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Priceless 1/2 for Monty and Westwood there.

A result such as this after day 1 is getting pretty routine. Although, at least it's still within reach.

That was a great clutch 8 foot birdie putt on the 18th by Monty. Now 8-4-1 in foursomes.

Only reading the descriptions, haven't seen the video, but Phil left Dimarco a 15 footer putt coming out of the bunker. Chris missed his birdie putt, leaving the door open.

Wood/Furyk lost 17 & 18 to lose 2 up. Tiger found the fairway at the last and Jim dumped the approach into the water. On the first hole Furyk's drive was stymied against a tree forcing Woods to try to advance it left handed. Tiger's play seem indifferent, though, until they won 13 & 14 they hadn't made a birdie all day (they won 3 holes with a par before that).

Great job by the rookies Campbell and Johnson to win the last and salvage a halve. Overall the rookies had a good day, JJ Henry was on fire on the back 9 as they came back from 3 down to get a halve. I'm impressed with Wetterich, even though he and Toms lost, he seemed to play well. Had to laugh at the first hole of their match - the announcer butchers his name, then Toms (leading off) pulls his drive into the bunker. Nice way to start your RC career.

At the end of the first day, Woosie must be the happier captain

1.Europe have a lead , not too big, but useful.
2.All European players have played , and have contributed to the team.
3.Europe only lost one match, and that was to Tiger and Fuyrk on the 18th.


Lehman won't be too worried

1. Two points is nothing over three days
2.Some of the rookies played way above expectations,Henry's back nine was superb,Johnson showed guts under fire.
3.Europe will feel they left some points on the course, they were up in all the foursomes and could have expected 3-1 this afternoon. Casey and Karlsonn were 3 up.
4.USA fought as a team. Their recovery this afternoon showed guts.

I'm curious why Verplank and Taylor did not play ,and I still think Europe have the depth, but today was a day for positives for both captains. If USA can finish tomorrow within two points , Lehman can believe the match is there to be one.


The difference between the teams is Woosie has difficulty chosing which four to leave out, Lehman has difficulty chosing four to go with Tiger,Phil, Furyk and DiMArco.

Didn't Verplank have a recent rib injury that was nagging him? Perhaps Lehman decided to let him rest it one more day.

The alternate shot matches, especially Woods-Furyk, was sometimes painful. What I wouldn't have given to have Tiger on the putter for some of those birdie tries. And that long, double-breaking birdie putt by Donald (#4 or 5?) was beautiful - dead center, perfect speed.

Not too worried yet. Only 2 points back, there's still a lot of golf to go.

The decision to not play Taylor and Verplank came down to their lack of length. That said, I would have thought that Lehman would have played one his picks. Verplank is steady, drives it straight, good chipper and putter. Would like to see him paired with someone aggressive tomorrow, ham and egg.

Taylor will get one match only IMO.

I was wondering - in the alternate shot matches, how do they decide what brand of ball to play? If both players use the same ball, no big deal. But what about those with different sponsors? Has Tiger been practicing with Srixons, and Furyk with Nikes? Does it affect their play? If they are used to a certain ball's dynamics, can playing a different ball make that much difference? Expecting a certain spin, a certain amount of distance for a swing - I just wonder how they adjust.

they all use top of the line balls, i don't believe there is that much difference between them, then again, they probably flipped for it.

Nice to see Eldrick looking chipper after day one. . . . . . . .

I agree with you Billy. All the Tiger fans (you know who you are) just can't explain his "below average Tiger" play at the Ryder Cup. He was playing flawlessly heading into the Cup this year. I wish he could find a way out of this Ryder "funk".

I hope Saturday is better for the group. Results speak louder than words. They need to show some results on Saturday, or it could get ugly very quickly on Sunday.

With all the water holes on this course, wouldn't it make sense for these guys to use a range ball on some of the holes? you know, so they don't jeopardize losing a perfectly good ball

I haven't been able to watch, since I am at work. But, based on the hole by hole re-caps on rydercup.com, it looks like Tiger played well in the foursomes, and Furyk played poorly. Is this correct?

Not long back from the course; a long long day.

Some first-hand impressions;

Good buzz but the US presence is very low key, and not a lot to cheer about. I think 5-3 was about as good as the US team could have hoped for, given the way the day unfolded.

In the morning it was ideally set up for the Americans, with soft greens suited to target golf. It was noticable that as the weather deteriorated, so did much of the American confidence and they were always chasing the game in the afternoon.

Team spirit was much more evident on the European side. Garcia and Donald had a blast and I can't fathom why Oli is preferred to Donald for tomorrow morning. Sergio and Luke look unbeatable and all the European pairings seemed to gell. Harrington is a big crowd favourite but he didn't play well today and looks under pressure. McGinley on the other hand was re-born.

The only comfortable looking American pairing was Cink and Henry in the morning and maybe Toms Wetterich; all the others seemed strained and unnatural.

Woods looked miserable throughout - even on the putting green he was tense and his tee shot on the first into the drink was like an accident waiting to happen. He delivered a few good holes around the turn but without Furyk's great play they would have been sunk. Garcia and Donald demolished them in the afternoon and should have won much sooner. I think Woods is a liability in the foursomes but it would be a brave captain who would bench him.

Henry was great and into it from the start - a natural. Wetterich did well after a shaky start. and Toms did a good job with him. Dimarco is a liability.

Another early start for tomorrow.

Furyk definitely had his bad moments (unfortunately, his worst came on the 18th when they were 1 down), but Tiger did not play well in foursomes. I would bet his scoring round was around par or worse if he had finished some holes in the am.

Tiger in the afternoon was below his "average" (sorry, but he is judged at a higher level than the others), whereas Sergio stepped it up a notch when needed. Tiger did hit a perfect drive on 18, but that was one of the better moments for him.

1. US tends to do better Sat. then Fri. which is good.

2. Tiger is 0-5 on Friday afternoons. Maybe it is time to tell him beofre the Ryder Cup that he will be benched on Fri. afternoon, and if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to be on the team.

3. Tiger and Furyk won Friday morning, and that was improtatn.

4. We have to find a way to beat Sergio to get back into it.

5. Not using a captain's pick the first day was puzzling?

6. Maybe it is time to go back to Mickelson/Toms.