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Daily Comments:
open floating RESULTS BOX |
Day 1 Thunder Road MORNING Valderrama's sophisticated drainage system enabled the first day's play to start with only a minor delay after the Costa del Sol was deluged with thunderstorms and lightning overnight. Storms caused by two weather fronts meeting over north Africa resulted in flooding throughout the coast (as well as traffic bottlenecks on the eastern access roads) but Jose Maria Olazabal and Costantino Rocca were still able to launch Europe's defence of the Cup at 10.40 am - just under two hours later than originally scheduled. First blood went to the Americans, however, when Davis Love carded a birdie three on the first hole to Olazabal's par-four. With fourballs being played the first morning, Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood were next out, sharing honours with a par-four on the first against Fred Couples and Brad Faxon, followed by the two Marbella-based Swedes, Jesper Parnevik and Per-Ulrik Johansson, who went one down against Tom Lehman and Jim Furyk's opening birdie-three. In the final - and, for many, most attractive - match of the morning, Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer shared first honours with Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara. MORNING MATCHES:
 Expectations of a close match were reinforced after the first morning's play in the 1997 Ryder Cup, when Europe and the United States finished level with two fourball wins apiece. Jose Maria Olazabal and Costantino Rocca got off to a bad start against Davis Love II and Phil Mickelson, losing the first hole, but came back to win by one. Speaking later, Olazabal said: "It has been a tough match...We came back very well and got our point; that is what we wanted to do. It is an important point." Added Rocca: "First we started playing so so...but we had confidence in ourselves all the way; we were playing very well. I am tired but happy." In the second match, Nick Faldo and Cup debutante Lee Westwood took the early lead but eventually succumbed to Fred Couples and Brad Faxon by one hole. A birdie on the 17th by Parnevik gave him and partner Per-Ulrik Johansson a one-hole advantage as their match also went to the 18th hole, against Tom Lehman and Jim Furyk, and that proved enough for a one-hole win. The final match produced the most emphatic result of the morning, Mark O'Meara coaxing partner Tiger Woods to a 3 & 2 victory against what, on paper, should have been Europe's strongest combination, Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer. AFTERNOON Contrasting options US captain Tom Kite gave all his players a start on the first day of the 1997 Ryder Cup, but three Europeans will have to wait at least until tomorrow to make their Valderrama debuts. As Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson were losing to Jose Maria Olazabal and Costantino Rocca in the morning fourball, Kite announced that Love would sit out the afternoon foursomes, with Mickelson paired instead with Tom Lehman, whose morning partner, Jim Furyk, also was replaced - Scott Hoch and Lee Janzen thus playing their first matches. Similarly, with Fred Couples and Brad Faxon still out on the course one hole up on Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood, reigning British Open champion Justin Leonard and Jeff Maggert were named to replace them for the second round of matches. Kite decided, however, to keep Tiger Woods, competing in his first Ryder Cup barely one year after turning professional, and good friend Mark O'Meara together as they headed for a resounding 4 & 2 win against Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer. European captain Severiano Ballesteros, on the other hand, made only one change for the afternoon, Ignacio Garrido (son of Seve's partner, Antonio, in 1979 when the Britain and Ireland side was opened to "continental" Europeans) replacing Per-Ulrik Johansson as fellow Swede Jesper Parnevik's new partner. Ballesteros kept his other three pairings together - Olazabal and Rocca, Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood and Montgomerie and Langer - and, curiously, playing in the same order. This meant a repeat tussle between the latter pair and Woods and O'Meara. The main surprise of Ballesteros' selections was the continued absence of former European number one and US Masters champion Ian Woosnam, who joined Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn on the sidelines for both Friday's rounds. AFTERNOON MATCHES:
LAST SHOT  In the Nick of timeA small dose of controversy entered the fray as the first day of the 1997 Ryder Cup ended prematurely because of poor light. Nick Faldo was understood to be upset that Justin Leonard and Jeff Maggert wanted to suspend their match, at a critical moment on the 16th, until the morning but US captain Tom Kite later defended the decision (which is the prerogative of any player). "They were pushing it to the limit," he said of the encroaching darkness - play having started nearly two hours late in the morning because of storm conditions. "I felt comfortable with it (the decision) and I can assure you if the situation was reversed they would feel very comfortable with it too (play was abandoned for the day at 8.20 pm)." In fact, the situation was reversed in the other match still out on the course; Jesper Parnevik decided he didn't want to continue at the 13th in his and Ignacio Garrido's match against Tom Lehman and Phil Mickelson, though the latter felt they might also be able to finish the 14th. In any event, the first Cup to be held outside Britain or the United States in its 70-year history ended the first day fascinatingly poised. After a two-all result in the morning fourballs, the US and Europe won one match each in the afternoon foursomes, with the Parnevik match level and Faldo and Lee Westwood two-up. Kite said he was "having a ball". It was fun to watch and fun to be involved, he said. European captain Severiano Ballesteros, meanwhile, said, in response to a questioner who asked if he was tired, "It's my job. I'm up and I feel good." Asked further if he would be able to sleep properly for the first night this week, he joked: "I hope so." Of the conditions, Ballesteros conceded: "It was getting dark already." As for the afternoon play, Europe was on the verge of securing a two-match advantage, after Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer had emphatically reversed their morning result against Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara, but Jose Maria Olazabal missed a four-metre putt for birdie and Lee Janzen sank his two-metre putt for a one-hole win after teeing off at the 18th level. Play will resume at 9 am tomorrow morning, with the pairings for the morning fourballs announced at 8 am. |
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