RED ’N BURIED at HAZELTINE
Europe suffer horror start at Hazeltine
THE Ryder Cup served up a toxic mix of stars and tripe as Europe threatened to stink the place out at Hazeltine.
Captain Darren Clarke and his flops were left in danger of drowning in a sea of red as their worst nightmare came true in the Minnesota sun.
He decided to leave out Masters champion Danny Willett for his own protection after his brother Peter’s article branding American fans “imbeciles” ahead of the 41st edition of the biggest event in golf.
But the decision backfired as replacement rookie Thomas Pieters and veteran Lee Westwood crashed to a crushing defeat in the opening foursomes match to set the tone for Europe’s morning from hell.
Westwood, nicknamed ‘General’ in the buildup, led Europe down a dead end road with a woeful display of putting that helped gift Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar a thumping 5&4 win.
Major
The Englishman, making his 10th Ryder Cup appearance, was in the last match out but was first back to the European changing room. He was that bad.
He wasn’t alone, though, and Clarke was left with a major problem as the United States charged into a 4-0 lead to make it Europe’s worst-ever start in the competition.
Less than five hours earlier star pair Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose strode out at the crack of dawn to get proceedings underway.
Several thousand delirious fans greeted the duo along with home rivals Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. The noise was deafening.
The golfing gladiators were all set for battle and, with Arnold Palmer’s 1975 Ryder Cup bag standing alone on the tee as a tribute to the legend who died this week, Rose and Reed spanked drives down the middle of the thronged fairway.
Davis Love’s men took to the course with heavy hearts after the loss of the godfather of golf, but his passing appeared to provide the inspiration they needed.
Spieth and Reed put on a masterclass of measured golf. Rose and Stenson might have won respective Olympic gold and Open titles this summer, but they were no match for Love’s dynamic duo. With help from Spieth, Reed fist-pumped his way to a 3&2 win to put the first red points on the board.
Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar dispatched Westwood and Pieters minutes later and Europe were in trouble.
There was still hope. Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer led Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson from the start and were one hole up heading down the 12th.
But the United States duo showed their class to win four holes on the spin and make it 3-0 to Love’s superstars with a 4&2 triumph.
That left European talisman Rory McIlroy and rookie Andy Sullivan needing to salvage something from the morning’s meltdown and the duo traded blows with Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in a thrilling contest.
Fowler might be the new darling of US golf but he was still looking for his first Ryder Cup point and Mickelson was not helping as on the par-five sixth his drive ended up out of bounds in the garden of a luxury house.
Fowler reloaded from the tee but his effort landed by a fence guarding the same garden, leaving Mickelson with no choice but to play right-handed and hack the ball back into play.
Europe took the hole to storm into a two-hole lead with just four remaining but back came Mickelson and Fowler to win one-up.
Drastic times call for drastic measures and Clarke called Willett back into the fold for the afternoon fourballs.
He was paired with Kaymer while Rose and Stenson had the massive task of doing battle with Spieth and Reed again as Europe looked to fight back.
There have been famous comebacks before, most notably at Medinah in 2012, but miracles like that come around once in a lifetime and Europe were facing a monumental task.