For Perry, Furyk, tie is like kissing away an opportunity
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- This was better than your wildest imagination, right? This morning result, this American stampede, this 3-1 lead for the United States after the first session of the 2008 Ryder Cup. You'll take this. You'll take this and you won't look back.
Not me.
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| Hug that shouldn't have happened: Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood celebrate their tie. (AP) |
But it's not what it could have been. It's not what it should have been. And before you start getting all angry with me, understand something I saw after the final match of the morning.
It came on the 18th green about one minute after the American A-team of Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk had conceded the hole -- to halve the match -- to Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia. For Westwood and Garcia, it was no ordinary tie. They had needed to win the final two holes just to halve the match. They won No. 17, and they won No. 18, and both teams split that match's point in half.
And when it was over, Westwood and Garcia smiled at each other and theatrically wiped a hand across their brow. They were relieved. They felt like they'd just won, and you know something? Maybe they did.
Time will tell, but here's the thing: Perry and Furyk wasted an incredible opportunity. This thing, this entire Ryder Cup, could be all but over right now. If they'd been able to finish off Westwood and Garcia, the Americans would have nearly swept the morning session. It would have been three outright victories and one tie, a 3½-½ wipeout, and they would have cut off the head of the European snake.
Garcia is that head. He hasn't been able to put it all together in a major championship for whatever reason, but in the Ryder Cup, Garcia is the most dominant player alive. He might be the most dominant Ryder Cup player ever. He entered this year's event with a 14-4-2 record -- Tiger Woods is 10-13-2 and Phil Mickelson is 9-12-4, for comparison's sake -- and was an impeccable 8-0 in foursomes.
Now he's 8-0-1 in foursomes. But he went into the afternoon, and into the rest of the Ryder Cup, seemingly as invincible as ever.
That was the opportunity the American side missed. They could have put that smug little weasel in his place, and with him, put the entire European side on notice that this Ryder Cup was going to be different.
And after one session it has been different. I can see that. This glass of milk, it's not half empty or even half full. It's three-quarters of the way to the top, sitting there, waiting to be drunk. But it should be brimming over right now. It should be spilling. Milk moustaches for everyone.
Instead, there's a dunce cap for Kenny Perry. And that's not easy for me to write. Well, OK, it's not all that hard for me to write. But it's not pleasurable. Calling Garcia a "smug little weasel" is fun. Calling Kenny Perry a goat is not. But it is what it is.
Leading Garcia and Westwood by two holes with two to play, Perry fell off the face of the earth.
