Ryder Cup 2014: How to View Live Scores, Points and Standings Updates on Day 2
The Americans got off to a quick start at the 2014 Ryder Cup, but it didn’t last long.
Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed led the way in morning four-ball, and the United States jumped out to a 2.5-1.5 lead. However, Europe responded in the afternoon and completely dominated the foursome competition with three wins and a halved match to build a 5-3 lead heading into Saturday’s action.
Europe has not lost a Ryder Cup on home turf since 1993.
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Will the Europeans continue their domination or will the red, white and blue spark a comeback?
That remains to be seen, but here is all the information you will need as you follow Saturday's Day 2 Ryder Cup action.
Day 2 Scores, Points and Standings
Day 1 Takeaways
It felt important at the time that the Americans took an early lead in the morning four-ball competition. After all, they lost in heartbreaking fashion in the 2012 Ryder Cup and needed a quick start just to get past that.
However, Europe was absolutely impressive in its afternoon effort. Captain Paul McGinley suggested as much, according to Associated Press, via ESPN.com:
"For our guys to react the way they did, for all four matches to be up after six holes -- there was blue on the board for every single match -- was a terrific response. It shows a huge amount of character that we have on the team, huge amount of talent that we can come out with such strong pairings in the afternoon and a great response and resilience.
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The biggest storyline of Day 1 involved Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, who stretched their career Ryder Cup record together to 4-0 in the morning with a head-turning win over Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.
However, Mickelson and Bradley struggled mightily in the afternoon, which brought captain Tom Watson’s decision to leave Ryder Cup rookies Spieth and Reed on the afternoon bench after such a dominating early performance into the limelight.
After all, Spieth and Reed gave Ian Poulter his worst loss ever at the Ryder Cup. It was also his first loss in eight matches and was a symbolic victory over such a specialist at this event.
Mickelson, on the other hand, has dealt with health concerns recently and simply looked fatigued by the end of his second match. He also struggled through some of the 2014 season, and that early success just seemed to have an inevitable expiration time Friday.
The Americans found it rather quickly.
Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com certainly thought Watson should have sent the Ryder Cup rookies back out:
"USA rookies Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth didn't just beat Gallacher and Poulter, they gravel-crushed them, 5 and 4. It was Poulter's first loss in his past eight matches. It was his worst-ever Ryder Cup loss -- not that he loses that often (now 12-4-0). And it cost the Europeans a point they (and the oddsmakers) thought would be theirs.
So, surely Watson would ride the Reed/Spieth momentum train to the afternoon foursomes matches. After all -- and this is according to Spieth -- Watson had said that the morning results would dictate who played later in the day.
"I was 100 percent certain we were going back out," Spieth said.
Surprise!
"They were very upset with me for not playing them this afternoon," Watson said. "I said, 'I know you're going to be mad at me, but you'll be playing [Saturday] for sure.'"
But Saturday isn't Friday. And Friday is when Reed and Spieth were on a streak. And, as Crash Davis says, you never mess with a winning streak.
It was a mistake by Watson. And it was a mistake even before Team USA failed to win an afternoon match and trailed 5-3 going into Saturday's play.
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It will be critical for Spieth and Reed to turn in another solid performance Saturday. The United States doesn’t want something like that decision hanging over the team’s head throughout the Ryder Cup, and the best way to make people forget about it is with a comeback-inspired repeat performance.
That storyline shift would certainly pay dividends throughout the rest of the event.
The Day 1 credit definitely goes to Europe, though, even if Spieth and Reed should have been on the course in both sessions.
Ironically, it was the halved afternoon match that felt most important, since McIlroy and Garcia appeared to be on the path to defeat until holes No. 17 and No. 18. McIlroy drained a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 17, and Garcia blasted a 5-wood on to the 18th green to set up yet another birdie.
McIlroy also avoided becoming the first No. 1 player in the world to lose twice on Day 1 of the Ryder Cup since Tiger Woods in 2002.
Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson turned in formidable days as well with two victories. In fact, they never trailed a single hole.
The Europeans overcame a large deficit in the 2012 Ryder Cup, so recent history suggests this is far from over. However, the Americans need to swing the momentum back to their side in Day 2 to set up the dramatic Sunday single matches.
Otherwise, the Ryder Cup will stay in Europe yet again.
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