Day One of Ryder Cup: How Close Was A Blow-Out?

It’s a match, there’s no doubt. A 5-3 lead is essentially a tie, so no blood drawn on day one of Ryder Cup. The teams are feeling each other out and have determined who is on form. Normally a Tiger Woods absence during any match would be cause for alarm; not in 2012. Was this year’s Ryder Cup ever close to being a blow out? Let’s take a look at the matches that went down to the wire and find an answer.

*Match 1-Friday Morning Foursomes~Team USA had won three holes in a four-hole stretch to pull even. Furyk put the tee ball on the green while G-Mac missed in the fringe. Team RWB two-putted while Rory Mac  chipped up, stone dead, to a foot for the tie. Team GBI then won the 18th to win the entire point, but…

what if Rory doesn’t get it close enough for the half? Team USA has then won 4 of 5 holes and takes a guaranteed half point to 18. Now it’s 5.5 to 2.5 at best for GBI, possibly even 6-2.

*Match 8~Friday Afternoon Four-Balls~He’s anything but a Belgian Waffle; he’s more muscles from Brussels than Jean-Claude Van Damme. We’re talking about Nicolas Colsaerts, the fellow who saved Lee Westwood from a Tiger-ish 0-2 start. what exactly did NC Hammer do? An octet of birdies, punctuated by an eagle, put him -10 on his own ball. Woods and Stricker did everything they could to keep this see-saw match in the red, but what they had was not enough against the emerging European star. Think that team captain JMO will sit NC the rest of the way? My guess is the same as yours: not with that arsenal.

Imagine for a moment that these matches both flipped the other way. It’s 7-1, team USA, a score that hasn’t been seen since the days of champagne and Hogan. So here’s to heroic, courageous, brave, well, really fine shot making from unexpected European stalwarts on day one and to more of the same this weekend.