Newsday (N.Y.): Ryder Cup: Rain delay suits U.S. on Day 1

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

NEWPORT, Wales -- Day 1 of the 38th Ryder Cup had more than a worrisome resemblance to the week of the 2009 U.S. Open. It was Bethpage Redux, with comic relief, if you take into account the American team's outerwear as well as its inner strength.

The opening round, four matches of fourball, or better-ball, never finished Friday. For a while it seemed it barely started, as a forecast deluge and un-forecast flooding caused a 7-hour, 18-minute suspension of play and then caused a unique revision of the event's format.

After play resumed around 5 p.m. British summer time and then lasted until the last light just before 7, the American team led in two matches, trailed in one and was tied in the fourth.

Considering the European squad was ahead in three of the four matches when the decision to halt play at Celtic Manor was made around 9:45 a.m., the U.S. had to be pleased.

Stewart Cink-Matt Kuchar of the U.S. led Rory McIlroy-Graeme McDowell, 2 up through 11 holes; Bubba Watson-Jeff Overton, the American rookies, were ahead of Luke Donald-Padraig Harrington, 1 up through 8; Ian Poulter's 25-foot birdie putt at 10 enabled him and Ross Fisher to even their match with Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods through 10 holes; and Euros Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer were 1 up over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson after 12.

Westwood-Kaymer, playing the opening match, bolted to a huge lead (3 up after six holes). But the U.S. roared back with birdies on the two par 3s. Johnson's putt from about 6 feet won the seventh hole and Mickelson's 8-footer from pin high won the 10th to leave the American duo just 1 down.

The Ryder Cup normally entails five sessions: two fourball and two foursomes (or alternate-shot matches) the first two days worth a total of 16 points, then 12 singles matches (one point each) on Sunday for a match total of 28 points.

Now, squeezing this competition into four sessions, officials will send out six foursomes today after the finish of the four four-balls still on course. A third session will include two foursomes and four fourballs. Finally, the 12 singles on Sunday.

"I think it works out very well,'' said Euro captain Colin Montgomerie.

What didn't work were the Sun Mountain rain suits used by the Americans. Looking very much like college basketball warmups, with names on the back, the suits got soaked. During the delay, U.S. officials went to the merchandise tent and, at about $350 each, bought 24 rain suits from ProQuip, the firm that makes the European team's suits.

Whether the American side will need the new gear is problematical. Another storm could hit Sunday, and maybe force the Ryder Cup to a Monday finish for the first time in history.

"If we lose another hour of play,'' Montgomerie said, "well, that's it. We are through to Monday.''

Monty believes his team has an advantage in foursomes, where two men play one ball. American captain Corey Pavin saw the revision another way, that he didn't have to sit four players, because every member of each team will be in action without a break.

About the rain suits? "They didn't perform the way they were supposed to perform,'' Pavin said.

On a long, trying and soggy day, that couldn't be said of his players.

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Newsday (N.Y.): Ryder Cup: Tiger, Stricker in third pairing for opening round

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

NEWPORT, Wales -- Corey Pavin said he wasn't hoping for anything. He created his opening Ryder Cup pairings not on what the weather might be -- the forecast was for Bethpage bleak -- and not on whom the opponents might be but what he thought was best for the American team.

So Tiger Woods, who in the five previous Ryder Cups he's played has been in the leadoff slot, will be in the third group of fourballs (better-ball) Friday when the 38th Cup begins at Celtic Manor.

Two rookies, Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton, are paired. And Jim Furyk, who won $11.35 million and the FedEx Cup last Sunday, will be on the bench.

Woods and Steve Stricker, an expected pairing, will face Europe's Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher.

After the uproar about 21-year-old Rory McIlroy wanting to challenge Woods, Pavin was asked whether he hoped McIlroy would be in that same third pairing as Woods. "I wasn't hoping for anything,'' said the U.S. captain. "I put Tiger and Steve in that slot just [because] I thought it was a good slot for them.''

The morning lineup was, in order, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson of the U.S. against Lee Westwood-Martin Kaymer of Europe;Stewart Cink-Matt Kuchar vs. McIlroy and fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell; Woods-Stricker vs. Poulter-Fisher and Watson-Overton vs. Luke Donald-Padraig Harrington.

During the fancy opening ceremonies Thursday afternoon, Pavin forgot to introduce Cink.

