New partner brings new results for Tiger
STRAFFAN, Ireland — Tiger Woods had a new partner and got a much different result today in the Ryder Cup, teaming with Jim Furyk for a 1-up victory over Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington for the first point of these matches.
Woods yanked his first shot into the water and took a while to get on track, but consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th holes staked the Americans to a 3-up lead, and they held off a late rally by the Europeans.
Ryder Cup victories often mean having the right partners, and Woods had a good one in Furyk. The former U.S. Open champion birdied the opening hole after Woods was in the pond, then made a 25-footer at No. 9 to give the Americans the lead for good.
"I was struggling," Woods said. "I didn't warm up particularly well. Starting off on the first hole, I snapped one in the water. It was nice to have a steady partner like Jim. He was in just about every hole."
Moments after Woods earned his first opening-day point since the 1999 Ryder Cup, Europe tied the match when the latest edition of the "Spanish Armada" — Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal — had no trouble beating David Toms and Ryder Cup rookie Brett Wetterich, 3 and 2.
Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson halved their match against Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry, and the final match appeared headed to the 18th hole, typical of an opening session with so many close games. Tied at 1Z\x points each with one match still on the course, the Americans were trying to win the first round of the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1991.
Montgomerie long has been Europe's ringleader, and the Europeans thought if he and Harrington could knock off Woods, as they did when Woods paired with Phil Mickelson in 2004, the momentum could build to a third straight victory.
As the back nine went on, Monty and Harrington did, indeed, appear to be charging toward a terrific comeback. Harrington hit his second shot on the par-5 16th hole onto the green after Montgomerie had gone in the water. Woods and Furyk both chose to lay up. But Furyk's third shot hit the green and trickled into the water, and Woods blasted his over the green and into the rough.
That shaved America's 3-up lead to 1-up in the span of two holes, but it's where the rally ended. Montgomerie made a nice run at a 40-foot birdie putt in an attempt to tie the match on 18, but it scooted past. Moments later, the Europeans conceded, and Woods and Furyk hugged.
"We had opportunities and just didn't take them," said Montgomerie, who fell to 19-9-5 lifetime in Ryder Cup matches.
Woods improved to 8-11-2 and got ready for the afternoon alternate-shot match, where he and Furyk will take on Garcia and Luke Donald.
In the Garcia-Olazabal match, Wetterich was the only player to reach the par-5 10th in two. He made birdie to cut the U.S. deficit to one. Toms followed with a 40-foot birdie on the 11th that looked like it would square the match, only to watch Garcia make his from 15 feet to stay 1 up.
Wetterich and Toms both went in the water on the 13th and made bogey, giving Europeans a 2-up lead, and Garcia increased it to 3 up with a 12-foot birdie on the 15th.
"Today there was one secret, and that was Sergio," Olazabal said. "It was just wonderful to see him play. He was just awesome."
Woods wasn't quite awesome but still figured out a way to win, which certainly brought a sigh of relief from the American contingent. In 2004, he paired with Mickelson and lost twice on the first day, a harbinger in Europe's 18Z\x-9Z\x romp at Oakland Hills.
"We wanted to put up some red numbers," Furyk said. "We know that when you get behind in this tournament, it's tough to come back."
The rest of the afternoon matches shaped up like this: Chad Campbell and Zach Johnson, both on the bench for the Americans in the morning, against the all-Irish team of Harrington and McGinley; Cink and Toms against David Howell and Henrik Stenson, two Europeans ranked in the top 12 who were both left out of the lineup in the morning; and the Mickelson-Chris DiMarco pair against Lee Westwood and Montgomerie.
Those matches were scheduled to start about 30 minutes late, the result of an especially slow pace set by the Woods foursome. They took 5 hours, 20 minutes to finish 18 holes.
