Pragmatic Thomas Bjorn cools Ryder Cup expectations
From the euphoria of an afternoon clean sweep, Team Europe will wipe the slate clean this morning as they look to build on their 5-3 overnight lead at the Ryder Cup by turning the tables on a dominant American fourballs line-up.
There was understandable and deserved ecstasy for the Europeans at Le Golf National yesterday evening after Thomas Bjorn’s team delivered a first clean sweep in the foursomes since the continent Great Britain and Ireland against the United States in 1979.
One day down, two to go.#TeamEurope pic.twitter.com/WsJ9coZmIM
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 28, 2018
And these were no toss-of-a-coin-type wins but four resounding victories to bounce back from a 3-1 fourball session defeat on the opening morning.
A 3&2 win for Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, 4&2 for Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter and two 5&4 hammerings dished out by a couple of major champion-rookie pairings in Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren along with Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood turned the scoreboard blue to the delight of a massive and vocal crowd on the outskirts of Paris.
SOUND ON 🔊#TeamEurope pic.twitter.com/OaE6boX5fc
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 28, 2018
The last time a mob was this noisy in this corner of the French capital they were marching on the Palace of Versailles with a guillotine in tow and the outcome was just as bloody for USA captain Jim Furyk as his players fell alarmingly out of form in the alternate-shot format.
It will definitely provoke a response from the visitors as they seek to get their trophy defence back on track in their preferred better-ball format this morning with Furyk sending all four of yesterday morning’s pairings out once again to try and repeat their success of 24 hours earlier.
Which is why Bjorn was at pains last night to emphasise that yesterday’s celebrations should be short-lived and that the Europeans must quickly reset their focus on the task at hand.
They may have recorded their team’s highest combined winning margin in a session, yesterday’s foursomes producing a 19-hole cushion over their opponents to better the 15-hole margin of 1985 on a Saturday afternoon at the Belfry but the Danish captain was not about to start lording it over the Americans.
“It was a great afternoon,” Bjorn said. “Yeah, it’s a pretty special occasion, obviously, for those players that they have done that, but they are also very well aware that you can enjoy this for about an hour, and then you turn around tomorrow and you start focusing on what’s ahead of us.
“We know it’s a marathon, and we’re delighted with the way the day turned out because it was a fairly tough morning. Yeah, we’re happy. We go home happy tonight, but we refocus and look forward to tomorrow.”
Bjorn had sent out four of his five rookies for yesterday’s opening fourballs sessions, pairing them with his big guns with mixed results as McIlroy looked out of sorts chaperoning Thorbjorn Olesen while Rose and Paul Casey lost narrow matches alongside Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton respectively. Only the Molinari and Fleetwood pairing proved successful and they will team up for a third time this morning in a re-run of their opening match with Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed, which was a 3&1 win for Europe.
McIlroy will be freed of his senior status when he partners Garcia for the first time since Medinah in 2012 against Koepka and Finau while Rose is rested, no doubt for an afternoon foursomes match alongside Stenson.
"That's unbelievable!"#TeamEurope pic.twitter.com/1kJTGBP5bi
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 28, 2018
His fourball partner Rahm, who was happy to sit out yesterday’s afternoon matches, will link up with a resurgent Poulter against Thomas and Spieth while the Casey/Hatton pairing, which lost at the last hole to those two Texans, is retained to face world number one Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Bjorn was satisfied the English duo had done enough to earn a second crack after losing despite finishing eight under par.
There will be a feeling there is something to prove for those Europeans, just as they will expect an American backlash following a whitewash when collective form deserted this powerhouse team featuring six of the world’s top 10.
Their inexperience around a course played on every year by European Tour players at the French Open was exposed yesterday as they learned the harsh lesson that if you miss these tight fairways and land in the penal rough then par is an awfully nice score.
Furyk cut a defiant figure last night as he predicted a positive response from his team.
“You lose 6&5, you lose 2&1, it’s still the same result, correct?” the USA captain asked. We have to shore things up, and I’m guessing we’ll switch things up in the afternoon (for the second foursomes session of the weekend). We’ve already been thinking about that.
“Does it pose a problem? I think our guys, I think they will respond, I really do. I have a lot of confidence in this team. I think that, you know, obviously it’s going to leave a sour taste in their mouth tonight and they have to sleep on that. We’ll come back tomorrow, and I bet we’ll be fine.
