So we come to the Sunday Singles match ups and we need a bloody miracle...!!! Can we do it, yes, of course we can... Will we do it, not bloody likely...!!! You never know in sport and sometimes odds on favourites can be beaten, the Americans are 1/9 on to win the cup now. It would be Devon Loch proportions for the yanks to lose it from here they way they have played, and a quick look through the singles match ups reveals a few that ive already written off so it going to be pne hell of a come back if we do seal it...!!! Sundays Singles match ups... Match 1 - Bubba Watson, evens... v Luke Donald, 4/5... What both teams wouldn't give for there opening man to go out and set the tone for the rest to follow. Bubba wins the pressure will evaporate from the US Tem and they will cruise through to victory. If Luke can get the first blue ribbon up on the board and hold onto it it will give the lads behind a real boost... This is a hard one to call i am going with Luke to beat the Bubba... Luke Donald to win........ He did, and with some style... Match 2 - Webb Simpson, 11/10... v Ian Poulter, 8/11... Who can stop Ian Poulter at the moment...? What a Ryder Cup he is having and i think he will continue to take the fight to Webb Simpson and beat him to. Nothing against Webb as he has played well but i dont think he will have enough to beat Poulter at the moment... Ian Poulter to win........ The inspiration for the fightback. Just superb... Match 3 - Keegan Bradley, 5/4... v Rory McIlroy, 8/13... This is one match up where you have to say that for all his worth as Number 1 player in the world Rory is going to have to play out of his skin to beat Keegan. The player of the tournament for me and im afraid he will take out our man here, with 3 out of 3 in terms of possible points for Bradley backs it up... Keegan Bradley to win........ He just couldn't bring his A-Game to Sunday like he did for the previous 2 days... Match 4 - Phil Mickelson, 5/6... v Justin Rose, 10/11... Can Phil continue to carry his form on through onto his singles match...? There is no doubt about it Keegan's play has helped, if not carried Phil through the first 2 days, so you would think so. Justin has had his moments this weekend but not enough of em, so you have to go with Phil to go unbeaten in this years Cup... Phil Mickelson to win........ If ever want to see how momentum can shift then replay the last 3 putts Rose holed out to beat Phil... Unbelievable... Match 5 - Brandt Snedeker, 4/7... v Paul Lawrie, 11/8... If the first 4 matches could go either way, this one wont. Snedeker is playing well and has played some crucial shots at times when needed. Lawrie will be swamped by the homs crowd and Snedeker... Bradnt Snedeker to win........ Probably my nap win for the day got well and truly bombed out by Lawrie in a truly amazing performance from the scot... Match 6 - Dustin Johnson, 8/11... v Nicolas Colsaerts, 11/10... This has the potential to be a great match with both player being the longest hitters in their respective teams, and both playing at the top of their games. If Colsaerts gets his putter going like he did on the first day he will win this, but Johnson has the 'home' crowd and team, so i give him to edge this one... Dustin Johnson to win........ Made hard work of it but just managed to keep the Belgium at arms length. Colsaerts did nothing wrong all week... Match 7 - Zach Johnson, 5/6... v Graeme McDowell, 10/11... G-Mac owes a big performance to his team as he has been well under what we know he can produce. Zach is a fighter so this will come down to the finer things of the match up. Again Zach has holed everything, G-Mac hasnt. But i do think that G-Mac can win this... Graeme McDowell to win........ Couldn't get back from a bad start, 3 down after 5, and Zach closed this out with a bit to spare... Match 8 - Jim Furyk, 10/11... v Sergio Garcia, 5/6... Not sure which Furyk or Garcia will turn up here as both have had indifferent Ryder Cups. Both have won one with garcis losing two matches to Jim's one. A draw looks the best bet for Sergio unless he can get his top game back into top gear... Match to be Halved........I dont know if Jim lost it or Sergio won it. The turning point was Jim celebrating a winning putt that lipped out. It broke the man... Match 9 - Jason Dufner, 8/13... v Peter Hanson 5/4... This is another one that ive consigned to the US Team. Dufner looks unflappable in this type of format and i think he will deliver here against Hanson. Peter didnt come here in playing his best golf but even if he did the difference in class would still beat him... This match could potentially be the one that seals the win for the Yanks... Jason Dufner to win........ Hanson was never in this one but gave Dufman a big ole scare when he started his comeback. Just not enough holes to turn over his deficit... Match 10 - Matt Kuchar, 5/6... v Lee Westwood, 10/11... If the match is still alive then Lee would know that he will have to pull his socks up and get Team Europe across the finishing line, but he has to get past Matt Kuchar. Unbeaten i so far this weekend it going to take all of Westy's experience to beat Kuchar on his home turf. He can do it, and lets hope taht come the closing holes he is still in with a chance to put the pressure on the remaining groups... Lee Westwood to win........He did it, he won a match here at Medinah. Lee wasnt his best for the first two days but he played well to beat a very good Kuchar Match 11 - Steve Stricker, 8/13... v Martin Kaymer, 5/4... This is a very interesting selection placing by Davis Love. By far the worst two players for him this week have been Stricker and Woods and to put them out last two means that he is hoping that it wont come down to these men having to take the Americans across the line. From our perspective we hope the Cup dream is still alive, but i doubt it. Kaymer has also played poorly and i dont see him beating Stricker anyway... Steve Stricker to win........ Trust a German to win a shoot out...!!! Thats what Kaymer did by holing the last putt on the 18th to beat a very deflated Striker... Match 12 - Tiger Woods, 4/7... v Francesco Molinari, 11/8... Davis Love may say that by putting Tiger Woods out last he is placing a man with experience, mental strength and all the BS that come with team talk. But we know that Tiger has not played anywhere near the standards we have come to expect. He has to be fair shown glimpses of what he can do but its mainly been followed up with a European equalising at the same hole or the next one. His driving has been woeful at best, his short game poor also, but he is last man out against one of our lesser players. Although Molinari is one of the best tee to green, its at the green where he stops being a top player. He shouldn't beat Tiger, and wont, but i would just love to see Tiger have to beat him to win the Ryder Cup for the Americans... Tiger Woods to win........ Molinari got 2 up on Tiger before he got his game together. Not a great weekend for Tiger who got his only points all week with his halve here against the spirited Italian... Team US 7.5 Points v Team Europe 4.5... Team US to win the singles, 10/11... Correct Final Singles score 7.5/4.5, 8/1... Final Score 17.5/10.5, 8/1... That makes my predictions come out at a rather disappointing 4.5 to the Europeans and a convincing 7.5 points to the Americans and a Ryder Cup victory...!!! To be honest they deserve it the way they have performed and we havnt helped matters with our poor play especially on the greens. Ok, some of the putts have lipped out, or just not dropped, but the yanks just havnt missed form one foot to twenty feet. And that has been the biggest difference... Never have i been so happy to get so many calls wrong. The Europeans had no right to beat the Americans like they did, but they did, and im truly very happy for them to have done so...!!!!!
Where do we start...? What can we say...? Who do we thank...? Well for starters no one, just about no one outside the European Team in Medinah thought it could be possible to turn over such a rampant US team on home soil with a 10-6 lead. No one actually thought they would win when they got off to a great start with Luke Donlad beating Big Ole Bubba Watson. I dont think any one would think that Rory would play well after only turning up to play 11 minutes before his tee off time. But the no's slowly turned to maybe's which in turn turned to euphoria when Martin Kaymer holed his putt on the 18th green. Now it was a case of no one could believe that the Americans had lost...!!! I do have to say that only one of my mates thought it was possible, but he just said that he wanted the Europeans to win the Singles day and you never know it might be enough. Most of us had the Yanks down for 7,8 even 9 points yesterday after what they did to our boys the previous two days. They beat us at our supposedly stronger events, Foursomes and Fourballs and we beat them at their strong day, the Singles... Just simply one of the best sporting events ive ever witnessed. Truly awesome...
Definatly one of the best sporting day's i've viewed, Europe were unreal, did everything asked of them and America were just shocked, some of the performances obviously deserve special mention like Poulter, Rose, Lawrie and Donald but in truth the whole team did what they needed to do and stop the Americans seeing points go up easily. Deserved victory and great to see some retribution for '99 and silence the crowd, they all thought it was done and dusted on day 2, how important Poulters 5 birdies were Saturday evening and wel done Martin Kaymer, out of sorts coming into the event, put in a steady display and held his nerve to make a winning putt. And well done harryhood, nice bet. My friend text me Thurs wanting to know what i thought would happen, who would win, i told him to not back either side as i didn't see the value there(i wasn't confident enough to say Europe would win to him) but maybe put something small on the draw at 10's.. luckily he didn't take my advice.
