U.S. is hanging on for Ryder

By Thomas Bonk

Sept. 21, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- With one day to go, the Ryder Cup is no longer just about golf, it’s a math problem as well. Knowing the winning equation is easy, it’s figuring how to get there that’s the hard part.

Here’s the way it adds up. The U.S. needs 5 1/2 points today to take the Ryder Cup, Europe needs seven points to keep it.

With a point riding on the outcome of each, there will be 12 singles matches spread out on the sloping fairways and tricky greens at Valhalla Golf Club, where the U.S. set out Saturday with a three-point lead and walked back to the team room at dusk with a two-point edge at 9-7.

At least it’s more than a single-point advantage, which was in doubt right up until the last afternoon four-ball match, when Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan managed to squeeze out a halve against putting machine Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson.

Mickelson is only 1-2-1 in his matches so far and missed a short putt at the 17th that would have been good for the lead, then missed the fairway and the green at the 18th, but he has another chance when he plays Justin Rose in the singles competition today.

Chances are it’s going to start with a bang -- Anthony Kim faces Sergio Garcia in the first match.

Then again, it’s likely to end that way too -- the last two European players out are Lee Westwood (against Ben Curtis) and Padraig Harrington (against Chad Campbell).

There were U.S. leads at some point in every match in the afternoon except one, when Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk were on the wrong end of a 1-up decision against Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

The U.S. hasn’t led going into the last day since 1995 at Oak Hill, when the margin was also 9-7, but that one ended with a victory for Europe and continued the U.S. slump that has extended to three straight defeats, five out of six and eight out of 11.

Of course, that could change quickly today.

McDowell said that Europe has seized the momentum, but Boo Weekley wasn’t buying it.

“What’s changed?” Weekley said. “Weren’t we the underdogs coming in?”

Weekley and J.B. Holmes started the U.S. heading in the right direction in the first four-ball match, a 2-and-1 victory over Westwood and Soren Hansen that ended Westwood’s record-tying unbeaten streak at 12 matches.

Europe is probably fortunate to be in its position given that two of its top players -- Westwood and Garcia -- haven’t won a match yet.

But captain’s pick Poulter has been busy, with three points in four matches. He had six birdies against Perry and Furyk.

After Weekley and Holmes started quickly, the rest of the afternoon was a difficult chore for everyone, and the four-ball matches ended 2-2.

Curtis and Steve Stricker halved their match with Garcia and Paul Casey; and after Perry and Furyk’s narrow defeat, Mickelson and Mahan managed to withstand six birdies by Karlsson to earn the final half-point.

“I think that’s a good sign, the way we clutched up at times,” Mickelson said. “We hung tough.”

In the morning’s alternate shot matches, Europe had a 2 1/2 -1 1/2 edge and cut the U.S. lead to 7-5.

The most significant match in the morning was a shocker -- Mickelson and Kim losing, 2 and 1, to Oliver Wilson and Stenson. Not only was it an unexpected point for Europe -- Wilson was the only player on either side who didn’t play Friday -- it also put an end to any second-guessing that Nick Faldo goofed when he benched Garcia and Westwood, since the Wilson-Stenson team was essentially the substitute.

“You know, you’ve got to give some guys some rest,” said Faldo, who later explained that Westwood had developed some blisters on his fingers.

Westwood said he would have played “with two broken arms.”

Whatever the truth, Faldo’s notion worked, but not right away. After making birdies on three of the first four holes, Mickelson and Kim didn’t get another one the rest of the way and their 4-up lead evaporated.

Their problems were no more evident than at the 601-yard seventh hole, where Mickelson’s second shot bounced off rocks at the pond and bounced left into the rough. From there, Kim chopped the ball into the water.

Mickelson and Kim had five bogeys, starting at the seventh.

Wilson, a 28-year-old Ryder Cup rookie from Mansfield, England, who played at Augusta State, closed out the match with a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th.

There was another disappointing moment in alternate shot, besides the 4-3 loss by Stewart Cink and Campbell to the team of Poulter and Rose. Mahan and Justin Leonard lost a 1-up lead at the 18th after missing the fairway and that allowed Miguel Angel Jimenez and McDowell to halve the match.

“It’s hard losing 18 and giving away the half point,” Leonard said.

The only U.S. victory in the morning came from Furyk and Perry, who took a 4-up lead after five holes and held on for a 3-and-1 win over Harrington and Karlsson.

thomas.bonk@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Today’s matches

U.S. player listed first, times PDT

9:03 a.m.: Anthony Kim vs. Sergio Garcia

9:14: Hunter Mahan vs. Paul Casey

9:25: Justin Leonard vs. Robert Karlsson

9:36: Phil Mickelson vs. Justin Rose

9:47: Kenny Perry vs. Henrik Stenson

9:58: Boo Weekley vs. Oliver Wilson

10:09: J.B. Holmes vs. Soren Hansen

10:20: Jim Furyk vs. Miguel Angel Jimenez