Ryder Cup Final Day

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Bill Jempty | Sunday, September 21, 2008

The USA did not play as well Saturday as it did on Friday, but maintained their lead going into today’s single matches. As it stands now, the USA leads Europe by the score of 9-7. The last time the USA led going into singles play by that score was 1995. Europe rallied to win that particular Ryder Cup by the score of 14.5-13.5.

Today’s pairings-

12:03 PM: Kim (USA) vs. Garcia (EUR)
12:14 PM: Mahan (USA) vs. Casey (EUR)
12:25 PM: Leonard (USA) vs. Karlsson (EUR)
12:36 PM: Mickelson (USA) vs. Rose (EUR)
12:47 PM: Perry (USA) vs. Stenson (EUR)
12:58 PM: Weekley (USA) vs. WIlson (EUR)
1:09 PM: Holmes (USA) vs. Hansen (EUR)
1:20 PM: Furyk (USA) vs. Jimenez (EUR)
1:31 PM: Cink (USA) vs. McDowell (EUR)
1:42 PM: Stricker (USA) vs. Poulter (EUR)
1:53 PM: Curtis (USA) vs. Westwood (EUR)
2:04 PM: Campbell vs. Harrington (EUR)

Comments- I like Kim leading off, but feel Azinger has left the USA too weak from the 8-11 slots. This is almost always where the decisive point is scored. I would have put Furyk and either Holmes or Weekly 9-10 or a combo of the three of them 9 to 11.

Faldo on the other hand has arguably his two best players in matches 11 and 12. Match 12 in singles play has only once determined the winner on Sunday in the last 37 years. That was in 1991 halved his match with Bernhard Langer giving the US a 14.5-13.5 victory. Before that you have to go back to 1969 when Jack Nicklaus conceded a putt to Tony Jacklin in the final match resulting in the Ryder Cup’s first ever tie.

Who will win today? My original prediction is not going to be even close. Be wiser now, I predict one of the two teams to win a squeaker today. The winning score being no worse than 15-13.

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