Ryder Cup on - and off again, but at least Europe leads
The 2010 Ryder Cup got underway earlier today at Celtic Manor - and was brought to a very premature halt, play suspended at around 9.45 because of a waterlogged course.
In the two hours of play prior to suspension though, amid pretty filthy conditions with the rain pelting down, we did at least see some golf on the Twenty Ten course. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer are currently 2up against Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson after five holes, with Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell 1up after four, playing Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar.
Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher are 1up after three holes, playing Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods, but the European wildcard selection of Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington are currently in trouble against the US, their opponents Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton 2up after two holes.
So how did each player handle the opening hole? Ryder rookie Johnson hit the very first shot of the tournament, reputedly the most nerve-wracking shot in professional golf - and sent his tee shot wide right of the fairway.
Fortunately his playing partner Mickelson didn't buckle under the pressure, sending his opener left side down the track. Westwood and Kaymer followed up, both players finding the fairway with their opening efforts; but Johnson recovered well to find the green with his second shot and though Kaymer putted brilliantly from 35 feet out for par, the 26-year-old Johnson matched that effort to square the first hole.
The unrelenting downpour didn't affect the turnout of an enthusiastic crowd, who welcomed the next Northern Irish pairing of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy with fervid applause. Their opponents, Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar, were greeted with a rather less frenzied welcome, and the pressure of that first tee shot clearly didn't sit well with rookie Kuchar, who sent his very first tee shot at the Ryder Cup into a bunker. Partner Cink managed to keep his opener out of the sand, but nonetheless ended up in a poor position, just ahead of a bunker and in a poor lie.
Rory McIlroy opened with a less than ideal shot into some rough, but Graeme McDowell appears to be in inspired form on the course where he won earlier this summer (at the Wales Open), the Ulsterman hitting a fine drive, finding the green with his second and two-putting to give Europe its first hole.
The third group is made up of England's Ross Fisher and the swaggering Ian Poulter, whom the crowd adore, while turning out for the USA is Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. Both Woods and Stricker missed the fairway - as did Poulter and Fisher, Fisher's effort in particular way, way off.
But of the four, it was Fisher who recovered the best, finding the green while the rest of his group continued to flounder, Poulter finding a bunker, Stricker sailing right and Woods hacking his next effort a grand total of 30 yards. And it was Fisher who sank a long putt to win the hole.
And so to the last group, comprised of wildcard choices Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald, along with US rookies Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton. Overton hit his opener straight down the centre of the fairway, but Watson's effort heads towards the bunkers. Luke Donald hit a fine opener down the middle of the fairway, and the somewhat maligned Padraig Harrington started off with a dismal tee shot onto the path on the left of the fairway.
Harrington followed that up with a shot from the rough onto the green while the previous group were still putting, the Dubliner seemingly oblivious to golf's etiquette despite Monty harping on about his "stature". Harrington's erratic beginning may not have mattered anyway, as Overton made the green with his next shot and putted for a superb birdie to win the hole.
Once play resumes, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest happenings from Wales.
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