Ryder Cup Capsules: Americans lead after tense day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Birdie putts fell one on top of the other, almost too quickly to keep up. Fists pumps charged up the crowd, often accompanied by players screaming above the din to celebrate.

Eight matches, 138 holes, 86 birdies, all crammed into 10 hours Saturday at the Ryder Cup.

When a gripping day at Valhalla ended, with both teams huddled on the grassy banks surrounding the 18th green to watch yet another match go the distance, the Americans clung to a 9-7 lead, ahead going into the last round for the first time since 1995.

"Anything could have happened," U.S. captain Paul Azinger said.

Save that thought for Sunday.

The Americans hung on for two key halves in the afternoon fourballs, none bigger than Steve Stricker holing an 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole, finally giving them a fighting chance to wrest that 17-inch gold chalice from Europe.

"We're happy to be in the position we're in," Azinger said. "But there's a long, long way to go. And we know that."

The Americans need only 5½ points from 12 singles matches Sunday to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999, but even with a two-point lead, this Ryder Cup could go either way.

The shotmaking has been spectacular. The shifts in momentum have been unpredictable. Who would have thought Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim would lose a 4-up lead to Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson in the morning, or that Mickelson and Hunter Mahan would lose a 2-up lead with seven holes to play against Stenson and Robert Karlsson?

"It seems like Ryder Cups kind of take things to another level," European captain Nick Faldo said. "The putting and the shots have been amazing. Everything. These guys are able to produce unbelievable stuff at times."

That they did.

Boo Weekley hit out of a bunker from 144 yards to 2 feet for a tap-in birdie, only for Lee Westwood to match his birdie from 10 feet. For every big putt by Sergio Garcia, Stricker had an answer.

The intensity should return quickly Sunday, with Kim and Garcia in the first of 12 matches. Faldo put two of his strongest players at the end - Westwood in the 11th match against Ben Curtis, and British Open and PGA winner Padraig Harrington as the anchor against Chad Campbell.

Azinger and Faldo passed each other at the end of the day.

"Tough day in the office," Faldo said.

"A roller coaster," Azinger replied.

It showed in their faces during an afternoon sessions. One minute, it looked as though the Americans would build a 10-6 lead; the next, it looked as though they wouldn't have any lead at all.

Ian Poulter's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets after making a 30-inch birdie putt that looked like 30 feet. Poulter arrived as a controversial captain's pick, but he was the only European to play all four matches and he delivered three vital points.

Europe has built overwhelming leads the last two times, practically icing the champagne on Saturday night.

Hold onto your tops.

"It was amazing golf," Azinger said. "It's amazing because there's so much pressure here and so much tension and you see in pressure situations the best performance in sports. A two-point lead is great. To have a two-point lead going into singles, we're happy."

The final margin wasn't determined until Mahan, unbeaten in all four matches in his Ryder Cup debut, hit his approach to the collar of the green for an eagle attempt from 20 feet. Karlsson followed with a second shot in the par 5 that settled 12 feet behind the hole. Both narrowly missed. Both teams exhaled.

For Karlsson, it was his seventh birdie in 10 holes.

"That's an unbelieveable two days," Poulter said. "I think we got a huge piece of momentum today, and the guys are pumped - proper, proper pumped. This is what the Ryder Cup is all about."

Some of the American rookies found that out.

Weekley toned down his celebration until after his great shots, and there were plenty. Kentucky native J.B. Holmes delivered a putt that put the Americans up over Westwood and Soren Hansen, but Weekley stole the show.

He holed a 25-foot putt off the back of the 14th green for a 2-up lead, then hit a bunker shot to 2 feet on the next hole. Asked where he would rank that shot among the top 10 of his career, Weekley replied, "I reckon No. 9. I done had eight hole-in-ones."

They won on the 17th hole when Westwood failed to extend the match with a 15-foot birdie.

It was the first time in six years the Englishman lost a Ryder Cup match, an unbeaten streak of 12 matches that left him tied with Arnold Palmer and more disappointed for the team than himself.

"The Ryder Cup is not about individuals," Westwood said. "It's about the team."

The rest of the afternoon was a highlight show.

-With the match all square, Karlsson poured in a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 14, and Mickelson followed him in from 10 feet.

-Jim Furyk hit his approach on the 15th within inches of the cup and it looked as if he and Kenny Perry would square their match against Poulter and Graeme McDowell. But McDowell knocked in a nervy 5-footer for birdie.

-Garcia knocked in a 35-foot birdie putt up the ridge on No. 8, screaming, "Come on! Come on!" when it fell. The quiet Stricker then topped him with an 18-foot birdie, and in a rare display of emotion, lunged forward and pumped his fist. "I am not that type of player that you saw out there, I guarantee," he said. "In competition like this, it truly does come out."

-Karlsson was 4 feet away for birdie on the 16th when Mahan dropped a 10-footer.

It was like that all afternoon.

Azinger ripped off his cap in celebration and crossed his fingers before every putt, showing nerves that he swore he wouldn't have.

"My stomach is just churning," he said.

Faldo, meanwhile, must have felt vindicated.

The BBC roasted him throughout the morning for leaving out Westwood and Garcia from the morning session, the European tandem that hardly every loses, and sending out what appeared to be a sacrificial lamb in English rookie Oliver Wilson and Stenson.

They faced Mickelson and Kim, fell four holes behind after six holes, but rallied to tie the match six holes later. With a 1-up lead on the 17th, Wilson holed a 30-foot birdie putt to win the match.

Trailing by three points after the first day, Europe won two foursomes matches and halved another in the morning to pull within two points, winning its first session of the Ryder Cup. After a split in the afternoon, it comes down to Sunday.

Singles traditionally has been the Americans' strength, but no longer.

Europe has the stronger team based on the world ranking. Europe has the won the last three Ryder Cups, and five of the last six. And Europe has trounced the Americans in singles the last two times.

But that was when it held a comfortable lead. For the first time since 1995, they have some catching up to do.

Lefty fails to seize the moment at Ryder Cup

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Six feet. Six little feet. A testy putt, to be sure, but one that defines the legacy of a player such as Phil Mickelson.

Besides, this is what Lefty had longed for: a chance to seize the moment at the Ryder Cup, a chance to give the Americans a crucial boost going to the final day of an event they haven't won since 1999.

This is surely what U.S. captain Paul Azinger had in mind when he sent Mickelson back to the course in the afternoon, even after his dream pairing with Anthony Kim squandered the closest thing to a sure win in the morning.

So, Mickelson studied the putt at the 17th hole from every angle, took a couple of swings just for practice, then settled over the ball.

He drew his club back, and swung it forward. The ball was on its way.

Right by the cup.

After a day of seeming redemption, Mickelson's shaky Ryder Cup history bubbled back to the surface Saturday. He and Kim, probably the most talented American tandem, tossed away a 4-up lead after six holes in an alternate-shot match against Henrik Stenson and unheralded Oliver Wilson, whom the Europeans didn't even bother to use on the opening day.

Then, Mickelson missed that short birdie putt, which would have broken a tie going to the final hole. He wasn't much help on the 18th, either, knocking his tee shot into a bunker, putting his second shot on the side of a hill and then making a tentative chip.

It was left to Hunter Mahan to bail the Americans out. He made the birdie at No. 18 and the Americans escaped with a half-point in their match against Stenson and Robert Karlsson. The home team goes to the final day with a 9-7 lead, but it might have been bigger with more of a contribution from Mickelson.

"It was a very emotional and up-and-down day," Lefty conceded. "But we fought hard all day, and Hunter and I hung in there. Obviously we wanted to win. We had opportunities for that."

Paired with Kim for an alternate-shot match, Mickelson sure had plenty of chances to win. Heck, it looked over when a par at No. 6 gave the Americans a commanding four-hole cushion.

But Mickelson and Kim quickly handed it back, losing four of the next six holes. Then, after another errant drive by Lefty at No. 15 and an unnecessarily bold shot by Kim around a tree, off a European official and into a creek, the Europeans were ahead to stay.

Wilson sank a 30-foot birdie at No. 17 to put the pressure on Mickelson. He missed a 20-footer to keep the match going. Kim, watching with his hands on his knee, nearly crumpled to the ground.

"We had some momentum," Mickelson said. "Unfortunately, a couple of bad shots by us, and we ended up squandering a lead. We still fought hard. It looked like we were going to bring that thing down to the end until that long putt."

And what about Mickelson's putt at that same hole a few hours later, after U.S. captain Paul Azinger shook up his pairings to put his highest-ranked player with Hunter Mahan?

"I kept reading more and more break as I got over it," Mickelson said. "I didn't want to jam it in, and I just overplayed the break. It wasn't that hard, but it was about ... three or four inches out, and I overplayed it just a touch."

In all fairness, the Americans ran into an extremely hot player. Karlsson made six birdies in seven holes, including four in a row, to erase a 2-up lead for Mickelson and Mahan. Fortunately for the U.S., the Swede missed a downhill 12-footer for eagle at the 18th that would have given Europe a full point.

Both sides settled for a hard-earned halve.

Mickelson, who was 1-7-1 in the two previous Ryder Cups, is now 1-1-2 at Valhalla, accounting for more points in the bluegrass state than he managed at Oakland Hills and the K Club combined.

Still, there are doubts about his state of mind heading into singles play on Sunday. Mickelson will be in the fourth group out, facing Justin Rose and seeking his first singles win since 1999.

In 2002, he lost a pivotal match to Phillip Price, ranked 119th in the world at the time, at the Belfry. He was beaten by a pair of Spaniards, Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal, in the European routs of ‘04 and ‘06.

Azinger insisted there's no concern about Mickelson falling short again.

"I'm not worried about Mickelson's mind-set at all," the captain told reporters late Saturday. "My message all week long to you guys is anything that happened in the past is in the past and has no bearing on what's going on."

Azinger's only advice to Mickelson will be of a dietary nature. Lefty apparently went through quite a spread before his loss to Price six years ago.

"I hope it's not three waffles, two eggs and a Diet Coke," Azinger said. "I heckled him about that already."

Mickelson was paired with Kim for two matches Friday - at Lefty's request - and the duo worked beautifully together, high-fiving each other all the way around the course. Twice, they rallied from three-hole deficits, pulling out a halve against Padraig Harrington and Karlsson and winning 2-up over Harrington and Graeme McDowell.

Saturday morning, the tables turned.

Naturally, Mickelson was eager to get back on the course, and Azinger obliged. Justin Leonard, who putted brilliantly in his match to help earn a half-point, might have been the better choice. But he, too, knew Lefty was eager for redemption after helping blow such a big lead.

"You certainly wouldn't think those guys would lose that match," Leonard said. "I think that's one of the reasons Phil wanted to go back out, because that's going to leave a bad taste is his mouth."

He can only hope it's not there Sunday night.

>> Paul Newberry

Ryder Cup rookie Wilson helps lead Euro charge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Oliver Wilson is no longer Oliver Who?

The European Ryder Cup rookie hardly played like one during his debut match Saturday at Valhalla. Wilson, a 28-year-old from England relatively unknown in these parts, teamed with Henrik Stenson to stun Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim, 2 and 1, in a foursomes match that ended with a putt Wilson won't soon forget.

He rapped in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to cap a stirring rally from four holes down and validate Faldo's decision to start Wilson in the morning over Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

Not bad for a player still looking for his first professional victory.

"I knew if I kept getting chances I'd hole one," Wilson said. "I thought it was a bit closer heading up to the green, so when I got up there and it was farther I still thought it was holeable."

Was it ever.

Wilson left the read up to Stenson then calmly dropped it in, giving the Europeans an improbable victory when Mickelson failed to make his 20-foot birdie.

"I've been waiting to hole that putt all year," Wilson said. "You know, I've done quite a few things like that in my amateur career and it's annoying that I haven't done it as a professional. I love team competition and there's no better stage to do it on."

The giddy celebration afterward seemed unlikely after a nightmarish opening six holes for the Europeans. Though Wilson overcame his first-tee jitters and drilled it right down the middle, the Europeans quickly went four down and looked overmatched.

Wilson, however, never panicked.

He might be the first player to make a Ryder Cup team without winning, but he earned the 10th spot through his consistency. Wilson had four runner-up finishes and finished in the top 10 seven times. And he relied on that consistency in his Ryder Cup debut, aiming for fairways and greens with hopes the Americans would cool off.

"We felt like they're not going to keep up that kind of play," Wilson said. "It's almost impossible to keep making that amount of birdies out there. We were due to make a few."

Turns out, they didn't really have to. Mickelson and Kim, who had electrified the crowd on Friday, started spraying shots all over the place. They made a mess of the seventh, bogeyed the eighth, missed a birdie chance at the 10th then followed with bogeys at 14 and 15, giving the Europeans the lead for the first time.

"Nick came up to me on 7 before the second shot and said ‘Just start that magic in a minute now,' and it seems like we did and fought well," Stenson said. "Oliver had some great putts that just wouldn't drop, and we said he was due to make one. And he did."

It wasn't, however, good enough to earn a spot in the lineup Saturday afternoon.

Wilson, the only player on both teams who did not play on Friday, was still on the course when Faldo told him he would be sitting out the afternoon fourball matches. Disappointed, Wilson turned his anger into a positive.

"It probably spurred me on a little bit," Wilson said. "We just kept pressing on and it just made it a bit more important."

The unlikely victory gave the Europeans a much-needed boost and brought praise from his teammates.

"That's a fantastic comeback," Graeme McDowell said. "I thought it was going to be a tough morning for him, his first match foursomes, thrown right into the mix when Europe is behind. But what a comeback for the guys."

Especially for the steady Wilson, Europe's mystery man no more.

>> Will Graves

Mickelson, Poulter and Mahan go the distance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Justin Leonard's undefeated record through the first three matches of the Ryder Cup wasn't enough to convince U.S. captain Paul Azinger to play Leonard during Saturday's afternoon four-ball.

Leonard and Hunter Mahan rolled to a 3-0-0 record through the first three rounds, and Azinger sent Mahan back out for the afternoon matches. Mahan joined Phil Mickelson as the only American players to play in each of the first four matches.

Leonard felt he could have gone another 18 holes, but respected Azinger's decision.

"I told Zinger, you know, I felt like I had some more in the tank," Leonard said. "I wasn't sure how much. And I think he wants me to be ready for tomorrow. ... I'm going to use this rest to my advantage."

Leonard wasn't the only red-hot player who took the afternoon off. Europe's Justin Rose asked captain Nick Faldo if he could sit out the four-ball matches even though he and Ian Poulter had gone 2-1-0 through three matches.

"I really felt like it was best for the team, should I sit out a bit," Rose said. "I've got a bit of a sore wrist and a few little things that you just want to just take care of, no big deal."

Valhalla marked the first time under the current Ryder Cup format that Europe had just one player compete in every session.

PAYNE'S SON

U.S. captain Paul Azinger had a special guest in his cart late Saturday afternoon - Aaron Stewart, the 19-year-old son of the late Payne Stewart, who was Azinger's best friend on tour.

The Americans have not won the Ryder Cup since Stewart played on the team in 1999 at Brookline. Six weeks later, Stewart perished in a plane accident.

TICKED TIGER

Michael Jordan knows how tense things can get during competition. So he took a little pity on European captain Nick Faldo during Friday's opening round matches, playfully giving Faldo a neck massage.

Jordan, back at Valhalla on Saturday, admitted the move didn't sit well with at least one Ryder Cup regular: Tiger Woods.

The world's No. 1 golfer, watching the Cup on TV while recuperating from knee surgery, fired off a text to Jordan telling him to cut it out.

"He texted me when I was massaging (Faldo)," Jordan said. "He said ‘Get your hands off him and choke him instead of massage him."

Jordan has attended every Ryder Cup since 1997 and called it one of his favorite competitions in sports.

FLASHBACK

Justin Rose and Ian Poulter have been friends a long time, well before Poulter turned himself into arguably the most fashionable golfer this side of Jesper Parnevik.

To Rose, Poulter is still the chunky kid he played against as a junior, and the memories pop up at unexpected times.

Standing on the 14th green during their morning foursome match against Chad Campbell and Stewart Cink, Rose had a flashback.

"This feeling came over me, and he probably won't thank me for saying this, but I said, ‘Come on Poults, the fat kid from Milton Keynes, knock it in,"‘ Rose said.

Poulter converted the putt as the English duo won 4 and 3, their second win in three pairings during this weekend.

SERGIO SAVES THE DAY

Sergio Garcia found a way to make himself useful during the morning foursomes, even though the longtime European team star was sitting for the first time in his Ryder Cup career.

Riding along with assistant captain Jose Maria Olazabal, Garcia was standing behind the green watching Miguel Angel Jimenez and Graeme McDowell when a golf cart attempting to get up the bank spun its wheels and fell back.

Garcia leaned over to the driver and told him to back up and hit the hill running. After successfully making it up, the driver walked over and gave Garcia a high-five.

BOO ARE YOU?

Becoming one of the early U.S. heroes of this Ryder Cup hasn't exactly made Boo Weekley a recognizable face.

When Weekley attempted to duck under a rope and head into the clubhouse before his afternoon foursomes match with J.B. Holmes, the security guard manning the gate stopped him in his tracks and asked Weekley for his credentials.

Weekley, wearing a blue U.S. Ryder Cup team jacket, tan slacks and a blue cap with his name on the back, raised out his arms and pulled out his team shirt before looking at nearby reporters for some help.

The guard, embarrassed, let Weekley into the clubhouse while a handful of Weekley supporters - several wearing "Red, White & Boo" T-shirts, laughed.

WEARING THE COLORS

U.S. captain Paul Azinger is borrowing a move from college sporting events to give Valhalla a more festive feel.

Azinger encouraged fans to wear blue to the course on Saturday and red on Sunday in support of the U.S. team. Azinger has implored fans to become the "13th man," even creating T-shirts with that phrase splashed across the front.

Getting the fans to play dress-up is a tactic that's worked well in Kentucky. Both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky have staged "White Out" and "Black Out" promotions during high-profile football and basketball games.

SOGGY START

A small batch of showers softened things up early Saturday morning, and had some of the players' wives scrambling for rain gear.

Amy Mickelson was seen hustling down the first fairway after husband Phil, her arms full of stuff to bring the wives. The rain made going treacherous for spectators as they walked along the mounds and several photographers took a spill trying to make their way behind the green on No. 9.

The sky cleared as the morning went on with temperatures rising into the low-80s by the middle of the afternoon. Forecasters are calling for sun and temperatures in the 80s for singles play on Sunday.

SAY THAT AGAIN?

 Players aren't the only ones coping with nerves at the Ryder Cup.

The PGA of America asked former president M.G. Orender to announce the matches on the first tee, and there have been a few glitches. It started with the opening match Friday, when he introduced Padraig Harrington as "Harrison."

Saturday afternoon, Orender had another slip of the tongue. He first announced Henrik Stenson as "Stevens." Then he quickly changed it to "Stevenson."

Orender at least got a mulligan. After introducing the European team, he again announced the Swede as first to hit, and correctly referred to him as "Stenson." Orender held out his palms and rolled his eyes at Stenson to acknowledge the mea culpa.

>> Will Graves