Rain Delays Force Ryder Cup Format Changes

From the PGA of America:

In view of the adverse weather conditions today, and the 7 hours, 18 minutes of playing time lost, a new playing schedule has been agreed to for the second and third sessions:

—The 2nd session will comprise six foursome matches.

—The 3rd session will comprise 2 foursome and 4 fourball matches.

—This will be followed by the 12 singles matches.

This means there will still be a total of 28 points available, of which 8 will be decided by foursomes and 8 by fourballs, and it is hoped that play will be completed by Sunday afternoon as scheduled.

If necessary, play will continue into Monday.

This new format will commence Saturday, likely after the first session is completed.

The big deal here is that all players will be on the course at the same time, with no one sitting. That’s neat, because it will test the depths of the teams. And it will test the ability of the Captains, who will have to make some changes on the fly. I think, though, that the new format gives an advantage to the Europeans, whom I think have a deeper team.

As it stands on Friday evening, with no matches complete:

FRIDAY MORNING FOURBALLS
P. Mickelson / D. Johnson vs. L. Westwood / M. Kaymer
Europe 1 Up through 12
S. Cink / M. Kuchar vs. R. McIlroy / G. McDowell
U.S. 2 Up through 11

S. Stricker / T. Woods vs. I. Poulter / R. Fisher
All Square through 10

B. Watson / J. Overton vs. L. Donald / P. Harrington
U.S. 1 Up through 8

There’s a lot of golf to be played in the morning, but I don’t think any of the pundits thought the US would be up at this point. I’m setting my Tivo.