Four foursomes (alternate shot) matches, are scheduled for this afternoon. The Americans who were idle in the morning, Furyk,Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan, will almost certainly be called on to play.

Asked his logic for holding out Furyk in the morning, Pavin joked, "Well, he said he's been tired. He was counting his money, and he's been very tired.''

He also said he wanted Mickelson and Johnson to start off. "Phil likes to get out there and get at it,'' was Pavin's explanation, "andDustin has been chomping at the bit.''

He also seemed oblivious of the forecast of rain which might force officials to allow golfers to lift, clean and place balls on a course already soggy.

"I just wanted to send out guys that I thought were very good at better-ball and send them out. Weather is not a factor," said Pavin.

Pavin's wife, Lisa, sarcastically referred to as "The Captainess,'' was the object of a scornful article in Thursday's, London Daily Telegraph. The author, Oliver Brown called her a "loopy narcissist'' who could trigger an international incident.

She and other wives of players on both teams were, along with their husbands, part of a black-tie gala Wednesday evening at Millennium Stadium in nearby Cardiff that featured Wales natives Catherine Zeta-Jones and Shirley Bassey.

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RealClearSports: War and Sports at Ryder Cup

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEWPORT, Wales -- The question brought a laugh. And some serious thought. Could Phil Mickelson, in response to the United States Ryder Cup team being addressed by an F-16 fighter pilot, who happens also to be a golf pro, "explain America's apparent fondness for associating sport with war?''

Mickelson, more concerned about his driving, said only, "I haven't noticed that to be the case, but I do feel proud to be part of a country that cares about the civil rights of people throughout the world and not just in our country.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Cup means more to Tiger than ever

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

NEWPORT, WALES — He kept bringing up Stanford. Which made sense. He had watched the win over Notre Dame before he left the United States. Now Tiger Woods was talking about another team, Team America, the Ryder Cup squad on which he was a wild-card pick.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger has his 'A' game in Ryder Cup press room

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

NEWPORT, Wales -- It should be understood by now. After what Tiger Woods has survived this year, the stories of his infidelities, the divorce, the struggles with his game, he would not be fazed by questions from the media, no matter how personal or how potentially embarrassing.

Woods has the routine down to science, saying nothing when seemingly asked everything, as he knew he would be Tuesday. Three days before he would hit his first shot in the Ryder Cup, Tiger handled the best verbal shots of a media group composed primarily of Brits smug about their ability to interrogate.

The American and European teams played practice rounds at Celtic Manor in preparation for the Cup matches that run Friday through Sunday. Then on a rare day, when after morning fog there was sunshine and blue sky, journalists practiced their detective skills on Woods.

"You don't win majors anymore,'' a British journalist told Tiger in accusatory tones. "You don't win regular tournaments anymore and you are about to be deposed by Europeans as the world No. 1 -- or Phil Mickelson. Where is the Ryder Cup on your agenda now that you are an ordinary golfer?''

Woods never blinked. "I remember,'' he said, "you're the same one at the British Open who asked me that, too. I hope you're having a good week.''

When someone wondered if the wives of the other players on the 12-man American team had cooled toward him, Woods insisted: "No, we are here as a team. We're here to win the Ryder Cup.''

Presumably, they also were in 2002 when the matches were held roughly 125 miles northwest of here, The Belfry near Birmingham, England. That's when Woods, who later contended he was joking, said there were "a million reasons'' (meaning dollars) he preferred winning the previous week's American Express to the Ryder Cup.

When asked whether he'd been criticized unfairly for the quote, Woods shrugged: "Well, what really matters is my team. That's what I'm here with, and then after that, I can't control it.''

And what about young Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland saying he would like to play against Woods? "Me, too,'' Tiger said.

Care to elaborate? "No.''

Woods, unable to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship, worked last week in Orlando with new instructor Sean Foley.

"It's not just hitting golf balls,'' Wood said of the advice. "He's trying to make sure I understand the movements. But I think the biggest thing is actually understanding the fixes. Out on the course today, I hit some bad ones, but I automatically knew what the fix was. That's neat because it sometimes takes a while to understand.''

Woods was a wild-card selection for the team, and the expected question, soon asked, was whether he had to prove he was deserving of the pick.

"Well,'' he said, "I just need to go out and play.''

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