Americans might be dead if they can't make up Ryder ground
NEWPORT, Wales The Americans stood behind the 18th green with smiles rarely seen on European soil as they watched yet another match go their way Saturday in the Ryder Cup.
They won the opening two sessions. They had a 6-4 lead over Europe. They grabbed lunch and headed back out to the golf course.
And then, it all changed.
Two hours later, Europe was leading all six matches when darkness stopped play at Celtic Manor. The Americans still had the lead. It just didn't feel that way. And with so much European blue on the scoreboard, it didn't even look that way.
"Momentum is key in these matches, and we haven't had any yet," European captain Colin Montgomerie said. "And it's been a superb session from the moment that we set off."
No points are awarded until a match is over, but it was looking good for Europe especially with Lee Westwood and Luke Donald handing Tiger Woods one of his worst beatings ever in a Ryder Cup. They were 4 up over Woods and Steve Stricker through nine holes.
"I'd say it wasn't a bad thing that it got dark," U.S. captain Corey Pavin said.
There has never been a day at the Ryder Cup quite like this one.
About the only thing that resembled a typical Ryder Cup was 11 hours of golf at its highest level.
Sixteen players from both sides competed in parts of three matches. The opening fourballs session ended before lunch, followed by six alternate-shot matches, and play finally was stopped with six matches of both formats still going on. On two occasions, a fourballs match allowed an alternate-shot match to play through.
"I'm not sure what day it is," Zach Johnson said.
Heavy rain is in the forecast for today, with 12 singles matches still to play after the third session is completed. Any stoppage in play would result in the first Monday finish in Ryder Cup history.
Woods and Stricker won their second straight match convincingly, Stewart Cink delivered a clutch putt and 21-year-old Rickie Fowler atoned for a bizarre blunder by making a birdie on the 18th hole for an unlikely half-point. Padraig Harrington won his first match for Europe in six years, and Westwood looked like a player on the verge of going to No. 1 in the world.
But the final two hours changed everything.
Europe came roaring back behind Westwood, Donald and a host of others, taking the lead in every match and pulling some 40,000 fans who stood in the muck back into the game.
"Although none of these games finished, obviously we are in a very, very strong position," Montgomerie said. "It was a very important two hours of play, and we came through it with flying colors."
Europe had lost only four holes of the 39 that were played in the third session.
"We're just going to have to go back tonight, rest up and fire at them tomorrow," Pavin said. "We're down in all six matches. I have not seen points given for matches that are through four, five, six or seven holes. So we are going to go out and try to turn those around, and try to turn the momentum back in our favor."
Westwood and Donald, who have emerged as the European stars at Celtic Manor, might make that difficult. Their only bit of bad luck came in their second match when a stunning turnaround in alternate-shot got Fowler off the hook for his error on the fourth hole.
Jim Furyk pulled his tee shot into the muck, and Fowler figured his best relief was to drop the ball on the cart path. But he used the golf ball in his pocket not the one Furyk had hit off the tee which is a loss of hole.
They recovered at the end when Furyk hit a wedge to the back of the 18th green to 4 feet. After Westwood missed his birdie putt, Fowler made the birdie for a half-point that felt like a loss for Europe, which never trailed in the match.