US win pre-Ryder Cup head to head

THE FIRST serious head-to-head of the season between the probable US and Ryder Cup teams has ended very emphatically in favour of the Americans at the Masters.

They provided the first and third players, Phil Mickelson and Chad Campbell, and also included Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink in the top ten.

Where were the Europeans? Well, until Jose-Maria Olazabal came surging through on Sunday with his magnificent round of 66 for a share of third, the answer is: virtually nowhere. Colin Montgomerie, Henrik Stenson and Paul McGinley have virtually booked their places at K-Club in September. They all missed the cut.

Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, David Howell, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Thomas Bjorn and Luke Donald survived into the weekend. Only Olazabal crashed the top ten, most of the others got themselves into position to challenge and then disappeared just as quickly with the hapless Garcia the biggest disappointment of all.

Not so long ago we regarded him as a certainty to capture a major. Now you wouldn’t fancy him to win the monthly medal at your local club.

To be fair, Luke Donald, of whom so much had been expected, didn’t fare a whole lot better and Thomas Bjorn had to break 70 on Sunday to gain any level of respectability. Howell tied 19th, Clarke tied 22nd, Harrington tied 27th. Not very inspiring, is it?

It was bitterly disappointing that the two Irishmen especially should have fallen away so badly when it came to the business end of the Masters. Harrington and Clarke are devotees of mind gurus Dr Bob Rotella and Karl Morris (with whom Darren has written a book on the mental side of the game) and the advice of these gentlemen is apparent. Their clients are told that they must erase all negative thoughts from their minds, to think positively even when things go wrong.

When a journalist queries a statement by a player that he had struck the ball beautifully and swung the club perfectly and still finished in the high 70s, he is met with a well-reasoned, balanced reply, the bottom line of which is that he will be turning the corner any day now and we’ve just got to be patient.

To provide an idea of the kind of golf played by four top Europeans on Sunday, here are some statistics from the fourth round: Darren Clarke: driving distance 288. 0 (total 287.1, tied 15); greens in regulation 13 (total 48, tied third); putting 37 (120, tied 36).

Padraig Harrington: driving distance 286.5 (total 290.4, tied ninth); greens in regulation 7 (total 44, tied 27); putting 27 (120, tied 36).

Jose-Maria Olazabal: driving distance 269 (total 289.9, 12th); greens in regulation 13 (total 43, 33rd); putting 26 (112 tied fifth).

Sergio Garcia: driving distance 281.5 (total 284.2, 21st); greens in regulations 12 (total 45, tied 23rd); putting 31 (125, tied 44th).

Stats for Phil Mickelson: Driving distance 297.5 (292.1, first); greens in regulation 13 (total 50, tied fourth); putting 29 (116, tied 16th).

Darren Clarke is on his way to Hilton Head in South Carolina for this week’s MCI Heritage, a tournament he seemed to have in the bag 12 months ago until he collapsed in disastrous fashion going down the stretch, and he’s joined by McGinley and Graeme McDowell.

He spent last week trying to convince himself that he was still in holiday mode and that’s why he was playing and scoring nicely in the Masters, but it all came unstuck on Sunday.

“After the first I was thinking, keep on going, keep on going, and I hit some good shots. There was no target, I just went out to play as well as I could. I shot 77 but I didn’t deserve 77, far from it.

Harrington pondered how he played the 13th and 15th in six over on Sunday instead of the four under that was on the cards and would have moved him into contention.

“I’m not holing the putts and it’s something I have to address. I’d say there was tiredness in the afternoon rather than mental strain. I felt good going out this morning. It was a nice place to be with a bit of pressure on, but I’m having a tough time on the greens. It’s something I have to work my way through.

“The difference between a shot coming off and not coming off at Augusta is very often a birdie against double bogey.”

Harrington takes this week off before returning to the States for the Shell Houston Open starting on Thursday week followed by the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.