Ryder Cup 2014: Grades for Top Stars After Day 1 at Gleneagles
The home team in the 2014 Ryder Cup had a much better afternoon in Day 1 and, as a result, the United States is down 5-3 heading into Day 2.
Why did they have a much better afternoon on the chilly Scottish day? Simply put, the players put out on the course by captain Paul McGinley played better than the ones put out by U.S. captain Tom Watson.
Taking the day as a whole, however, how did the top stars on these star-studded teams grade on Friday.
Here's a list of eight guys and how they performed on Day 1.
Rory McIlroy
1 of 8
The world's No. 1 player, quite frankly, didn't play like that for a lot of Friday's two sessions.
Rory McIlroy and partner Sergio Garcia, two of the best drivers in the game, were hitting the ball all over Gleneagles' Centenary Course. In the afternoon alternate shot format, the two hit three of 14 fairways, certainly not the accepted recipe for success.
But what golf fans will remember most about McIroy will be the 40-foot curling putt he sunk on the 17th hole in the afternoon that cut the lead of Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler to one hole. The Europeans went on to make birdie on the 18th to halve the match.
Much more was expected of McIlroy who dominated golf throughout the summer, especially when he won a pair of majors and a World Golf Championship event in three starts.
Grade: B+
Phil Mickelson
2 of 8
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley came into Friday morning as an unbeaten team at 3-0-0 and tacked on one more win by beating Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy, 1-up. They were fortunate to get that fourth win because the two didn't play all that well.
Mickelson was typically errant off the tee, and his putter was not much of a help, either.
The American duo was able to get away with that in the morning upset. In the afternoon, it was more of the same. This time Mickelson and Bradley couldn't handle Victor Dubuisson and Graeme McDowell, losing 3-up.
Mickelson looked to become fatigued in the afternoon match, something U.S. captain Tom Watson concurred with in the post-match press conference.
Mickelson and Bradley won't play in Saturday morning's session and Watson said in that press conference that they'll most likely play in the afternoon, but maybe not as a team.
Grade: C
Rickie Fowler
3 of 8
The world is waiting for Rickie Fowler to win. Sure he seems destined to win a major championship, but even a regular PGA Tour victory would be good.
He was close several times during the 2014 season, especially in the majors, but didn't win. And he was close in both sessions of the Ryder Cup Friday, but finished the day with a pair of halves.
Another day without a win, extending his record in the competition to 0-1-4.
Fowler played well, making a key shot in the morning from the deep rough on the 16th hole that allowed his team to make birdie.
But he needs to get a W on his resume soon, both for his own psyche and for the good of the team.
Grade: B
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Ian Poulter
4 of 8
There was no wide-eyed enthusiasm, no loud yells or muscle-straining fist pumps and no birdies.
No, it was very quiet around Ian Poulter and that's not a good thing when you're playing a Ryder Cup in front of the home crowd.
Poulter wasn't able to knock in long putts, really wasn't able to do anything of the spectacular variety. And those are the kinds of shots that helped him build a seven-match winning streak which crashed and burned when he and partner Steven Gallacher were whipped, 5 & 4, by Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
But Poulter had not played well this year on either the PGA Tour, where he finished 63rd on the money list, or the European Tour, 56th on that list.
He and the partisan European crowd were shocked on the first hole Friday morning when he missed a par putt from about three feet, setting the tone for the rest of the round.
Grade: D
Bubba Watson
5 of 8
Bubba Watson can be wildly creative and just plain wild.
He can be exciting and downright frustrating.
On this occasion, he was mostly ineffective, as was partner Webb Simpson, in a dismal 5 & 4 thrashing by Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
Putting is not a strong suit for Watson, he was ranked 110th in 2014 in the strokes gained putting category.
And not only didn't Watson hit many good putts, he didn't hit the ball close to the hole many times to help his putting, either.
Not much of a day for Bubba Golf.
Grade: D
Jimmy Walker
6 of 8
Jimmy Walker said in an interview with NBC before Friday's matches that he didn't feel like a rookie as he was about to make his first Ryder Cup appearance.
And the 35-year-old certainly didn't play like one, especially in the morning session.
He and partner Rickie Fowler halved a pair of matches, Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer in the morning and Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy in the afternoon.
It was a birdie by Walker on the 18th that forged the tie in the morning. He also holed out twice and putted wonderfully. He finished with three birdies in the opening match.
That combo hung in with McIlroy and Garcia, the first and third-ranked players in the world and had a two-shot lead through 16 holes, but the Europeans birdied the last two holes to get a halve.
Grade: B+
Patrick Reed
7 of 8
Patrick Reed knows about match play.
He was part of two Augusta State golf teams that won consecutive NCAA tournaments and he was 3-0 both years.
So while there was some question about how he'd perform in the Ryder Cup after an unproductive last three-quarters of the PGA Tour season, any questions seemed to be answered Friday morning.
Reed made three birdies in the 14 holes it took he and partner Jordan Spieth to knock off Steven Gallacher and Ian Poulter, 5 & 4.
In the process, Reed and Spieth earned the honor of being the first pair of rookies to win in the fourball format since the very first Ryder Cup in 1927.
Reed didn't play in the afternoon as he and Spieth were given that session off.
Grade: A
Justin Rose
8 of 8
Justin Rose, like many other European players, has lived in the Ryder Cup shadows of Ian Poulter for quite a while.
It doesn't appear that will be the case in this 40th edition of the event.
Justin Rose has become a stalwart for Europe in the Ryder Cup, improving his record to 8-3-0 with a pair of very strong performances on the first day.
He made three birdies in the morning as he and Henrik Stenson smashed Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, 5 & 4. But just as importantly he made a handful of clutch par putts that kept momentum alive.
He and Stenson were in the first match out and gave the Europeans the important early first point.
“That’s the job, when you go out first,” Rose said in a golfchannel.com story. “That’s the position the captain puts you out first, to go deliver the point.”
In the afternoon, it wasn't nearly as easy, but again Rose was a rock. He and Stenson made five birdies in the alternate shot format and that was just enough to knock off Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson, 2 & 1.
Grade: A
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