22 September, 2007
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The PGA
After day two of the 23rd PGA Cup matches GB&I trail America 9-7 but captain Gary Alliss remains optimistic as Sunday singles arrive.
So there we have it. After two days of terrific golf and what has been an absorbing and seesaw contest we know what we've got to do to retain the Llandudno Trophy - go out and win six points.
That's a big ask and I'm making it even bigger because I want six-and-a-half points for the win and a first victory on US turf.
Today (Saturday) was a spell-binding day of golf but America came out on top and hats off to them.
America came out firing on all cylinders and there was just some fantastic golf, there really was.
It's been a long time since I've seen such quality golf. Normally in foursome matches if you make a few pars you can walk off with wins. Not today, though.
The foursome matches this morning were being won with people 4 and 5 under par on a seriously difficult and long golf course -- particularly the par 5s and par 3s here at the Oconee Course, which has such a strong back nine. That was good.
When I look at my team and the strength they have going around this afternoon in 8-under or something like that and then they've lost 2-down, or 2&1, you just have to say congratulations to the US team.
They just played better this afternoon, having won three of the four matches to take a two-point lead into Sunday, but we're absolutely not out of it at all. If we have a couple of blue numbers early, then we're all level again.
We're looking forward to it. Of course, we would have loved it to have been 3-1 to us this afternoon instead of the other way around. That would have made life a bit easier for the boys, but in a funny way I think that it'll fire them even more, because it's even more history if they could come from behind to take this.
The golf today was just fantastic. You saw it on the 17th hole in the last two matches. Our boys come to the hole 2-down and then Andrew Barnett holes his bunker shot for birdie, but Chris Starkjohann answers by holing an 8-foot birdie putt of his own to close out the match.
Andy holing that bunker shot was especially brilliant when you consider that he played army golf on that one, going left, right, left, right, in the hole to get there.
The reverse happened, thankfully, in the next group. Both American players (Ron Philo Jr. and Lee Rinker) had tap-in putts for birdie and then Duncan Muscroft's bunker shot releases on him18 feet past the hole and comes back to make the birdie putt to close the match out.
Everyone on our team loves playing with George Ryall. He's one of the quietist members of our team until you get to know him. He's a really funny guy. He's gone out playing golf and being a golf professional, playing in regional events for a long, long time. He's not fazed. In fact, he looks forward to this sort of pressure.
That's invaluable. And, for his pairing to get that whole point for us in the last match today was very important. If we were going into the singles having lost all four this afternoon, that would have left a bad taste and would have made it very difficult to bounce back.
I don't think the team needs any sort of whipping into a frenzy or anything like that. They're already ready for it. They know that they've got a very hard job to do and they want to do it. My job will be to get some sort of order out there that makes some sense and gives us a chance. Really, that's it.