Saturday, September 18, 2004
The U.S. team owns the worst deficit it has faced in 77 years.
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the rest of the Americans took a beating Friday in the Ryder Cup -- first from Europe, then from their own captain.
Europe wound up with 61/2 of a possible 8 points, its largest opening-day lead ever and the worst deficit the United States has ever faced in the 77-year history of the biennial competition.
It was enough to leave U.S. captain Hal Sutton perplexed, disgusted and ready to do something about it.
He benched Mickelson for this morning's matches after Lefty -- already a target for changing equipment last week and then not playing the course the final two days of practice -- hit one tee shot that nearly struck his wife and another on the 18th hole that almost went out of bounds, costing him and Woods a chance to earn precious points.
"It's not going to cause us any grief in the morning because he's going to be cheering instead of playing," Sutton said.
Scared on the greens
He blistered the Americans for being too scared on the greens, where they failed to put any pressure on the Europeans while going 70 holes and 61/2 hours before they led in any match.
"If the Americans keep this up, it won't be long before they are considered the underdogs," Sutton said.
If they're not already.
Then Sutton headed back to the hotel for a meeting that wasn't likely to be warm and fuzzy.
"When I get really mad at myself, I don't want somebody patting me on the back and lovin' on me," Sutton said. "I can assure you I'm not going to be lovin' on them."
Europe, meanwhile, was loving every minute of it.
Colin Montgomerie set a Ryder Cup record by playing in his 29th consecutive match, teaming with Padraig Harrington to whip Woods and Mickelson 2 and 1 in the morning better-ball match and having even an easier time, 4 and 2, in the afternoon alternate-shot match against Davis Love III and Fred Funk.
American Dream Team
Montgomerie now is 13-2-3 in his last 18 matches, the best percentage among any European. Even more meaningful was beating Woods and Mickelson -- the American Dream Team -- to set the tone.
"Psychologically, it was almost worth two points to us," Monty said.
This might have been the quietest day at a Ryder Cup, as most of the 38,000 fans sat in stunned silence watching Europe steamroll through a team that has higher world rankings, more majors and bigger stars.
"I don't think we surprised ourselves," Harrington said. "That's what we set out to do."
Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke also won both their matches, with Clarke and Westwood finishing off the job Monty and Harrington started.
They beat Woods and Mickelson in better ball with a bogey on the final hole, despite the Americans taking a 3-up lead after four holes.
Penalty drop
Woods and Mickelson carved out clutch pars to square the match on No. 17, and Mickelson pulled his new 3-wood for a crucial tee shot. It soared to the left, took one hop off the out-of-bounds fence and dropped a few feet away, leaving Woods no choice but to take a one-shot penalty drop from the fence.
Mickelson had a chance to make good, but his wedge from 91 yards spun back some 25 feet.
"I let it slide on 18 with a poor tee shot ... and it basically cost us the match," Mickelson said.
No one knows how Woods felt about the pairing, the day, the tee shot, anything. Assistant captain Steve Jones drove him and Mickelson away in a cart through a throng of reporters, straight to the locker room.
"There's a lot of pressure in the Ryder Cup," Westwood said. "Everybody is entitled to make a bad swing once in awhile. He just made it in a critical situation."
Now the entire U.S. team is on life support.
The lead is so large -- the United States in 1975 was the only other team with such a huge margin, and that was before continental players were added to the other side to make it more competitive -- that Europe mathematically can clinch the cup today.
"We got off to a good start," Montgomerie cautioned. "That's all it is."
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