MEDINAH, Ill. — Lee Westwood, veteran of seven Ryder Cups, watched with glee as his rookie partner, Nicolas Colsaerts, scorched Medinah Friday.
Westwood and Colsaerts delivered the only point of the afternoon matches for Europe when they beat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker 1-up. But Colsaerts, who had eight birdies and an eagle and was 10-under on his own ball, could have won the match on his own.
“I had the best seat in the house,’’ Westwood said. “It was a pleasure to watch. I didn’t really have a lot to do. He brought me in to read a putt on 15 and I panicked. I wondered why he was even asking me, because everything he looked at went in. I mean, why ruin it now?
“You never know how people are going to react at their first round at a Ryder Cup. I think he took to it quite nicely.’’
When it was over, Woods said Colsaert had “one of the greatest putting rounds I’ve ever seen. He was 7-under through 10. I quit counting after that.’’
Said Westwood: “I don’t know what he did [Friday] morning to set him off, but I’ve got to find it [Saturday].’’
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Ian Poulter, fresh off his win with Justin Rose over Woods and Stricker in the morning foursomes, was not happy to sit in the afternoon in favor of one of the European players who sat out in the morning.
Asked how he felt sitting after a win while watching Woods play in the afternoon after a loss, Poulter said, “Yeah, but he’s Tiger Woods.’’
Poulter went on the joke about whether U.S. captain Davis Love III would have the nerve to sit Woods despite his struggles.
“Is Davis Love going to sit Tiger Woods?’’ Poulter asked. “He’s a brave man. It’s a brave captain to leave him out. Tiger is Tiger and he’s going to want to go out and play five matches.’’
After the matches, Love announced that Woods would sit for Saturday’s morning foursome match and play in the afternoon.
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When European captain Jose Maria Olazabal was asked about the struggles of Martin Kaymer, who did not card a birdie in his four-ball match, he said, “He’s trying a little too hard. I think he needs to loosen up a little bit. We will get him loose tonight.’’
No word on what Olazabal had in mind to loosen Kaymer up, though.
In the act-like-you’ve-been-there-before-moment of the day, when Keegan Bradley buried a long birdie putt to virtually clinch his match with Phil Mickelson against Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, his caddie, Steve Hale, wildly waved the flag stick around.
The problem: Donald was standing next to a greenside bunker with a chance to hole out his bunker shot to halve the hole and keep the match alive.
Mickelson’s caddie, Jim “Bones’’ Mackay, had to tell Hale to put the flag back into the hole so Donald could hit his shot.
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There was a minor dust-up in the opening match involving Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell when McDowell asked for a relief drop from near a greenside sprinkler head on the second hole. McDowell reasoned that the sprinkler head was in the way of his backswing and Furyk politely disagreed.
After a lengthy wait, referee David Price was brought in and he denied McDowell relief. McDowell chipped it past the cup, Rory McIlroy missed the par putt and the Europeans lost the hole.
“Hit a better tee shot next time,’’ a fan yelled out at McIlroy and McDowell during the delay.
Furyk later called a one-shot penalty on himself on No. 10 when he saw his ball move after he had grounded his club and addressed the shot.
McDowell and McIlroy won the match 1-up after losing a three-hole lead with six holes to play and going to the 18th hole tied.
“It may or may not have changed the complexion [of the match],’’ Furyk said.