It’s all about momentum. That’s what the
captains kept saying. Red for America in the
morning; European blue after lunch. USA
held a 6-4 lead after winning the first two
sessions. But Monty’s team rallied to be up
in all six uncompleted matches left on the
course as darkness fell.
The Ryder Cup format was changed for the
first time in 40 years to try to get back on track
after the monsoon. Session three was four
fourballs and two foursomes. Tiger Woods and
Steve Stricker went to bed 4-down (they would
ultimately lose 6 and 5) to Lee Westwood and
Luke Donald in the foursomes. Sweet dreams.
Corey Pavin’s public mood remained dull
and introverted. Meanwhile, Colin Montgom-
erie looked fit to explode. Beginning to sound
like Winston Churchill, he demanded more
passion from the crowd – and admitted he
gave his team something that rhymes with “a
rollicking.”
“The crowd weren’t getting involved
enough because we weren’t helping them get
involved. We didn’t have passion. I felt that
with the team, I felt that with the spectators,”
he said. “It wasn’t going so well after the
second session. It was a bit stale. We had to
get that 13th man, the crowd, back on side.
We are suddenly in a strong position.”
Monty’s plan has always been to go into
the singles on equal terms with the Ameri-
cans. “If we can get to 8-all, God, what a day
we have got ahead of us,” he said. “Momen-
tum is the key.”
Leading Europe’s revival is Lee Westwood.
“We need to come out fighting quickly and
strong,” Westwood said, “because we know
the American team will.” l
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Zoom level
fit page
fit width
A
A
fullscreen
share
print
clip
SlideShow
fullscreen
Open Article
article text for page
< previous story
|
next story >
add comment
|
read comments
Share this page with a friend
Save to “My Stuff”
Subscribe to this magazine
Search
Help
