MEDINAH, Ill. — They came from as far back as 4-down after nine holes. But when Steve Stricker stood on the 18th green late yesterday at Medinah Country Club, he had a chance to salvage a half-point and make Tiger Woods feel like a winner.
Sticker needed to make a 6-foot putt for birdie to halve a match with Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia. But Stricker’s putt rimmed the left edge, handing the Europeans a 1-up victory in their afternoon four-ball match. It left Woods and Stricker 0-3 in team competition at the Ryder Cup, which will be decided with singles play today. Despite Woods and Stricker going winless, the Americans will take a 10-6 lead into the final day.
“Being up four is nice,” Woods said. “We are really looking forward to going out there and hopefully ”‘”‘ we are in a great spot right now to win the Cup.”
Stricker and Woods had come into these matches heralded as one of America’s strongest partnerships, having enjoyed success in previous Ryder and Presidents Cups. But they lost their two matches Friday and were benched by U.S. captain Davis Love III for yesterday morning’s foursomes. Woods said he didn’t mind sitting out the morning session.
“That was the plan going into these matches,” Woods said. “I put so much effort into that last match [Friday] and I was pretty spent. It was nice to get a little bit of rest. This is way different than Presidents Cup when you have over four days. Five matches in three days is a lot, and hey, I’m not young anymore. I’m one of the older guys. It’s nice to get a little bit of rest.”
Redemption was on their mind in the afternoon four-ball. But while Garcia got off to a fast start, Woods and Stricker struggled. Garcia rolled three birdies on the first five holes and Donald made back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth.
But then Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods again. He caught fire on the back nine, making five birdies while Stricker added a birdie at the par-4 12th. They came to the 18th hole one down after Donald fought off a birdie by Woods at the par-3 17th with a birdie of his own.
After Donald drove into a fairway bunker and needed three shots to reach the green, Woods missed a 20-footer for birdie. That gave Garcia a chance to close it out, but he missed from 20 feet. That left the stage for Stricker, who was left of the cup. The ball would graze the left lip, but had too much speed to drop.
“We gave ourselves two good looks on 18 and didn’t get it done,” Woods said.
Of the 54 holes Woods and Stricker played together, they held a lead for just three. Those were the first three holes of four-ball on Friday.