9:16AM
Newsday (N.Y.): Europe steamrolls U.S., takes 3-point lead
9:16 AM
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
NEWPORT, Wales -- America is getting swept right out of the Ryder Cup. Give or take half a point.
After perhaps the worst afternoon in history for the United States in this 83-year-old competition, one only can think of Casey Stengel's inimitable line about the 1962 Mets, to wit, "Can't anybody here play this game?''
On the American squad, that is. Everybody on Team Europe can play.
Europe, which began the chill, damp afternoon trailing on the scoreboard 6-4 but leading in all six matches suspended by darkness Saturday, ended up in front 91/2 to 61/2.
The Euros won five of the six matches yesterday in a revised format which, because of yet another torrential downpour in the predawn hours, still didn't keep the Ryder Cup from being pushed to an unprecedented fourth day Monday.
Only a half point in one match, from the team of Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar in fourballs, when they tied the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco (well, the Molinaris tied them with a birdie at 18) kept the United States from a complete whitewash.
Not that it wasn't embarrassing enough to get a lousy half-point from a squad that includes the players ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world rankings, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
In foursomes, Tiger, with Steve Stricker, incurred his most one-sided match play loss ever, 6 and 5, to Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. In fourballs, Mickelson was defeated for the third time in three tries this Cup and now has more total losses, 17, than any U.S. player who's competed ever.
If the Euros pick up five points from the 12 singles matches Monday, they take back the Cup the United States won two years ago in Kentucky.
American captain Corey Pavin, sounding too much like a high school football coach, seemed less concerned with the results than the effort.
"I watched 12 men out there that fought hard and held their heads high,'' Pavin said. "They played every shot hard, and we got a couple of matches to 18 . . . so I was very proud of them. And I'm sure [Monday] they know what they need to do.''
Indeed, play better than they have, at least make more putts than they have. Whether European captain Colin Montgomerie set up the Celtic Manor course to favor his team, slower greens and narrower fairways than in the States, it is assumed players good enough to be in the Ryder Cup can adjust to anything.
Of the six matches, the U.S. team led in only one, the Cink-Kuchar vs. the brothers Molinari, which Europe tied on Francesco Molinari's short birdie at 18, the partisan crowd chanting, "Eu-rope, Eu-rope,'' or "Ole, Ole, Ole.''
In 1999, in Brookline, Mass., the U.S. team trailed going into singles, 10-6, and won, 14 1/2 to 13 1/2. "We have done it before,'' Woods reminded about a comeback, "and there's no reason we can't do it again.''
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/europe-steamrolls-u-s-takes-3-point-lead-1.2333240
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Special to Newsday
NEWPORT, Wales -- America is getting swept right out of the Ryder Cup. Give or take half a point.
After perhaps the worst afternoon in history for the United States in this 83-year-old competition, one only can think of Casey Stengel's inimitable line about the 1962 Mets, to wit, "Can't anybody here play this game?''
On the American squad, that is. Everybody on Team Europe can play.
Europe, which began the chill, damp afternoon trailing on the scoreboard 6-4 but leading in all six matches suspended by darkness Saturday, ended up in front 91/2 to 61/2.
The Euros won five of the six matches yesterday in a revised format which, because of yet another torrential downpour in the predawn hours, still didn't keep the Ryder Cup from being pushed to an unprecedented fourth day Monday.
Only a half point in one match, from the team of Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar in fourballs, when they tied the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco (well, the Molinaris tied them with a birdie at 18) kept the United States from a complete whitewash.
Not that it wasn't embarrassing enough to get a lousy half-point from a squad that includes the players ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world rankings, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
In foursomes, Tiger, with Steve Stricker, incurred his most one-sided match play loss ever, 6 and 5, to Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. In fourballs, Mickelson was defeated for the third time in three tries this Cup and now has more total losses, 17, than any U.S. player who's competed ever.
If the Euros pick up five points from the 12 singles matches Monday, they take back the Cup the United States won two years ago in Kentucky.
American captain Corey Pavin, sounding too much like a high school football coach, seemed less concerned with the results than the effort.
"I watched 12 men out there that fought hard and held their heads high,'' Pavin said. "They played every shot hard, and we got a couple of matches to 18 . . . so I was very proud of them. And I'm sure [Monday] they know what they need to do.''
Indeed, play better than they have, at least make more putts than they have. Whether European captain Colin Montgomerie set up the Celtic Manor course to favor his team, slower greens and narrower fairways than in the States, it is assumed players good enough to be in the Ryder Cup can adjust to anything.
Of the six matches, the U.S. team led in only one, the Cink-Kuchar vs. the brothers Molinari, which Europe tied on Francesco Molinari's short birdie at 18, the partisan crowd chanting, "Eu-rope, Eu-rope,'' or "Ole, Ole, Ole.''
In 1999, in Brookline, Mass., the U.S. team trailed going into singles, 10-6, and won, 14 1/2 to 13 1/2. "We have done it before,'' Woods reminded about a comeback, "and there's no reason we can't do it again.''
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/europe-steamrolls-u-s-takes-3-point-lead-1.2333240
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments