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 No change Europe retains four-match lead after morning foursomes
Posted: Saturday September 25, 1999 03:19 PM
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- Jeff Maggert's heroics and the first win in three matches for Tiger Woods helped save the United States team from further embarrassment Saturday in the morning Ryder Cup matches. The Americans and Europe split the four alternate shot matches, leaving the Europeans with an 8-4 lead going into the afternoon best ball play. It could have been worse, though, had Maggert and Hal Sutton not pulled off a late win over Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie. Woods and Steve Pate also had to rebound with an eagle on the 14th hole to win their match with Miguel Angel Jimenez and Padraig Harrington. Woods and Pate won the first three holes, but the match was even before Woods rolled in a 20-footer on the par-5 that put the American pair ahead for good. They didn't close it out until the 18th green, however, when Pate hit an iron close to clinch the 1-up win. Maggert rolled in a birdie putt on No. 17 and followed it with a brilliant iron to the 18th green to win his match. Maggert's 25-foot birdie putt put he and Sutton ahead, and he then hit a 7-iron to within a foot of the hole on 18. The putt was conceded and the Americans had their first point of the day with the 1-up win. "I just wanted to do something good," Maggert said. "I know the guys who have been on the last two Ryder Cups aren't ready to face that again." The joy of the U.S. team was short-lived, however, as Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke combined for another European win and Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia beat the American combination of Payne Stewart and Justin Leonard. Westwood and Clarke closed out their match on the 16th hole, winning 3 and 2, while Garcia and Parnevik closed Stewart and Leonard out on the same hole, also 3 and 2. Play was suspended for 22 minutes midway through the morning matches. When it resumed, it took the four American pairings a full hour to win a single hole as the Europeans again showed their dominance. Though play began in ideal conditions this morning, rain soon began falling and players huddled under umbrellas between shots on The Country Club course. "This is not what we need right now. Our momentum is moving," U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw said. On a day when the Americans were supposed to begin to reclaim their stake to golf supremacy, it fell, instead, to a group of European upstarts who seized control of the Ryder Cup early and emphatically Friday. They played like they were having the time of their life, which is exactly what the 19-year-old Garcia was doing. "It was the most enjoyable day's golf I've ever experienced," Garcia said. "I mean, I have fun days at the PGA and in Ireland when I won, but this was different." Garcia's youthful exuberance was paired perfectly with the eccentricity of Parnevik as the two combined for two points. Europe led 3 1/2-1 1/2 in the morning, then used a late afternoon run of birdies to take a 6-2 lead after the first day of matches. Even the United States' punch of the world's top two golfers couldn't stem an onslaught that saw the Europeans stopped from winning all four of the afternoon matches Friday only by a long birdie putt by Phil Mickelson that fell into the hole and salvaged a 1/2 point for the home team. By the time Woods and David Duval conceded their match to Westwood and Clarke on a darkened course, the Europeans were only eight points away from retaining the cup yet again. "Some exhibition, David," a fan called out to Duval, who had called the competition just that last month. It may have been an exhibition to some members of the U.S. team, but the inspired Europeans turned it into a clinic. American players had their moments, such as when Woods holed a flop shot from the greenside rough and sprinted out of the crowd in glee. Mickelson and Sutton made some long putts and Jim Furyk and Tom Lehman chipped in. But Mickelson also missed two short putts over the final three holes when he and Furyk were close with Parnevik and Garcia. His 7-footer on No. 18 would have tied it, but was struck badly and missed. Playing three rookies who won almost every point they were sent out after, the Europeans didn't allow a point to either Duval, Woods or Mickelson. That earned Duval and Mickelson a spot on the bench in today's alternate shot competition.
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