2012 Ryder Cup

First topic message reminder :

Looks like Ozzy is going for some stability as he's picked 3 of the VC's that Monty had. Darren Clarke, Paul McGinlay and Thomas are in, with another to be announced when he does his wild cards. Seems a positive step to me

Europe really need to get something happening here. I fear Lee and Luke are already a lost cause for this session but the other pairs MUST get moving soon or the whole thing will be a big anti-climax

Poults

Poults

What a recovery!

I worry for Ian Poulter's blood pressure!...

Sunday singles:

Watson v Donald

Simpson v Poulter

Bradley v McIlroy

Mickelson v Rose

Snedeker v Lawrie

D Johnson v Colsaerts

Z Johnson v McDowell

Furyk v Garcia

Dufner v Hanson

Kuchar v Westwood

Stricker v Kaymer

Woods v Molinari


Let's hope we get off to a fast start or it could be all over quickly

Who knows what will happen today!

Poulter was magnificent yesterday - I thought his eyes might actually pop out of their sockets at times. Let's hope that he can pass on some of his belief to the likes of Kaymer and Westwood, and get them firing on all cylinders again.

Are you fooking kidding me?!?

15 minutes before his tee time and McIlroy isn't even on the grounds yet. WTF

Apparently Rory was confused by Central Time and Eastern Time. How many people in the European team and they didn't think it was strange that he hadn't left yet?

Maybe Caroline had popped in for a quickie, well it never did George Best any harm...

I've always been told women weaken legs Blue, but it's quite relaxing....

2 up now against bug eyed Bradley. Early days still

Europe hanging in there and doing their best to silence the crowd. Still behind the required scores but some of the matches we need to win and aren't winning yet, still on a knife edge - Poults just gone one down but who would bet against him with still 8 holes to play

Not sure I can still believe we can do it but they are giving it a good shot so far and putts are starting to drop that weren't dropping in the previous two days

Predicting 15-13 to USA at the moment but with so many games still close or in early days that could move wildly either way

We're having to suffer from the fuckwit that is Colin, as a winning Ryder cup captain, Montgomerie. He's disgracing our screens and pandering to his NBC hosts.

Apparently Molinari has to be 2 up not 2 down. Fucking Genius from Monty

If Lukey holes this and gets a half that's amazing. Should never have this chance

First blue point coming up. What a shot into the par 5 from Luuuuke. Isn't he supposed to struggle against big hitters????

Someone tell Luke he can't take his foot off the gas yet. He almost had Blubba beached but can't finish him off yet!

Thank fudge for that, thought I jinxed him.

Nail biting stuff!

Luke did the business, and even Westwood is 1 up - there is hope!

15-13 at the moment to USA - so only need one match to turn around!

WOW!

Unbelievable...

Wow, can't believe it happened. I was out on the course checking the phone every so often. What a result; tied the biggest comeback and on foreign soil too. Well done guys.

Vrey tired this morning but WOW was it worth it??

Simply amazing. All along I hoped .. but deep down I didn't really think we could do it, but as those guys, one after another, started clawing back losses and those in front held their nerve, it all came true

Stunning

I'm still buzzing! Found it hard to get to sleep and now I'm watching Sky to see it all again. Some of it was stuff but OMG that was A-Ma-Zing!

It's taking a while to sink in - what an amazing day.

I'm really pleased that guys like Westwood and Kaymer were able to dig deep and play their part, after disappointing performances in the first two days. Paul Lawrie - what a game he played, and Poults and Sergio fought hard and delivered.

I see that Tiger is getting some stick from the betting industry for giving Molinari the putt for a half, and thus an outright win for Europe, which is a rather a shame as I think it was totally the right thing to do.

Ollie's emotion - so overwhelming, and the team obviously found him an inspirational Captain.

For me, probably the most magical night of sport I've witnessed.

Not a bad effort really.......

I don't want to get wildly over sentimental but, only due to the fact that they clearly used him for inspiration, it really does feel like Seve has stuffed one up the Americans one last time. So happy for Olazabal

Yeah I wondered about that conceded putt - many people are saying "it didn't matter" but I see a big difference between tying (and retaining) the cup and winning it

Pretty sure he'd have made it anyway but I'm sure Tiger would have still wanted to see it if it meant difference to the final destination of the trophy

It's hilarious that Tiger is getting a bit of stick about conceding the putt, even from over here. Were it Mickleson everyone would be saying how gracious and sporting it was. It was done, Tiger knew it was done and maybe, just maybe, knew for the European team it was about Seve. He did the sporting thing. Surely we can praise him for that even though he's Tiger?

MPB - totally on the button with that post.

Of course, Molinari could also have conceded Tiger's putt if it didn't really matter...

Perhaps Tiger had ten dollars on Europe winning by a point?...

Davie wrote:Of course, Molinari could also have conceded Tiger's putt if it didn't really matter...

He could have done but didn't
Doesn't make Tiger's actions any more or less sporting or any more or less worthy of criticism

MPB - I'm not being critical of Tiger. In fact I believe he did the right thing. I also think however it's a worthy debating point. I don't really get this "it didn't matter" point of view - I still think there is a big difference between losing the cup and tying it (despite we get to keep it)

So I can understand why some are questioning Tiger's decision (though I happen to agree with it myself - I think he conceded because it was a relatively simple putt that would certainly have been "given" at any other point in the match, rather than because it "didn't matter" at that point

And the 12 inch putt that Kuchar did not give Westwood was not relatively simple?

