American rookies deliver psychological blow

AFP/Gleneagles

The American rookies defeated Poulter, the star of Europe’s 2012 comeback triumph at Medinah, and home-nation hero Stephen Gallacher 5 and 4 in fourballs to make an impressive debut.

“There was definitely a psychological blow,” Spieth said. “Not only did we beat Ian, but we beat Stephen, a local favourite here.

“It was very quiet out there compared to what Patrick and I expected in the first round of a Ryder Cup over here. Our team goal is just go out there and play and listen to it, like it’s just Sunday with your buddies. That’s kind of what it felt like.”

Add to that rookie Jimmy Walker chipping in from a bunker for eagle, from the rough for birdie and making the match-halving birdie putt at 18 and it was clear the newcomers were making a major statement for a US team that has lost seven of the past nine Ryder Cups to Europe.

“We’ve got all the confidence in the world,” Spieth said. “It’s so awesome knowing how important it is for us as rookies to see the ball go in the hole early and to get a point or a half a point.

“We don’t have the best history recently in this tournament, but if we can bring us new guys in... and make a splash, certainly can’t hurt our team at all.”

Poulter said his spirit was not dimmed. “I don’t look at it as a heavy loss. I just look at it as a loss,” Poulter said. “Things can change very quickly and we have to keep our heads up right now. We have to look forward to the matches we’re going to play ahead.”

But he admitted it was far too quiet for his liking. “We couldn’t do our bit to get them really loud, and that’s the bit that for us I think was disappointing,” Poulter said. “We really wanted to get them going.”

US captain Tom Watson, who guided the most recent US win in Europe back in 1993, had targeted Poulter—dubbed the European Ryder Cup “wizard” by Spieth—as a player the Americans needed to contain. Spieth and Reed made sure it was mission accomplished.

“We got a pairing we liked. No battle scars,” Spieth said. “I think everybody on the team wants Poulter and we were able to have him first. There are a few guys on our team that specifically would like to match up against Ian. There were a few guys that came up and told us that they are very jealous we had them. We were excited about that.”

Poulter never made a birdie putt against the newcomers, who cast a spell of their own.

“He’s certainly not under our skin because we haven’t dealt with him before,” Spieth said. “I don’t think he’s under anyone’s skin. He’s just made a lot of putts in the Ryder Cup and he didn’t have his best stuff.”

But Poulter didn’t think his loss would deflate European teammates either. “My record has been pretty good. Taking a dent this morning, I can shrug that off,” Poulter said. “It’s not just about singling one or two guys out. This is about us digging in when we need to... this is a strong team and a team that you’ll see fight very hard right ‘til the end.”