U.S. and Europe tied 3-3 in suspended Ryder
Cup
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) -- The bone-rattling thunderstorm that
rumbled off the Mediterranean Sea and soaked the Spanish coast
just before dawn Friday was merely a wake-up call for what was
to come at the Ryder Cup.
The cheers and jeers, made putts and missed shots, strategic
moves and coy gamesmanship later in the day were the real reminder
that this is the most electric event in golf.
"Isn't the Ryder Cup neat?" Tom Kite said after the
rain-delayed opening round was suspended by darkness with two
matches still on the course and his U.S. team tied with Europe,
3-3.
"Those so-called experts who said there was going to be
a blowout one way or the other obviously were wrong," said
Kite, who was thumped awake at 5 a.m. by thunder and lightning.
"They were very close matches, a lot of them coming down
to the last hole," said Kite, who was annoyed all week by
suggestions that his team would win in a rout.
In fact, four of the six matches completed Friday made it to
the 18th green. Scott Hoch and Brad Faxon rolled in important
putts for the Americans and Jesper Parnevik sank a couple for
Europe.
Nick Faldo, playing in a record 11th Ryder Cup, proved no one
was immune to the pressure when he missed a six-footer on the
final hole of his better-ball match.
He then watched as Faxon made almost the same putt to give
him and Fred Couples a 1-up victory over Faldo and Lee Westwood.
"That was a huge putt, not only for Brad's confidence,
but for the entire team," Kite said, referring to a putt
of about the same length that Faxon missed on the last hole to
lose his Sunday's singles match 1-down to David Gilford in 1995.
The United States gave away the Ryder Cup to Europe 14-1/2-13-1/2
in Rochester, N.Y., when five matches went to the final hole on
Sunday and the Americans failed to win any of them.
The Americans fared better on Friday, splitting the four matches
decided on the final-hole.
Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson lost to Jose Maria Olazabal
and Costantino Rocca 1-up in better-ball, but that was because
the European pair played five holes at 5-under par, including
a 131-yard wedge holed by Olazabal for an eagle on No. 15.
And Tom Lehman and Jim Furyk lost to Parnevik and Per-Ulrik
Johansson in better-ball 1-up when Parnevik made 15-foot birdie
putts on the last two holes.
In addition to the win by Faxon and Couples, the Americans
got a final-hole point when Hoch and Lee Janzen defeated Olazabal
and Rocca in alternate-shot on a six-foot birdie putt by Hoch.
"We had a huge momentum swing there this afternoon with
Scott and Lee making a birdie on that last hole to win the match,"
Kite said.
"That was a big match," he said. "That match
went up and down and all around and they held onto it."
The only two matches that didn't go the entire way involved
Tiger Woods, who was greeted on the first hole by a T-shirt emblazoned
"Tiger Who?" and a shout of "Tame the Tiger."
A distinctly American voice got into the spirit with a cry
of "Eat 'em up and spit 'em out, Tiger."
Woods, who was noticeably annoyed when he was hooted after
a poor bunker shot on No. 7 in the afternoon, teamed with Mark
O'Meara and won their morning better-ball match 3 and 2 over Colin
Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer.
The same pair then lost to Montgomerie and Langer in alternate-shot
play 5 and 3.
"How do I explain it?" Kite said about the rout of
Woods and O'Meara. "They didn't play very well. Tiger was
not even right in this morning. He was not quite as sharp as he
wanted to be."
European captain Seve Ballesteros got exactly what he needed
on the first day. His team kept the Americans close. Europe could
very well be leading when the two suspended matches were finished.
Parnevik and Ignacio Garrido were even with Lehman and Mickelson
with six holes to play in their alternate-shot match.
And Faldo and Westwood were 2-up in their match against Jeff
Maggert and Justin Leonard and had a six-foot birdie putt on No.
16 when Maggert invoked his right to suspend the match.
Play will resume with the Americans facing a 25-footer they
might need to make to stay alive.
"My pair agreed to play until it became too dark to play,"
Kite said. "That's the way the agreement is. If any one player
decides it is too dark, then he has that option."
Ballesteros, a master of gamesmanship, had no problems with
the move by the Americans.
"No, it was getting dark," he said.
"I don't know if they were upset or not," he said
when told that Faldo appeared annoyed. "I wasn't there. I
will ask them tonight."
Ballesteros, whose fierce pride is even more tested by the
fact that this Ryder Cup in his native Spain is the first played
on the European continent, pulled out all stops on the opening
day.
While Kite used all 12 of his players, Ballesteros sat out
Ian Woosnam -- a veteran of seven Ryder Cups -- Darren Clarke
and Thomas Bjorn, opting to go with what he saw as his strongest
players.
"Everybody will play at least one match before the singles"
on Sunday, Ballesteros said. "The players that didn't play
so far will play in the morning (on Saturday), and I will try
to put together solid teams for the afternoon because it is very
important in the afternoon."
If Ballesteros can get as much from his team on Saturday as
he did on the opening day, it will be a big step toward keeping
the Ryder Cup in Europe.
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