Americans turn up the heat

The Star Spangled Banner was so gallantly streaming after the US PGA Cup team opened up a four point advantage on the opening day of the 26^th PGA Cup at De Vere Slaley Hall.

After sharing the spoils in the morning foursomes against a battling Great Britain & Ireland side, the US side showed no mercy as they put clear daylight between themselves and their rivals in the defence of the Llandudno Trophy.

The visitors took a maximum four points in the afternoon fourballs to end the first day 6-2 in front, requiring 13 to retain the trophy.

GB&I captain Russell Weir admitted he was ‘gutted’ after seeing his side succumb to the Americans and is aware they are already facing a battle to reclaim the Cup for the first since 2005.

As he drew up his pairings for tomorrow, all will be sent out with the instructions to be more aggressive in the wake of being undone on the greens.

“I feel really gutted this afternoon as I did not expect that,” said Weir, captain for the second successive time.

“Things like that are going to happen and it’s better on the first day as we’ve still got a chance to pull it back.

“We have to be very aggressive tomorrow. I noticed quite a lot of tentative putts today and I’d like to see the boys rolling the ball.”

The GB&I team had their tails up after the morning foursomes, which had concluded with a victory for Graham Fox and Jon Barnes to leave the teams all square.

Weir tweaked his side for the second session, drafting in Nick Brennan and Dan Greenwood, while Fox partnered Greig Hutcheon, leaving an out-of-sorts Scott Henderson on the sidelines along with Barnes.

But the changes made no impact on an American side, which introduced Matt Dobyns and Ryan Polzin for Rod Perry and Jeff Sorensen.

Brennan and Greenwood were the first to fall as they went down 6&5 to JC Anderson and Kelly Mitchum, who forged a formidable partnership with two wins out of two. The Americans never dropped a shot in the afternoon as they chalked up five birdies to seal a comprehensive victory.

Benn Barham and David Callaway suffered a second successive defeat on the opening day. Having lost 4&3 in the morning, the pair were undone 3&2 by Mark Sheftic and Chip Sullivan, who bounced back from their foursomes defeat.

They hit the ground running to go one up at the first and while Callaway levelled up the match at the second, the visitors were up by three at the turn, which stretched to four at the next. The British duo had a late rally with winning birdies at 12, 14 and 15 but with Sullivan cancelling one out at the 13^th, any slender hopes of a comeback were extinguished on the 16^th as Sheftic chipped in from off the green for a winning par.

Gareth Wright and Richard Wallis, victorious in the morning, built on that momentum as they conjured up five birdies over the opening nine holes against Matt Dobyns and Ryan Polzin. However, that was only sufficient to see them one-up over the US pair, who had sat out the morning exchanges.

Polzin, a Texan with a passion for hunting, had Wright and Wallis in his sights. He had earlier got the US team’s supporters cheering after holing from a bunker on the par three 8^th and then picked them off with a string of birdies at 10, 14, 15 and 16 – the latter the decisive blow.

Wallis said: “It was a great game, we can’t complain they played the better golf, it was one of those days where you’ve got to take your hats off, they were eight-under and we were five-under. It’s not like we played badly."

Hopes of salvaging a point rested with Hutcheon and Fox, who had an immense tussle with Bob Sowards and Mike Small.

The Scottish pair were on the back foot from the first as the Americans went one up. Birdies at the second and third were nullified before Small added another to ease to two up. The pendulum refused to swing the other way, however the prospect of the GB&I pair securing something from the match increased as they took it back to all square after the 12^th. Fox claimed a birdie at the par five 13^th but Small denied them taking the lead for the first time in the match with an eagle. He compounded it with a birdie at the next to ease them back to two-up with four to play.

The arrears were reduced on 16 thanks to a birdie from Fox and after the 17 finished all square, it was left to the 18^th to salvage a half. But the approach shots from Fox and Hutcheon both missed the green with the Americans landing both balls on the putting surface. It proved enough to win the hole and the match by two.

US captain Allen Wronowski erred on the side caution with two days to play but admitted his team had proved too hot to handle.

“The boys just caught fire,” he said. “Our team got on a roll and kept on going. There’s two more days to go and three more sessions so anything can happen as I’ve seen to Celtic Manor and Medinah.

“Every team can catch fire so it’s up to us to keep the accelerator pedal down.”

Saturday morning foursomes here.