We won’t get Leftie behind
American skipper Furyk reflects on a wretched end to day one but stands by his faltering foursomes line-up
DEFIANT Jim Furyk stood by misfiring Phil Mickelson and insisted he had no regrets about his side’s humiliating foursomes whitewash.
The American captain was at pains to put a positive spin on a wretched afternoon that saw the European team snatch the momentum from his shellshocked side.
It wasn’t just the fact that Europe swept the board in the afternoon play to turn a 3-1 morning deficit into a 5-3 lead.
Nor was it the historical significance that an American team has never been whitewashed in a foursomes session in the 41 previous stagings of this great event.
No, it was the unflinching brutality with which Furyk’s side were blown away in the most convincing kicking ever administered in one session.
Never before have we witnessed one team beaten in all four games by winning margins of 3&2 or more. Now the record reads 3&2, 4&2 and a double whammy of 5&4s.
That’s gotta hurt. But what must make it sting even more is that it came completely out of the (European)
blue with the Americans bouncing back on to the course after lunch with a spring in their step.
Among them was Mickelson. Fresh from sitting out the morning’s play but burdened by whispers he’s been fighting his swing all week to cure an array of ailments spraying balls both left and right.
Bad enough for a pro to be cursing a pull hook or a slice creeping into his game. But when the loose shots are going in all directions, that’s when you have really got a problem and so does your foursomes partner.
So spare a thought for rookie Bryson DeChambeau, the man they nickname the Mad Scientist for his propensity to analyse the technical aspects of the game to a level bordering Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Imagine the conundrums and equations whirring inside his head when he was plopped in front of freewheeling Phil stepping on to the tee with not the foggiest idea where his next shot was going.
By the time they’d stepped on the 10th tee together it would have taken Countdown’s Rachel Riley to work out a sum that would haul them back from seven down.
Credit where it’s due, their opponents Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren were playing beautifully and Phil and Bryson were not the worst of an American capitulation that spread through their ranks like an epidemic.
For instance, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson – the only pair to put red on the board all afternoon – going from two up after three to a 4&2 pumping by Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter after the American duo had reeled off five bogeys in six holes. Car crash.
At least Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas had the consistency to flatline from the word go in their 5&4 thrashing by Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood.
As for Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, well if you play the first 11 holes in five over par against a tried-and-trusted double act like Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson you really deserve nothing more than an early handshake.
After a session like that it was inevitable questions would be asked but Furyk met them head on with a defiant insistence that he’d do the same again given the choice. And presumably hope that his players do not.
Furyk said: “I’ll be honest. I’d do it again. I have a lot of confidence in all 12. I’ve heard, I guess, some of the rumblings about Phil but I’m aware he and Bryson’s scores were pretty much the best scores we had on the team today.
“I have all the confidence in both of those players and I have so much confidence in Phil and his ability to take a young player like Bryson and help him out.
“Also, it’s Phil Mickelson – Major champion. He’s the most experienced Ryder Cupper of all time (yesterday’s outing equalled Sir Nick Faldo’s all-time record of 46 matches played).
“I think his fourball record is a little better than his
foursomes, and I realise the golf course is tight. I realise you have to hit a lot of fairways.
“But it’s also a place where you’re probably not hitting a lot of drivers if you’re Phil Mickelson – and looking at his game, he’s a very good iron player, so I felt comfortable.
“Bryson is a good ball-striker too so I felt comfortable putting them out there. They practised a lot together.
“I guess it was a day of two tales. We got the momentum in the morning but Europe flipped it quickly and got some unbelievable momentum in the afternoon.
“But you have to look at it as we’ve played for eight points so far out of 28. The event’s still pretty young.
“And here’s the great thing about matchplay. In medal play, you can shoot 68 and 78, and you’re down 10 shots and you’ve got to try to make that up for the next three days, right?
“In matchplay, you can make a 10 on a hole and the other guy makes a three and you only lose one hole. You can make that up at the very next hole.
“It’s kind of the same thing with these matches – whether you lose 6&5 or 2&1 it’s still the same result, correct?
“We have to shore things up and I’m guessing we’ll switch things up in the afternoon tomorrow.
“Does it pose a problem? I think our guys will respond, I really do.
“I have a lot of confidence in this team. Obviously it’s going to leave a sour taste in their mouth tonight and they have to sleep on that. But we will come back tomorrow and I bet we will be fine.”
We will come back tomorrow and I bet we will be fine JIM FURYK