I cannot explain why Kuch didn't concede that putt - though Lee didn't seem to bear a grudge

I think because the goal was to win the cup and, they couldn't do that at that point then they felt they had already lost. Anyway American sports don't do ties so he made sure there was a result.

Molinari was going to offer the half on the fairway but Olly told him to play on as it's not the same.

Don't know if this was reported in the UK but I really liked how Mickelson came to Davis Love's defence during the press conference. Even my missus liked it and she's not a fan of Phil. Love was asked about not playing Bradley and Mickelson in the Saturday afternoon session after they had won convincingly in the foursomes. Love started out with hindsight, done things differently, knew we wanted to rest guys etc. Phil jumped in and said we were told we weren't playing the night before. I told Keegan let's give it our all, hold nothing back. I told Davis on the 10th tee, stick to the plan, you can't play me, I'm spent. Nice touch I thought.

I've tried that offering a half strategy on the 18th fairway when I'm one down as well. Didn't get accepted strangely...

What a final session - I am just watching the replay on Sky now to check that I didn't dream it. I think we must have woken the whole village when Kaymer holed that final putt - great for him after the year he has had.

On the subject of the Molinari/Woods finale, I guess it depends on which side of the result you are on. If you are retaining the cup it feels better to do it with a win rather than a tie but if you are on the other side you probably couldn't give a damn. Hence Olly wanted to play on but Tiger was happy to concede at the first decent opportunity. Yes, he could have given Molinari the hole from the middle of the fairway but that would have felt slightly hollow, as it was it was a case of "I don't think you'd miss that and I'm not going to give you the chance". I'm no Tiger fan but I did think he showed a bit of class there. On the subject of class it was great to see Mickelson genuinely applauding Rose's putts on 17 and 18 rather than a shake of the hand through gritted teeth.

Anyone else follow the chat on The Golf Channel website? The Yanks are really laying into Furyk and Stricker but split 50/50 on Woods, some still trying to say that he played well even though he only managed half a point out of four.

What do we think about the course set up? I can't agree with Davis Love that the fans want to see a target golf birdie-fest. Personally I like to see players tested with all the clubs in the bag and a set up where it doesn't matter where the drive goes doesn't do it for me. Let's hope Gleneagles has thick heather and two foot deep fescue like most of us have had all summer.

J

Re. the course set up - I think it came back to bite them a little on the final day. I noticed a few times in crucial singles matches, our guys hitting wayward drives and still able to put a 2nd shot next to the flag - much the same as the US had been doing in days 1 and 2

Yes, you're right Davie - Poulter on 18 springs to mind. As Westwood said though it didn't necessarily favour one side over the other, it just isn't the same game most of us play every week.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but, in case you haven't already seen it, this piece filed by an ESPN reporter on the Saturday evening will raise a chuckle

http://m.espn.go.com/golf/story?storyId=8434982&wjb

Think I forgot to mention Justin Rose earlier - I think his match with Phil was key to keeping the momentum going, and indeed Phil was also the perfect sportsman. Didn't see the press conference, but hopefully will find it online.

Still pinching myself that it really happened!

Molinari was the one thinking of offering the half on 18 and that would have meant it was a tie. Olly told him to play on and then Woods later conceded the hole to give Molinari a half point.

I was happy with the course set up. Players still had to hit a good shot, they were just given the opportunity to do that, despite being offline to start with.

I'd heard something about that Mary, thanks for posting the link. Lots of humble pie being eaten today methinks.

A bit of unashamed publicity seeking by Paddy Power but weren't their sky-tweets brilliant? I especially liked some of the Tiger ones!!

Golfweek magazine apparently have an article trying to put a finger on where it went wrong for USA .. and they blame poor play at 17 and 18

Though you can also argue that Europe played 17/18 brilliantly, they may actually have a point...

Five matches came to the 17th tee Sunday either all square or with the United States holding a 1-up lead. Europe won four of them, and halved Francesco Molinari’s match with Tiger Woods, which was completed after the Cup had been decided. The United States didn’t turn a single match in its favor over the final two holes.

Full article here - http://golfweek.com/news/2012/oct/01/us-lost-behind-poor-play-nos-17-and-18/

Very good point MPB.

I thought Tiger was extremely sporting in his concession on 18. I don't think Molinari's putt was a gimme, actually I think it was very missable. I just think that, in the moment, Tiger was thinking we've already lost, it makes no difference, and he didn't want the competition to end that way.

I also think that there is no way Tiger would have missed his putt if it had meant anything.

A late post I know, but I watched it all in Spain in Miraflores Golf Club. There was a fantastic atmoshpere throughout Sunday, which turned into a lock-in and much drink had by all. The stand out things for me were we had too many players not hitting the straps (Lee for a start) and loads of booboos played by some of our teams. But Sunday was a freak as we were down and out.

Did the Seve thing actually come into it, or were the players so dissapointed with the previous 2 days that they thought shit or bust. I thought the Seve thing was OTT the first couple of days, nice etc, but a bit shmoozy. But a huge turnaround on Sunday