Ryder Cup Day Two – Team USA Extends Their Lead to Four, But Europe Keep Within Touching Distance3 min read

Day Two of the 2012 Ryder Cup did not disappoint when it came to drama and incredible golf – but it was the American Team that ended up on top after another day of Foursomes and Fourballs, leaving them in the driving seat in today’s Singles matches.

Play got underway with two of the games biggest characters stepping up to the amphitheater stage that is the first tee at Medinah Country Club in Chicago, Illinois. America’s Bubba Watson did his best job at getting the crowd fired up with chanting and cheering on the tee, and Europe’s Ian Poulter responded by getting the fans to cheer during his tee-shot. All that was left for Watson to do was reply and reply he did to rapturous cheers.

This first matchup of Poulter and Rose versus Watson and Simpson proved to be a showcase match, but it was Poulter who proved to be the standout player promoting comparisons to Europe’s Ryder Cup legend, Seve Ballesteros. Poulter showed his might and passion alongside Rose and won the match 1-Up.

But that proved to be the only point scored by Team Europe in the Morning Foursomes, as America showed their mettle by winning all three other matches.

The standout performance on the American side was once again coming from the dream pairing of Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson.

The duo dominated their opponents, former world number 1s Luke Donald and Lee Westwood and were 5-Up at the turn eventually winning the match on the 12th hole, 7&6, in a record-equalling defeat for the Europeans.

Team America’s Phil Mickelson said, “Europe has had some great team-mates, but to be able to share this experience with Keegan has been really awesome. We’ve had so much fun, the crowd has provided so much energy and it’s brought our best golf out.”

Europe entered the afternoon Foursomes still with a positive outlook even with a four-point deficit, however, once again the American Team came out of the blocks quickly, leading in the majority of matches.

Match One, McIlroy and Poulter versus Dufner and Johnson, looked to be turning into a red win going through the halfway point, however, the European pair managed to turn things around with a McIlroy birdie at 13 and Poulter birdies at 15 and 16 ensuring a European point on the board.

The following two matches proved to be domainted by the Americans though, as Rose and Molinari were overcome by the stalwart pairing of Waston and Simpson, and Colsaerts and Lawrie were beaten 1-Up by Johnson and Kuchar after Colsaerts’ putter did not function quite as it did on Day One.

But having suffered a big defeat in the morning Donald, along with Garcia, came out strong and lead the slightly off-the-boil Stricker and Woods pairing through the front nine. Woods attempted to come back during the back nine after finding some form, but the European pair stayed strong to win on the last hole 1-UP securing another much-needed point for Team Europe.

Today’s final round Singles matchups are undoubtedly going to provide great drama and fantastic golf, and with Europe needing to make up four points as quickly as possible, the strong starting pairings from Captain Olazabal need to perform at their best to give Europe any chance of defending successfully.

After Day Two the Americans lead 10 points to 6 points.

————————-

For more live updates from this year’s Ryder Cup visit The Confederation of Professional Golf on Twitter – @PGAsofEurope – or at the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook page.