Ryder Cup not over despite Europe fightback warns Bjorn

Europe battled back to lead the Ryder Cup entering Saturday's second day of competition thanks to an unprecedented foursomes sweep of defending champions the United States, yet European captain Thomas Bjorn warns the trophy fight is far from over.

Europe seized a 5-3 lead after Friday's opening fourball and foursomes sessions at Le Golf National thanks to four romps in the afternoon foursomes, the Americans unable to last past the 16th hole.

"It was great but we need to put our heads back on quickly," Bjorn said. "There's no time to celebrate. There's still a job to be done."

Reigning British Open champion Francesco Molinari of Italy, winless in five prior Ryder Cup matches, paired with English rookie Tommy Fleetwood to beat Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed 3 and 1 in fourballs and the duo then ripped Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 5 and 4 to complete the historic foursomes sweep.

"We didn't come here to win the foursomes," Molinari said. "We came here to win something else."

Molinari will join Fleetwood for a Saturday fourballs rematch against Woods and Reed, who sat out Saturday afternoon.

US captain Jim Furyk dismissed fears of back problems for Woods, saying: "I'd have to say that's not true. He was actually out practising after the matches. I'm not aware of anything like that."

Woods, the star attraction after ending a five-year win drought last weekend, liked his shotmaking.

"My game is fine," he said. "My putting feels solid. I'll be ready come tomorrow."

Other Saturday morning matchups, all featuring US duos trying to repeat Friday wins, send four-time major winner Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia against three-time major winner Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm against Spieth and Thomas and Englishmen Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton against world number one Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.

- 'Event still pretty young' -

"We refocus and look forward to tomorrow," Bjorn said. "I've also been around long enough to know it could swing around again."

Europe need 14 1/2 points from Saturday and Sunday's 12 concluding singles matches to win for the ninth time in 12 attempts and reclaim the Cup while the Americans need 14 to retain the trophy.

Europe's charge came after the US squad seized a 3-1 lead after morning fourballs, the best American result in an opening session in Europe since 1989.

"They wanted to go out and prove something," Bjorn said. "That says something about the group."

The Americans are trying to end a 25-year European win drought and see plenty of time to reverse their situation.

"The event is still pretty young," Furyk said. Eight out of 28 points, a pretty small percentage of this thing being played.

"Our guys, I think they will respond. I really do. We'll come back tomorrow and I think we'll be firing."

The sweep added fire to Europe's hopes with one of their greatest Ryder Cup sessions ever.

"It's hard to say it's not right at the top," Bjorn said. "It is right at the top when you clean sweep. It's something pretty special to all the guys on that golf course."

It was important to Furyk as well.

"The afternoon going 4-0 is significant," he said. "We will figure out the afternoon for tomorrow and try and do better.

"We're two down with 20 points left. There's time. We'll see how it goes and try to put ourselves in position."

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Grieving Fil-Aussie golfer wins emotional World Cup

Australia's Jason Day fended off Danish challenger Thomas Bjorn and rode an emotional wave of crowd support to win the World Cup of Golf by two strokes at Royal Melbourne on Sunday.

The world No. 18, who is mourning the loss of eight relatives killed in the Philippines by Typhoon Yolanda (intenational name: Haiyan), broke clear of the tenacious Bjorn on the par-four 16th with a nerveless clutch putt for par before holding firm in the final holes.

After tapping in the winning putt on the 18th, the 26-year-old raised his arms aloft in triumph and embraced his grieving mother by the green as a huge gallery of home fans roared their approval.

"For her to be out here over the weekend, and even to have my sisters and my nephew to be here as a family, knowing that I can hold them is very special to me," Day told reporters after winning his second PGA Tour title on another breezy, sunny day at the famed sandbelt course.

"The biggest thing right now is to know that I just didn't give up. It would have been the easiest thing for me to just go ahead and pull out of the tournament with what has been going on over the last week -- just to be up there with my mum and support her.

