Europe Flush With Success as Sutton’s Pair of Aces Fold

Is it time to start the Ryder Cup second-guessing?

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were supposed to be golf’s new power couple, but they flopped twice.

Mickelson downplayed the effects of his switch to new equipment, yet he nearly knocked his tee shot out of bounds on the last hole with the match on the line.

The U.S. yearned for a quick start but wound up with its biggest first-day deficit in Ryder Cup history.

There are still two days to go, but if they turn out anything like what happened here Friday at Oakland Hills, that old Cup is as good as gone again.

When Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald put the finishing touches on a 2-and-1 alternate-shot victory over Kenny Perry and Stewart Cink, Europe had a 6 1/2 --1 1/2 lead over a beleaguered bunch of guys in blue shirts with red and white stripes.

“I hate to say this, but if the Americans keep this up, it won’t be long before [we] are considered the underdog instead of the favorite,” U.S. captain Hal Sutton said.

It’s not a great situation for the home team. Not only is the U.S. disadvantage of historic dimensions, Europe needs only 7 1/2 points in the last two days to wrap up the Cup for the third time in the last four Ryder Cup matches.

Europe’s top players, who showed up calling themselves underdogs, had the satisfaction of knocking off Sutton’s heavyweight pairing of Woods and Mickelson -- twice.

As a result, Sutton called off the experiment, then benched Mickelson for this morning’s four-ball matches, pairing Woods with Chris Riley.

Sutton said he didn’t want to second-guess Mickelson’s equipment issue. Mickelson switched club makers 10 days ago.

“We’ll all want answers to that,” he said. “But the most important person that’s going to wonder about that is going to be Phil Mickelson.

“It’s not going to cause us any grief in the morning because he’s going to be cheering instead of playing.”

Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington beat Woods-Mickelson, 2-and-1 in a morning four-ball match, then Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood beat them, 1-up, in the afternoon alternate-shot match. That one ended at the 18th after Woods had to take a penalty drop when Mickelson’s three-wood off the tee sailed far to the left and caromed off an out-of-bounds fence about 40 yards off line.

Sutton, who had been dreaming of pairing Woods with Mickelson since being named captain two years ago, admitted it just hadn’t worked out.

“You know, when you put two superstars together like that, there’s either good karma or there’s bad karma [and] they went south in the middle of that second round,” Sutton said. “It was pretty evident on both of their faces.”

Woods-Mickelson, who’d held a 3-up lead after four holes, had just evened the match at the 17th hole.

Woods had no chance to reach the 18th green from under some trees and near the fence.

It was a costly mistake by Mickelson because Clarke-Westwood closed out the match by winning the hole with a bogey. Woods missed a 20-footer for bogey from a difficult position on the green.

Bernhard Langer, Europe’s captain, was delighted with the double defeat for Woods-Mickelson.

“What we get for the two wins is two points, but it’s probably worth three or four,” he said. “It was huge psychologically, a huge blow to the Americans and a huge help for the Europeans.”

Woods did not speak to reporters, but Mickelson offered a brief comment and took the blame for the defeat.

“I let it slide on 18 with a poor tee shot after we pulled even and it basically cost us the match, so it’s been a very disappointing day for me,” he said.

No one has challenged Mickelson’s right to change equipment, from Titleist to Callaway, or the quality of the equipment, but his timing has been scrutinized. He had played in only one tournament, the Canadian Open, with his new driver and fairway woods before the Ryder Cup.

“I wouldn’t have done it, but I’m not Phil Mickelson and I’m not in his shoes,” Sutton said of the equipment change.

The only winning pairing for the U.S. all day was Chris DiMarco and Jay Haas, who scored a 3-and-2 victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez-Thomas Levet in alternate shot.

In the other alternate-shot match, Davis Love-Fred Funk were overrun by Montgomerie-Harrington, 4 and 2.

The morning four-ball session couldn’t have been much worse for the U.S., which never led a match.

