birdies on four of the first five holes.
    Bradley splashed birdies all over the scorecard, and Mickelson finished the match off with a tee shot on the par-3 17th that was stony, a mere 18 inches from the cup. The Europeans took off their caps at that shot, Philly Mick and Bradley hugged so long they should have gotten a room, and the U.S. had another point.
    “I’ve never seen anyone drive the ball as well as Keegan,” Mickelson said. “Alternate shot was my favorite format, because I got to play the next shot. Best-ball, I had to play my own. I love playing with this man.”
    “They’re infatuated with each other,” Bradley’s girlfriend said.
    It’s a big love affair in the American team room at the nonce, even with the news that Woods will sit out Saturday morning’s alternate shot scrap, a first for him in Ryder Cup play.
    The point being, this match was expected to go one way, and it’s leaning another. The American margin is but two points, but a 4-4 split on Saturday means the U.S. will need only 5.5 points – five wins and a tied match out of 12 – to regain Samuel Ryder’s little cup. That’s what made Friday’s fireworks display, featuring everything from Woods forcing the afternoon best-ball match to the 18th with a tee shot to four feet on the 17th to Jason Dufner watching a birdie putt tumble into the cup Danny Noonan style, so important.
    Advantage, U.S.
    “I’m going to make it clear to the boys they have to step it up,” European captain Jose Maria Olazabal said. “They need to play better golf, simple as that.”
    Even Colsaerts, he of the eight birdies and the eagle? Good luck with that.
    “It’s difficult to imagine you’re going to do so well, but that is match play,” Colsaerts said. “You have to hole it because you know the guy is going to hole it on top of you.”
    As on the 17th, where Colsaerts’ 35-foot birdie putt, a curler that crashed into the hole, preceded Woods’ four-footer.
    There was even controversy, Jim Furyk questioning a potential drop for McDowell from a sprinkler head by the second green in the morning. Furyk’s notion was agreed to by the chief referee, a BBC commentator said the Americans might regret “their shenanigans,” but the match went to the 18th before McIlroy and McDowell scored their 1 up victory. They’ll see each other again on Saturday morning.
    At one point on Friday morning, all four matches were being won by Europe. Now, the question is if the Europeans can pull off something close to that. Otherwise, they’ll be training going into Singles Sunday, where the Americans should have the edge. But predictions at this address have a way, like Woods’ tee shots, of going haywire.
    – Tim Cronin

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

Woods' practice ends with a thud

    Writing from Medinah, Illinois
    Thursday, September 27, 2012

    It’s probably not the best way to go into the Ryder Cup.
    You are Tiger Woods, and you conk a fan in the head with your tee shot on the 18th hole.
    Oops.
    One report had the fan, Larry Johnson, getting knocked out, but that could not be confirmed. But Woods apologized several times and signed a glove for Johnson, who was taken to the first aid tent near the 18th fairway.
    Memo to Davis Love III: Have Woods tee off on the odd-numbered holes and Steve Stricker handle the even-numbered holes to avoid a repeat on Friday morning when they play Ian Poulter and Justin Rose in the fourth match.

    First up? We don’t know

    The visitors have the honor in the Ryder Cup, but neither Rory McIlroy nor Graeme McDowell were sure who would tee off in the first match to get the pressure-packed three-day fandango underway.
    “We have an idea but it’s not set in stone,” said McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked player.
    “We’ll talk through how the course breaks down for us and we’ll finalize that tonight,” McDowell said.
    But McDowell had an idea of how he wanted the match against Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker to develop.
    “We’re going to use the world No. 1’s power and precision and I will just knock a few tap-ins in.”
    Furyk and Snedeker practiced together all three days. Furyk called it “just getting comfy.”
    Will anyone be comfy at 7:20 a.m.?
    “I’ll be nervous just like I know Rory will be nervous and I know Graeme is going to be nervous and I know Brandt is going to be nervous,” Furyk said. “But I’ll be excited. The crowd is going to be energetic. They’re going to be making a ton of noise.
    “I think what will be going through my mind is that I appreciated the eighth one every bit as much as the first.”

    Quite the cheering section

    The eight players not playing in the morning: Americans Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson, and Europeans Nicolas Colsaerts, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer and Paul Lawrie.
    Simpson won the U.S. Open, Watson the Masters. Kaymer and Lawrie have won the PGA and British Open, respectively.
    A smart captain will want to get all 12 players on the course at some time during the first day. One who didn’t was Europe’s Mark James in 1999. He kept Jean Van De Velde, Jsrmo Sandelin and Andrew Coltart in the bullpen until Sunday’s singles. All three lost their singles matches, helping the U.S. to its 8.5-3.5 Sunday romp that brought the Americans the Cup by a 14.5-13.5 margin.

    Around Medinah

    The anticipated flyover never flew over the opening ceremony. Two military planes were in the air, but the landing patterns for O’Hare come right over the course when the wind is out of the east. They were spotted on television, but the 10,000 spectators who attended saw only an unceasing supply of 747s and the like. ... Rather than the national anthem of every country represented on the European team, the European Union anthem, “Ode to Joy,” the climax of the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, was played by the Chicago Youth Symphony.  That saved 20 minutes right there.
    – Tim Cronin