Scores and starting times
Morning fourballs (Europe names first):
Paul Casey (Eng) & Tyrell Hatton (Eng) lost to Justin Thomas (USA) & Jordan Spieth (USA) 1 down; Rory McIlroy (NIrl) & Thorbjorn Oleson (Den) lost to Dustin Johnson (USA) & Rickie Fowler (USA) 4 & 2; Justin Rose (Eng) & Jon Rahm (Spa) lost to Tony Finau (USA) & Brooks Koepka (USA) 1 down; Francesco Molinari (Ita) & Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) bt Tiger Woods (USA) & Patrick Reed (USA) 3 & 1
Afternoon foursomes:
Henrik Stenson (Swe) & Justin Rose (Eng) bt Dustin Johnson (USA) & Rickie Fowler (USA) 3 & 2; Rory McIlroy (NIrl) & Ian Poulter (Eng) bt Webb Simpson (USA) & Bubba Watson (USA) 4 & 2; Alex Noren (Swe) & Sergio Garcia (Spa) bt Phil Mickelson (USA) & Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 5 & 4; Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) & Francesco Molinari (Ita) bt Justin Thomas (USA) & Jordan Spieth (USA) 5 & 4
Tomorrow... pic.twitter.com/BAQUTozmtn
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 28, 2018
Rookies and wild cards
ROOKIES
Combined score: Europe (five debutants): P6 W3 L3; USA (two debutants): P3 W2 L1
Thomas Bjorn’s strategy to pair his five rookies with Europe’s leading lights did Thorbjorn Olesen no favours as senior partner Rory McIlroy failed to fire in the morning fourballs. Olesen looked the nerviest of the newcomers but was the backbone of the partnership as they fell to Johnson and Fowler.
It was a similar outcome for Tyrrell Hatton, though he and Paul Casey lost a tight contest at the final hole when the rookie sent in a brilliant iron shot to the green only to miss the putt and let in Spieth and American rookie Justin Thomas for a 1-up victory.
Jon Rahm also suffered heartbreak at the last on an encouraging debut alongside Justin Rose as they lost the opening match to Brooks Koepka and US debutant Tony Finau, who only led the contest when they secured the win at the final hole.
Europe’s one bright spot in the fourballs saw Tommy Fleetwood earn a dream start in a tailor-made pairing with Francesco Molinari to defeat Reed and Woods.
There were polar opposite experiences for the rookies in match three of the oursomes. Bryson DeChambeau had been left out of the morning fourballs and he must have wished he had sat out the entire first day after he and Phil Mickelson were six holes down to Sergio Garcia and European rookie Alex Noren after eight holes. For the Swede, it was a perfect beginning for the French Open champion as the Euros rattled in six birdies without reply.
THE WILD CARDS
When you are a captain’s pick the onus is to repay the faith shown in you and there were mixed returns on the opening day.
Paul Casey was the only one of Thomas Bjorn’s picks out in the morning fourballs and despite losing to Spieth and Thomas at the 18th, the Englishman was unlucky to be benched for the afternoon after doing a good job of nursing Hatton through his debut. All three European wild cards to play the foursomes earned victories, though Ian Poulter’s day got off to the worst possible start as he found water off the first tee. Yet he and an out of sorts Rory McIlroy came from two down to beat Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, with the Postman instrumental in delivering another point for his team.
Sergio Garcia looked extremely nervous before teeing off against two US wild cards in Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, who also sat out the morning session. Garcia backed off his ball after being disturbed by one of his knuckles cracking, but the Spaniard was quickly on track with rookie partner Noren to earn his 20th victory for 23.5 total points in his ninth appearance.
Henrik Stenson was reunited with long-time partner Justin Rose for the afternoon foursomes and made a winning start against the morning’s hot duo of Johnson and Fowler.
Of the other American picks, Tony Finau was the last man on to Team USA as the fourth of Furyk’s choices and it was Finau who hit the opening shot of the contest at 8:10am yesterday. He got off to a winning start in the company of Brooks Koepka, holing the only eagle of the day before sitting out the foursomes.
Tiger Woods also had the afternoon off after a disappointing return to action having been a vice-captain at Hazeltine, he and Patrick Reed fading to a 3&1 defeat to Molinari and Fleetwood.
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