Ryder Cup 2012: United States extends lead Saturday

Bubba Watson may have inaugurated a new Ryder Cup tradition when, for the second day, he hit his opening drive as frenzied fans stomped and screamed their support.

The Masters champ, who turned golf etiquette on its ear on Friday by urging the opposite of the usual funereal silence that golfers normally demand before each shot, even got Britain’s Ian Poulter in on the act on Saturday as the two opponents began their morning foursome match with chants of “USA! USA!” ringing in their ears.

Tiger Woods has run into some awful luck at this year’s Ryder Cup. He wasn’t good during his Friday morning session, but there was nothing he could do about Nicolas Colsaerts’ brilliant performance on Friday afternoon. He sat out on Saturday morning, then ran into a team of Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald playing their best golf of the tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The Europeans went 1-up early and held a lead throughout the match against Woods and Steve Stricker, but the Americans fought back and nearly squared the match on the final hole. Part of their near-comeback was a great tee shot by Woods at the 17th hole, which he coaxed the green into accepting with the utmost grace with some interesting words of encouragement.

The European team needed to play well Saturday afternoon to narrow the deficit to the U.S. and procure any chance of victory heading into the final round of the 2012 Ryder Cup. Despite some late-match heroics from the team of Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, Euro captain Jose Maria Olazabal’s crew is officially in crisis mode.

The Americans now hold a 10-6 lead over the Europeans heading into Sunday’s singles matches, after winning two of their four matches Saturday afternoon. The U.S. has traditionally played their best in singles and will only need 4.5 points out of a possible 12 to win the cup.

The European squad has struggled against the Americans at the 2012 Ryder Cup, but on Saturday afternoon Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter were able to get a win, as they defeated the American duo Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson 1-up.

Johnson and Dufner were up the entire match, and were leading 2-up until the 12th hole, and that is when the tandem of McIlroy and Poulter made their move. They were able to win No. 13 and then became all square when Poulter birdied No. 15.

The impressive performance of the American team at the 2012 Ryder Cup continued on Saturday afternoon, as the team of Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar defeated the European team of Nicolas Colsearts and Paul Lawrie 1-up in a tight match that saw a team lead by no more than 2-up at any point in the round.

Kuchar won three holes for the Americans, capturing No. 2, No. 4 and No. 10 at Medinah Country Club. Johnson won a single hole, saving his best for last in grabbing No. 17. Kuchar and Johnson are now both two for two in the this year’s competition, capturing both matches they have participated in.

Americans Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson had a dominant performance on Saturday at the 2012 Ryder Cup held at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.,, winning 5&4 against the pair of Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari.

Watson, the 2012 Masters Champion, was overshadowed by his partner on the day, as it was Simpson’s birdie that paced the foursome and gave the Americans the decided advantage. Simpson had a total of seven birdies on the afternoon. The American duo took the lead over the English and Italian stars early with Simpson’s birdie on the course’s third hole, and would not relent until the match was won. The pair came on especially strong after the turn, winning the 10th, 13th, and 14th holes to put the match away.

The American team continues to roll at the 2012 Ryder Cup, with Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner picking up the second point for the USA in Saturday morning’s Foursomes. The steady American duo held a lead for nearly the entire match, taking a 2-up lead through the first four holes and clinching it 2&1 on the 17th green. Sergio Garcia and yesterday’s European star, Nicolas, Colsaerts, momentarily pulled the match all-square at the 11th but Johnson and Dufner responded in a big way.

The players encounter the teeth of Medinah over the final six holes, and the American duo took advantage of some European mistakes. Dufner rolled in a beautiful slider on No. 12 to push the Americans back up, and Johnson putted a perfect lag on No. 13 to tap in for par. The 13th is a daunting par-3, and a bogey by the Euros put the USA ahead for good at 2-up.

The second day of the 2012 Ryder Cup is underway from Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago. During Saturday Morning Foursomes, the Team USA squad comprised of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson fell to their European counterparts, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose.

The Achilles heel for Team USA in this match had been the putting of Webb Simpson, who missed a number of big putts on the day. It all came to a head on the final hole. On the par-4 18th, with an opportunity to halve the hole and even things up against Team Europe, Simpson missed a short putt which gave the match to Poulter and Rose, who finished 1 up.

The Saturday afternoon pairings are out for Saturday Fourball at the Ryder Cup, and the biggest surprise is Davis Love III’s decision to sit down the dynamic duo of Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson. They have been the superstars of the American side through the first three sessions, steamrolling some of the most successful European players in Ryder Cup history. Bradley has reiterated that he’d play 54 holes a day if asked, but it’s likely that Love wants to give the veteran Mickelson some rest before Sunday singles.

Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker will be back out on the course, facing Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald. Woods and Stricker are much more comfortable playing Fourball as opposed to the alternate-shot format. They would have beaten anyone out on the course yesterday except for the buzzsaw that they ran into in Nicolas Colsaerts. Garcia and Donald were nearly unbeatable as a pairing over the past decade, but they were routed on Friday morning in Foursomes. Anchoring the afternoon session will be the steady duo of Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson. They’ll face Josa Maria Olazbal’s power pairing of Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, who have been two of his strongest players this week.

On a day when Tiger Woods beaned spectators all over the lot and boom baby Bubba Watson rocked the house from the outset, the remarkable Ryder Cup debuts by Keegan Bradley and Nicolas Colsaerts were the talk of the tourney’s opening matches.

Bradley exploded onto the PGA Tour by winning his first-ever major, last year’s PGA Championship, but his other-worldly performances in both Friday matches launched the 26-year-old Ryder Cup rookie into rock stardom.

The Saturday morning matchups for Ryder Cup foursomes are out, and for the first time in his Ryder Cup career, Tiger Woods will be sitting out a session. The combination of Woods and Steve Stricker yielded two points to the Europeans on Friday, but Tiger really picked up his play in the afternoon and was one of the better players out on the course. He simply ran into the hottest player of the day in Nicolas Colsaerts. Captain Davis Love III wants his players rested for Sunday singles, so it’s not surprising that Woods is sitting down. His struggles in the alternate-shot format on Friday morning likely aided Love’s decision to keep him on the bench for the same session on Saturday.

Trailing 5-3, Jose Maria Olazabal is sending out his full arsenal Saturday morning, looking get back into it and finish the day level. The power pairing of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose will lead things off against the steamrolling duo of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson. Olazabal’s decision to keep Poulter, a renowned Ryder Cup star, out of the Friday afternoon four-ball matches came under scrutiny. But he’ll lean on him to start things right out of the gate. Something has to give in that first match of two pairings who have had nothing but success.