MEDINAH, Ill. — Davis Love III sent out his hottest player. Jose Maria Olazabal went with his strongest teams. The Ryder Cup captains had the same objectives Thursday when they announced their teams for the opening sessions at Medinah.
Win points, the sooner the better.
“We have to go for it,” Olazabal said. “I know we are playing away. The crowds are going to be on their side. They set up the course to their liking. At the end of the day, you have to make a bunch of birdies out there to win points. So just send the best players out there and see if they can perform well, and manage to win those points.”
The foursomes lineup would seem to favor Europe.
Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, the best player in golf, will lead off this morning against Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker, who is coming off a sterling four weeks that led to his Tour Championship victory Sunday and the FedEx Cup title.
Snedeker describes himself as “jumpy,” and Love found it important to get his fastest player out early.
“We wanted to get Brandt going,” Love said.
Phil Mickelson is in the second game with Keegan Bradley, and they face the tough task of trying to be the first team to beat Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, who are 4-0 in foursomes. Garcia has never lost in alternate shot. His record is 8-0-1.
It will be the first time since 1995 that the Americans did not have either Mickelson or Tiger Woods in the leadoff match. Woods is the anchor this time with Steve Stricker, with whom he has a 6-2 record in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Their last two outings, however, ended badly — a 6-and-5 loss to Donald and Lee Westwood at Wales in 2010, and a record 7-and-6 loss to Adam Scott and K.J. Choi in the Presidents Cup last November.
Sports, Pages 21 on 09/28/2012