If Riley’s six-foot putt for par at the 18th hole had failed to go in, the U.S. would have been blanked in the opening matches for the first time in Ryder Cup history.

Instead, Riley and Cink salvaged half a point in their match with Paul McGinley and Donald. As the players got ready for the alternate-shot matches in the afternoon, 3 1/2 -- 1/2 looked bad enough.

Woods and Mickelson played all right against Montgomerie-Harrington, but they got into trouble early when they watched the European team birdie the first four holes and five of the first six, losing 2-and-1.

Woods and Mickelson birdied three of the first four holes, but they never led. The next time they got another birdie was at the 16th, when Mickelson made a long putt.

Making birdies was a problem for the entire U.S. team in the morning. Love and Chad Campbell combined for one and got drilled by Clarke-Jimenez, 5-and-4. David Toms didn’t have a single birdie and partner Jim Furyk had only two, making it easy for Garcia-Westwood in another rout, 5-and-3.

The Riley-Cink team had only two birdies, but no one was more relieved than Sutton when Riley coaxed that putt for par to halve the match. Sutton threw his arm around Riley and whispered in his ear.

“He told me to remember this,” Riley said. “He said, ‘Thanks for not letting us get skunked.’ ”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Continental breakfast and lunch

Results from the morning and afternoon rounds at the 35th Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills Country Club:

Europe 61/2

FOUR-BALL RESULTS

Match 1

Mickelson/Woods (USA)

Montgomerie/Harrington (EUR) 2 and 1

Match 2

Love/Campbell (USA)

Clarke/Jimenez (EUR) 5 and 4

Match 3

Riley/Cink (USA)

McGinley/Donald (EUR) Halved

Match 4

Toms/Furyk (USA)

Garcia/Westwood (EUR) 5 and 3

*

USA 11/2

FOURSOME RESULTS

Match 1

DiMarco/Haas (USA) 3 and 2

Jimenez/Levet (EUR)

Match 2

Love/Funk (USA)

Montgomerie/Harrington (EUR) 4 and 2

Match 3

Mickelson/Woods (USA)

Clarke/Westwood (EUR) 1 Up

Match 4

Perry/Cink (USA)

Garcia/Donald (EUR) 2 and 1

*

The Matchups

Pairings for this morning’s four-ball matches. Note: Records are for four-ball matches. “No record” means Ryder Cup rookie.

Jay Haas-Chris DiMarco vs.

Sergio Garcia-Lee Westwood.

* The records: Haas 2-0-1, DiMarco no record; Garcia 3-1-1, Westwood 4-3-0.

* The skinny: U.S. captain Hal Sutton puts the only team that has won a match out first to try for momentum while Europe captain Bernhard Langer starts with the team that blitzed David Toms-Jim Furyk.

Tiger Woods-Chris Riley vs.

Darren Clarke-Ian Poulter.

* The records: Woods 2-5-0, Riley 0-0-1; Clarke 4-2-1, Poulter no record.

* The skinny: Woods gets his ninth new partner and Sutton says he expects some points from his top player. Poulter plays his first Ryder Cup match and gets to lean on the experienced Clarke’s shoulder.

Jim Furyk-Chad Campbell vs.

Paul Casey-David Howell

* The records: Furyk 0-4-1, Campbell 0-1; Casey no record, Howell no record.

* The skinny: It’s the winless U.S. pair against European team rookies playing their first match in the Ryder Cup. Furyk had two birdies and Campbell none in their four-ball matches Friday.

Stewart Cink-Davis Love III vs.

Colin Montgomerie-Padraig Harrington

* The records: Cink 0-0-1, Love 2-6-2; Montgomerie 6-4-2, Harrington 2-1-0.

* The skinny: Langer believes this is his best team in the format. Sutton hopes Love rebounds from a two-loss opening day that was low-lighted by his birdie-less drubbing in the Friday’s four-ball match.

Thomas Bonk