Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson took dead aim at a Ryder Cup scoring record with seven birdies on the front nine of their four-balls session, setting the pace as the Americans threatened to break open the matches.Watson, who encouraged fans to cheer as he struck his opening tee shot, reeled off three straight birdies from Nos. 6-8 to open a 6-up margin over Scotland’s Paul Lawrie and Sweden’s Peter Hanson.
Simpson’s birdie at No.10 gave them eight in the session. Meantime, two other matches found Americans holding comfortable leads after the teams played to a 2-2 tie in the opening foursomes.
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, riding the momentum of a victory over Europe’s superduo of Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, made the turn with a 3-up lead over world No.1 Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.
Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar lost their opening hole to Justin Rose and Germany’s Martin Kaymer, but roared back with five birdies in their next six holes to take a 3-up advantage.
The only tight match involved Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, who figured to be the cornerstone of the U.S. effort. But after a 2&1 loss to Rose and Ian Poulter, they were all square through eight holes against Lee Westwood and Belgian rookie Nicolas Colsaerts.
The Americans are seeking to lead after the first day for the third consecutive meeting. They led 2 1/2-1 1/2 after a rain-abbreviated opening day two years ago in Wales, and by a 5 1/2-2 1/2 score in 2008.
Watson and Simpson went 3-0 as a tandem at last year’s Presidents Cup and, after sitting out the morning, wasted no time exerting their superiority. Simpson birdied No.1, Watson knocked down a birdie at No.3 and they were off and running.
The Cup’s record for biggest blowout is 7&6, first achieved in 1979 by Tom Kite and Hale Irwin and matched by Paul Azinger/Mark O’Meara in 1991.
Youth also carried the Americans’ morning, as they battled back from a slow start in alternate-shot to pull out a 2-2 tie.
Little more than an hour into a crisp morning at Medinah Country Club, European blue filled the scoreboards. But the noise level picked up as rookies Bradley and Jason Dufner started sinking putts.
Bradley drained four birdies as he and Phil Mickelson scored a 4&3 triumph over Donald and Garcia – handing each their first Ryder Cup loss in alternate shot. Garcia came to Medinah with an 8-0-1 record in the format, while Donald was 6-0.
Dufner, meanwhile, finished off back-to-back birdies to turn the match as he joined Zach Johnson in a 3&2 win over Westwood and Francesco Molinari.
“I noticed the board,” said Johnson, who sealed the match with a bunker blast to 2 feet for a winning par at No.16. “This is not a sprint by any means; it’s a marathon. You’ve just got to stick to your routine.”
It marked the first time that the Ryder Cup’s opening session had ended in a 2-2 tie since 1997, when Europe won at Valderrama in Spain.
The Americans had a chance to take the lead, as Jim Furyk and new FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker fought back from a 3-down deficit to square their match against McIlroy/McDowell.
But Snedeker pushed his drive at No.18 into the trees, allowing the Northern Ireland tandem to win the match with a par. “I just hit an awful shot, put Jim in a terrible position,” Snedeker said.
The Woods/Stricker loss was far more lopsided than the scoreboard indicated.
Woods sprayed his drives seemingly from Evanston to Aurora. His opening drive nestled up against a boundary fence, though Stricker’s through-the-branches recovery managed to salvage a par.
Later, Woods found a cart path with his drive at No.5 and beaned a spectator at the par-5 seventh. And his tee shot at the short par-4 15th seemed headed for another county when it caromed off a tree branch – and wound up 30 yards in front of the green.
Stricker had his problems, too. He splashed his tee shot at the par-3 second into Lake Kadijah to set up a double bogey.
“It wasn’t pretty, but that’s match play,” Poulter said. “We did play better golf. We put it in the fairway more, gave ourselves more looks [at the green] from the fairway. They didn’t do it a number of times, and we could take advantage of that.”
Woods/Stricker came to Medinah with a 6-2 record as a tandem, including two Presidents Cups along with Europe’s victory two years ago in Wales. But their last two matches have been ugly defeats – their only pairing at last year’s Presidents Cup was a 7&6 drubbing against Adam Scott and K.J. Choi
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