After winning three and halving one of the Friday afternoon session Ryder Cup matches, Team Europe is taking a solid 5-3 lead into Saturday at Gleneagles in Scotland. After Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were outplayed by a fresh Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson and lost 3 and 2, Friday concluded with a two-point lead for Europe.
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Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley didn’t particularly play well in their morning match against Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, but they edged out a win after a clutch final three holes. They were the last morning match to conclude and Tom Watson made the decision to play the pair again in the afternoon session against McDowell and Dubuisson, who had not played yet Friday.
Watson decided to sit American rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, who were the second morning match to conclude and they played just 14 holes in a 5 and 4 win.
McDowell and Dubuisson dominated Mickelson and Bradley the entire match, going up three holes through five. Then, the U.S. gained a couple back on eight and nine, but the Europeans were able to win 10, 12 and then 16 to seal the deal and get the win.
This is McDowell’s fourth Ryder Cup appearance and his record improved to 6-5-2 with the Ryder Cup rookie in Dubuisson.
The U.S. completed the morning session with a 2.5-1.5 lead, but that lead was quickly erased after Europe came in with the first two wins of the afternoon session after Jaimie Donaldson and Lee Westwood came in with a win and were followed by Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were able to keep the momentum going for Europe as they came back from being down two with two to play and halved their match with Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker.
Tomorrow’s format will be the same, we’ll see if the Americans can gain some points back.
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