A Tale of Two Sessions

You Guys Stink at Foursomes.

Tom Watson, Saturday Evening, 2014 Ryder Cup

Wouldn't it be ironic if Watson turns out to be right about everything?  OK, no reason to be that pessimistic, but there's an outside chance that it really is the twelve players, and not the pods.

After a good morning, the U.S. Team allegedly showed up for the afternoon alternate shot and comedy ensued.  Or was it tragedy?  Regardless, it was quite the travesty....

Here were the scores:

3 & 2

4 & 3

5 & 4

5 & 4

Let's not mince words, it was a beatdown.... It took a furious comeback by Phil and Bryson to claw their way back within 5 holes, and not a single match reached the 17th tee....

No doubt you heard this factoid cited on the broadcast:

We’ll let history be the guide. Since the event’s inception, there have been nine previous instances of 4-0 sessions. The U.S. first swept foursomes in 1947 (when there was only

one session of those matches). They turned the trick again in 1963, ’75, ’81 and most recently in the opening session of the 2016 Cup at Hazeltine. There have also been four 4-0 sweeps in fourballs, two for the U.S. (1967 and ’71) and two for Europe (1987 and ’89). 

Now, the big-picture question: Has a team ever lost a session 4-0 and gone on to win the Cup? 

No. Nope. Never.

So, you're saying there's a chance?

We'll keep our powder dry on Phil (don't fret, it'll be just a second), and deal with our other hero:

All through that back nine on Friday, Woods really didn’t look like himself. For one

thing, he was wearing team-issued white pants. You never see him wearing white pants. Then, as he stood on the 14th tee, waiting to play fourth and last, he was breathing through his open mouth. You never see him breathing through his open mouth.

It’s understandable. After the year he’s had — all the press conferences, the autographs, the text messages, the post-round ice baths, the mornings on the range after dropping his kids off at school, the grinding-it-out in hot weather in an all-out effort to reclaim a place in the game — it’s more than understandable. 

His tee shot on the par-3 downhill, over-a-pond 16th might have been a shocker, but it’s not when you see it through the prism of exhaustion. The Europeans, still one up, had the honor. The pin was tucked, front right, about 15 feet over a bulkhead. Kid Tommy played first and did his job: hole high, left and safe, maybe 25 feet from the hole. Molinari followed with nearly the same shot. They’d have two chances but that’s all they had and that’s all they needed. Then came Reed and he did his job, his ball finishing about 15 feet below the hole. He gave Tiger a green light. Now it was showtime. Tiger time. 

It looked like Woods was trying to hit a cut shot into the wind but the swing had no speed to it and the ball landed not with a thud but a plop. Suddenly, he was a bystander.

But is it possible that we should be more worried about Tiger's partner?  Not a single top ten since his Masters win and it seems the dry cleaner shrunk his Captain America uniform.

Anyone for some Jordan?  He made everything early in his morning match, though cooled off and let his somewhat-good-at-golf partner cover things.  Here was John Huggan's explanation of the logic of the pairing from last night:

The break-up of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed isn’t so surprising now that Justin Thomas is on the U.S. team. As Spieth points out, he and Thomas are close friends who

have been playing together since their early days in junior golf. 

“It’s going to be really exciting to be able to look at him on the first tee and kind of remember where we've come from, and we’re both here,” said Spieth, who was 4-1-2 with Reed in the previous two Ryder Cups but clearly got physically worn down by playing with the American firebrand, which showed in his weak singles efforts in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

And it worked.... Until it didn't.  That's the thing we all need to keep in mind, as well as the difference in the formats.  I pretty much understood why Thomas Bjorn had each of his eight guys out there for the afternoon session, but I wish I could say the came about Captain Furyk.

But wouldn't we feel far better about Jordan if he rode the pine in the afternoon?  He missed those two short ones, and once that starts we all have white knuckles.

So... Phil?  I feel a tinge of sympathy for the man, because he had no business being out there in foursomes,and, that's not Furyk's only mistake.  If he was going to be there, he should have been teeing off on the even-numbered holes....  

If the Americans lose, the video of Phil on the third tee should run on an endless loop.   Such was his confidence that he hit and iron off the tee of a Par-5, but he pulled said iron into the water.  Geez....  I don't even know what to think of Bryson's sorry day, he just seems to have drawn the short straw.

But, there's no reason to be shy about, my idea of pairing Phil and Bubba in foursomes and strategically sacrificing the point might have saved the day.  Why do they continue to ignore me?

So, has Cap'n Jim learned anything?  Apparently not, because here are your fourball pairings for zero dark thirty tomorrow:

Match 1: McIlroy/Garcia vs. Koepka/Finau 

Match 2: Casey/Hatton vs. Johnson/Fowler 

Match 3: Molinari/Fleetwood vs. Woods/Reed 

Match 4: Poulter/Rahm vs. Thomas/Spieth

Which leaves us with the same obvious question as yesterday?  Will Phil and Bubba play in the afternoon foursomes?  And, if he benches Phil, did Furyk pack his kevlar?

 He did change the order of the matches, and I wonder if he's up on Tiger's history with Italians in this event?

Oh, this Frankie Molinari — he’s got Tiger’s number! 

It was on July 1 that the Italian won Tiger’s tournament in Washington, by eight. (Shouldn’t Tiger win Tiger’s tournament, named for an American mortgage company, on a steamy summer day in D.C.? And, if not Tiger, at least some other American?) 

Then, a couple weeks later, Molinari flat-out stole that British Open from right under Tiger’s Niked cap. And let’s not even dwell on the weirdness of the Woods-Molinari halved singles match that ended the day, and sealed an American loss, six long years ago, at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. Just Google “Tiger Woods” and “concession” if you need a refresher on that whole thing.

Don't forget his listless loss to Constantino Rocca in his first Ryder Cup in 1997.

It looks like Jim might have moved Tiger and Patrick to the third slot to get away from the Juggernaut Fleetwood-Molinari team, only to be stymied.

So, what to expect tomorrow morning at TPC - SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES?  You'd have to expect a U.S. bounceback, as they have their eight best out there and the format is more familiar.  On the other hand, today's fourball matches were far tighter, and that lead could easily be attributed to Tony Finau's extremely fortunate bounce on No. 16.  

But, as noted above, what's Jim got in mind for the afternoon?  Because putting Phil out there again would be, as they say about second marriages, the triumph of hope over experience.

Tomorrow is our anniversary, and the bride and I are going to try to play in the afternoon.  Assuming, of course, that Fairview opens for play, which it hasn't all week.  Therefore, I expect that I'll next see you on Monday morning for our traditional wrappage.