Rain takes US into driving seat (Roundup)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Oct 1, 2010, 21:12 GMT

Newport, Wales - A seven-hour rain delay on Friday at the Ryder Cup saw Europe lose some of the momentum they had before play was suspended after just two hours in the morning session.

When pouring rain forced play to be stopped on the Celtic Manor course in Newport, Wales, Europe were looking strong and were up in three of the four fourballs being played, but at the end of Friday, the US was leading in two, one was halved and Europe were up in one.

European captain Colin Montgomerie said that he was not disappointed for himself, but for his team.

'They will be slightly disappointed that they didn't hole the putts that they had to hole in the evening and the particularly sort of bad run of about 20 minutes where the Americans were holing putts and of course the Europeans were not.

'But that is what the Ryder Cup is all about.

'This will ebb and flow for the next two days, and you'll see 20 minutes of good from Europe and 20 minutes of good from the US. I always said this was going to be close, and I don't think anything less right now.'

The only flight which the Europeans were leading was the first, in which PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood were 1-up after 12 holes.

In the second flight, Stewart Cink was on fire after play resumed as he managed four birdies in the seven holes they played to take himself and playing-partner Matt Kuchar 2-up after 11 as Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell had very little to offer against Cink's form.

McDowell said that they had a good start.

'The first four or five holes this morning was a good start for the whole team in general and we had a good energy about us. But that afternoon session didn't seem to go so well.

'We both struggled to get into our rhythm when we got back out there. We weren't feeling on top of things and Stewart Cink made a few bombs on us to keep them in there when it looked like we could have gone a couple up at one point.'

Ian Poulter birdied the par-three 10th to take himself and Ross Fisher back to all-square against Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods in the third flight, while the US rookie-pairing of Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton were 1-up having played through eight in the final flight.

At the end of the session, American captain Corey Pavin paid a tribute to his players. 'I am pleased with the way the US team came back and performed this afternoon,' he said. 'I was very proud of the guys.'

Shortly before play ended on Friday, organizers announced that they had re-scheduled the format in an attempt to finish the competition, which sees teams of 12 from the US take on their European counterparts, on Sunday.

Instead of playing four foursome flights in the second session, which was due to be played on Friday afternoon, six foursome matches will now be played.

These will be followed by two foursomes and four fourballs in the third session and then the 12 single matches on Sunday.

In fourball matches, each golfer plays his own ball and the player with the lowest score on a hole wins the hole for his team. If two or more players are equal the hole is halved.

In foursomes matches the golfers from one team play alternate shots and whichever team has the better score wins the hole, while the 12 singles matches singles see two players competing against each other.

Pavin said he thought the change was good as it allowed him to play all his players. 'Sitting four guys out is very brutal to do as a captain. It is nice now that all of the guys are going out. In many ways, it makes it easier.'