Ryder Cup: Darren Clarke delighted with European fightback on day one
Saturday 1 October 2016 02:23, UK
Darren Clarke declared himself a "very proud captain" after watching his defiant European team stage a superb fightback on an enthralling opening day of the 41st Ryder Cup.
Europe's bid for an unprecedented fourth straight win in the contest looked to be doomed after one session as Team USA raced out of the blocks and swept the morning foursomes at a cool and misty Hazeltine National.
But Clarke's players heated up along with the weather after lunch and claimed three of the afternoon fourballs to end the day trailing 5-3, a scoreline that had looked out of reach after their morning whitewash.
"Wow, that was a bit of an exciting sort of day," said a buoyant Clarke at his press conference. "From the results after the foursomes, to the afternoon, it was certainly match play golf at its utmost.
"Unfortunately we weren't quite firing on all cylinders in the morning and the American team rightly took advantage of that and played some wonderful golf. And obviously they won the session in a commanding fashion.
"But the guys went back out there and they showed just why I'm so proud of them. They showed a massive amount, in my opinion, of desire and the fight in them to get themselves right back into it again.
"Certainly as a captain, I'm very proud of what they did this afternoon. In the position we were in at lunchtime, I would definitely say it's better to have a small deficit with some momentum, because we didn't have much at lunchtime."
Clarke also had particular words of praise for rookie Thomas Pieters, who suffered defeat alongside Lee Westwood before playing a starring role with Rory McIlroy in their superb 3&2 win over Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar in the final match of the day.
Pieters and McIlroy will resume their partnership in Saturday morning foursomes, and Clarke said: "Thomas is the real deal. He's obviously not that well known over here, but he's a wonderful talent. He is developing as a player and he's been very comfortable in the whole situation this week with it being his first Ryder Cup.
"He's fitted in perfectly, and Rory and himself got on really well - obviously this afternoon they played very, very well. He's a huge prospect for the European Tour and European golf, and he can't wait to get back out there and partner with Rory again in the morning."
Westwood shouldered the blame for the 5&4 defeat to Johnson and Kuchar in the morning foursomes, and he took himself out of consideration for the afternoon as he headed to the range to work on his game.
Clarke added: "Lee struggled this morning, but he was man enough to tell me after the match. He says, 'Darren, I'm not playing this afternoon. I need to go and work on my game'. And he went to do that, and he spoke to me afterwards and said, 'I'll hit some more balls in the morning and I'll be ready tomorrow afternoon if you want me to go play'."
Meanwhile, Clarke's opposite number Davis Love III was delighted to end the day with the lead as he reflected on the "ebbs and flows" of the Ryder Cup.
"We got hot and we holed a lot of putts this morning, and seemed like they lipped a few out that were crucial," he said. "Then the opposite this afternoon. They got on a roll with the putter and they seemed to make all the putts, and we had a couple matches where we just couldn't get them to go in.
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"Obviously I'm happy to be 5-3 and it was a good start, it was a good day. I'm proud of our guys, they competed all day. Even the matches that we lost, it looked like they were all runaways, the guys kept competing right to the end. We had matches that were going to 16, that didn't look like they were going to get that far.
"Ryan Moore made some great putts, and then Dustin's match came back and made it look like they had a chance. They did what they were asked to do, grind it out all day and I thought they did a really, really good job of that."
