Ryder Cup : Floyd Alters Lineup, and U.S. Loses Lead

After spending a long, wind-blown day agonizing over his team’s play Friday in the first two rounds of the Ryder Cup, U.S. captain Ray Floyd believed that he had an idea of what it feels like to be the manager of his favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, when the bullpen fails to hold a lead.

In his new role as a decision-maker instead of a shotmaker, Floyd’s day was only half bad. Unfortunately for him and the United States, that was no consolation when it mercifully ended about 10 hours after the first foursome had teed off at the Belfry.

Floyd was criticized last month when he used his two wild-card selections for the 12-man team on Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins, but both played crucial roles in the morning round as the United States took a 3-1 lead over Europe.

Shortly afterward, the BBC channel televising the Ryder Cup broke for its mid-day movie, “Frankenstein Created Woman,” but the true horror began for the United States only when play resumed for the afternoon round.

Encouraged by a partisan but respectful crowd of 27,000, the Europeans won all four afternoon matches and had a 5-3 lead at the start of today’s third and fourth rounds in the three-day competition.

Tony Jacklin, the Europeans’ non-playing captain, made few changes in his twosomes after the first round but Floyd tinkered with each of his and it is not difficult to guess which had more second thoughts, and second guessers.

“Looking back, we’re all great managers or captains,” Floyd said.

He had to look back only to the morning. The United States began the day as 12 angry men, having lost two straight Ryder Cups, in 1985 and 1987, for the first time since the biennial competition began in 1927.

Their day started with PGA champion Payne Stewart’s boom box in the hallway of the team hotel blasting out Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” When they looked outside, they saw gray skies and rain. But they felt as bold as their red, white and blue sweaters. The Europeans wore pale pink sweaters and gray slacks.

“The Yanks have already won the award for sartorial splendor,” a BBC commentator said.

It soon appeared as if they might be on their way to winning something more substantial, their 22nd Ryder Cup in 28 tries.

In the morning round, four foursomes, which included a pair from each team, participated in an unusual format that requires partners to play alternate shots. One player tees off, the other hits the next shot and so on. Understandably, it is important that the partners are compatible. So the captain does not come along just for the frequent-flyer miles.

The experts, meaning primarily the people who put a few quid on the matches at their local bookmakers’ shops, preferred Jacklin’s opening pairings, making Masters champion Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam big favorites over two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange and Tom Kite. They were equally confident with Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal over Tom Watson and Chip Beck.

But in both cases, the United States tied the Europeans. And in the other two foursomes, the U.S. won. British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia and Ken Green beat Bernhard Langer and Ronan Rafferty, 2 and 1, and Lanny Wadkins and Stewart beat Howard Clark and Mark James by one hole.

Floyd was particularly thrilled with Watson and Wadkins, who were his hunch selections to the team even though they have not had good years.

Wadkins’ 25-foot chip on the 17th gave him and Stewart their edge. Watson made a 22-foot putt at the 15th that brought him and Beck even after they had fallen three holes behind to the Spaniards, Ballesteros and Olazabal.

Over lunch, Ballesteros and Olazabal seethed because they had bogeyed four of the last seven holes and virtually handed half a point to the Americans with the tie.

“The Americans have been very lucky,” Ballesteros said.

Jacklin said that he was not concerned with the morning’s results, proving it when he left three of the teams together for an afternoon session of more conventional best-ball match play.

His only substitution was Sam Torrance and Gordon Brand Jr. for Langher and Rafferty, each of whom claimed he was the reason for the partnership’s collapse in the morning.

Floyd left Strange, Wadkins, Calcavecchia and Watson on the course for another 18 holes. But he gave them different partners.

Floyd defended his commitment to play all 12 of his players on all three days. That includes today, when the format is the same as it was Friday. All 12 players from each team compete in individual match play Sunday.

“I still stand very firm in my belief that there is more to the Ryder Cup than just winning and losing,” Floyd said. “I’m not hiding any players.”

The implication was that Jacklin is less than confident in some of his players. Two of them, Christy O’Connor Jr. and Jose-Maria Canizares, did not play Friday.

But, as Jacklin did not have to point out, it is the Europeans who are winning.

Although the rain stopped about an hour into the first round, a 20- to 30-m.p.h. wind whipped the players around all day. It was not easy for anyone to play 36 holes.

So Ballesteros and Olazabal did not, making quick work of Watson and Mark O’Meara. They won, 6 and 5. Olazabal birdied the first two holes and Ballesteros played the final four in five under par.

“When Seve gets his Porsche going, not even St. Pedro in heaven could stop him,” Olazabal said.

Neither Clark nor James was that impressive, but they beat Wadkins and Fred Couples, 3 and 2.

The other two matches went to the final hole. Brand won one of them for the Europeans with a seven-foot par putt after Strange and Paul Azinger could not get down in four. Faldo and Woosnam won the other when both Calcavecchia and Mark McCumber hit approach shots into the water.

Acknowledging that his combinations Friday afternoon were not the best, Floyd said that he will search for new ones this afternoon.

Some of the European players said that they were glad to see Stewart sidelined in the afternoon, but Floyd said that the PGA champion had back problems. He admitted, however, that it might have been a mistake to sit down Kite.

Meantime, he said that he has advised his players that they should not help each other in today’s best-ball competitions.

On the PGA Tour, where all of the tournaments are determined by stroke play, you would not see players helping one another line up putts, any more than you would see Larry Smith sending plays to Terry Donahue.

“These guys have won millions of dollars and hundreds of tournaments,” Floyd said. “They’ve all done that on their own. They don’t need any help. They should just go out and play golf.”

Divided, perhaps the United States will stand.