Captain Bernard Gallacher put all his eggs in one golfing basket Friday, but the basket crashed and the United States took a 5-3 lead in the opening round of the 31st Ryder Cup matches at Oak Hill Country Club.
The Americans twice trumped the tandem of European aces, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie, and got sparkling performances from several rookies to grab the first-day lead for only the second time in the last five Cup affairs.This is not yet an Easy Ryder.
However, if the United States duplicates this opening performance in Saturday's two rounds, the Americans would need victories in only four of 12 singles matches Sunday to retain the Cup for the third straight time.
"My guys had a pretty good day, some real convincing wins," U.S. captain Lanny Wadkins said. "Sitting four guys out tomorrow morning is the toughest job I have.
"It was great we played all 12 today. It was one of the best days we've had in best-ball for quite a while."
Gallacher's strategy to keep Faldo and Montgomery as a "super" team instead of spotting them with other players seemingly backfired.
Gallacher also elected to keep three of his morning teams united for afternoon play, despite the rugged, tiring conditions. The effects of the heavy rain on greens and deep rough turned Oak Hill into Oak Hell.
All three of those units were defeated; the only European best-ball victory came from two fresh players, Seve Ballesteros and David Gilford.
The impetus for the U.S. success came in the day's first match as Pavin and Lehman conquered the dreary weather and the Europeans' marquee pairing for a 1-up victory.
After splitting the morning foursomes play, the Americans drilled the Europeans in three of the four afternoon best-ball matches.
Once again, the feature was the defeat of Faldo and Montgomerie, 3 and 2, by Davis Love and Fred Couples.
Wadkins was elated over the play of his Ryder rookies.
Jeff Maggert and Loren Roberts teamed in best-ball competition to drum Sam Torrance and Costantino Rocca, 6 and 5, as Roberts made five birdies in 11 holes.Maggert also paired with Davis Love to hammer Howard Clark and Mark James, 4 and 3, in alternate shot. Phil Mickelson joined Pavin and likewise made four birdies in downing Bernhard Langer and Johnson, 6 and 4, in best-ball.
"The way the first-timers played didn't surprise me," Wadkins said. There were perhaps only two real glitches for the United States.
In foursomes play, Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw battled from 3-down with six holes left to tie the match.
But a half-point eluded the U.S. when Strange missed an eight-foot par putt at the final hole, and Langer holed his five-footer.
The other was a mental blunder by Peter Jacobsen in his best-ball match against Ballesteros and Gilford, which was even after six holes.
Jacobsen had a four-foot putt for par and a half at the seventh hole. He picked the ball up, thinking his partner Brad Faxon already had par. But Jacobsen forgot Faxon had hit a shot in the water and his score was bogey, not par.
It made Gilford's par a winner for a 1-up lead and the Europeans never trailed thereafter.
At St. Louis, U.S. Open champion Annika Sorenstam took a six-stroke lead in the GHP Heartland Classic. She had a 5-under 67 for an 8-under 136. Page Dunlap shot a 71 for a 2-under 142 total.
At Coal Valley, Ill., D.A. Weibring shot a 6-under-par 64 Friday to share the first-round lead of the rain-delayed Quad City Classic. Russ Cochran and Jim McGovern also shot 64s.
Rain stopped play after a few hours Thursday, prompting the PGA Tour to shorten the event to 54 holes.
At Lexington, Ky., Jim Dent and Bruce Devlin overcame dreary weather to shoot 3-under-par 69s Friday and share the first-round lead in the Bank One Senior Classic. Of the 78 players competing in the $600,000 event, only six broke par.