Liguori: American Rookies Spieth, Reed Shine In Early Fourballs Competition
By Ann Liguori
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Leave it to two Ryder Cup rookies, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth and 24-year-old Patrick Reed, to shine brightly in the very first competition of the Ryder Cup: the fourballs competition, which started Friday morning.
Spieth and Reed did not seem affected by the pressure in the least. In fact, they thrived on it and went back and forth, draining birdie putts. At one point they sank five birdies in six holes from holes six through 11. Spieth and Reed dominated Stephen Gallacher and Ian Poulter, 5&4, to put America's first point on the board. Gallacher, the only Scot on the European team -- who is also making his Ryder Cup debut -- dropped one birdie all morning. Poulter, who always seems to raise his game in Ryder Cup competition, could not make anything happen in the fourballs competition. He bogied the first hole and couldn't birdie any.
That was after Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson outplayed Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, 5&4, to earn the very first point of the competition.
Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler, down most of their match against Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer, earned an important half-point. Walker, a Ryder Cup rookie at age 35, birdied two of the last three holes to earn the half-point against Bjorn and Kaymer, who started strong and then flattened out the rest of the way.
But it was 10-time Ryder Cup veteran Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, playing in his second Ryder Cup, who provided most of the drama down the stretch in the fourballs format. They rallied back -- Bradley eagling the par-5 16th and Mickelson birdieing the last hole -- to beat Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, 1-up. They grabbed the leading point to finish off the fourballs matches, 2 1/2 points to 1 1/2.
U.S. Captain Tom Watson was delighted with his team after the morning session as Michael Jordan watched on.
"Jimmy Walker getting the ball up and down from right over here to there, that showed some guts," Watson said. "And of course, Phil Mickelson making birdie to win the match ... It was an ebb and flow match. The whole early morning was pretty much an ebb from the U.S.' standpoint, and then we got some flow.
"And I'm so proud of (Spieth and Reed). They were upset with me for not playing them this afternoon."
"It feels incredible," said Spieth of his and Reed's first Ryder Cup match win. "It was nice to have a partner that was making everything he looks at."
The sun shone brightly all morning and early afternoon with winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour. Two of the foursomes matches started before the fourballs competition ended.
"Fortunately, we're a couple paces ahead right now, but this is a marathon," cautioned Watson. "Until the last match on Sunday, it will probably be very close."
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