"But I really wanted to come down here and play with Adam (Scott) and really try to win the World Cup and we achieved that which was great."

Day's one-under round of 70 left him with a 10-under total of 274 in the $8-million biennial tournament where players have competed for individual honors after previously being solely a team event.

Collecting a $1.2 million winner's cheque, Day will also share $600,000 with world No. 2 and compatriot Scott after the pair combined to drive their home nation to a runaway 10-stroke win over the United States in the team component.

Denmark and Japan finished joint third, two strokes further adrift.

Having suffered an embarrassing quintuple-bogey in his opening round of 75, U.S. Masters champion Scott finished strongly with a 66 to finish outright third three strokes behind Day.

World No. 7 Matt Kuchar, who won the last World Cup for the United States with Gary Woodland in China, scratched out an even-par 71 to finish a further stroke adrift in outright fourth.

Roller-coaster start

Overnight leader by a stroke from the seasoned Bjorn, Day had a roller-coaster start with two bogeys and two birdies in his first five holes, but charged clear of his playing partner when he holed an approach on the first bounce for an eagle on the short par-four sixth.

That put him four strokes ahead, but the Australian stumbled badly on the par-four 10th with a double-bogey after hitting into a thick tangle of scrub left of the fairway.

Bjorn pounced to claw back a share of the lead with birdies on 11 and 13, the latter courtesy of a delightful approach shot that settled a foot from the pin.

However, the 42-year-old Dane was left to rue a wayward tee-shot on the tricky par-four 16th that landed in the woods right of the fairway and led to a bogey.

Day also wobbled, pushing his approach into a wide greenside bunker but rallied with a brilliant up-and-down, landing his recovery about seven feet from the pin and draining the tough downhill putt to take a one-stroke lead with two holes to play.

Bjorn's challenge ended decisively with an errant approach on the tricky par-four 18th that led to another bogey, allowing Day the luxury of a pressure-free par-putt to seal his first professional win on home soil.

"Obviously a fraction disappointed," Bjorn said. "But as a whole it's been a great week. It's been a great pleasure to play on this golf course the way it has played this week and I couldn't be happier for Jason winning.

"He has gone through a rough time of late and for him to even be here is a big thing and then to go and win a golf tournament and for them to win the team event as well, that's what you want to see."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Thomas Bjorn leads World Cup of Golf

MELBOURNE - Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was a model of consistency as he tamed Royal Melbourne with a three-under 68 to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the $8 million World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, Australia on Friday.

The gritty 42-year-old bogeyed his first and last holes but was rock solid in between as he rolled in five birdies to finish with an eight-under total of 134, one ahead of joint overnight leader Kevin Streelman of the United States.

Already uncomfortably fast in Thursday's (November 21) opening round, Royal Melbourne's greens were rendered devilish during a second straight day of warm sunshine and persistent breezes and less than a third of the field finished under par.

Seemingly well-directed approach shots charged past the hole and players sweated over short putts with trepidation bordering on fear.

Along with Bjorn, Streelman was among the few to handle the conditions well and charged out of the blocks to birdie his opening four holes.

He had the wind taken out of his sails, though, when he dropped three strokes in two holes midway through his round.

Following his first bogey on the eighth, Streelman pulled his second shot into a greenside bunker on the long par-four ninth and ended up with a double-bogey after missing a putt from four metres.

Australia's Jason Day (70) and Portugal's Ricardo Santos (69) were tied for third, four strokes behind Bjorn, with American Matt Kuchar (68) among a group of four players a further stroke adrift.

Sixty players are competing for individual honours for the first time at the biennial World Cup, which was previously solely a team tournament.

Twenty-six two-man teams are also competing, with the best aggregate scores after four rounds of strokeplay determining the winning nation.

World number seven Kuchar, who won the last World Cup for the United States in 2011 with Gary Woodland in China, patiently worked himself back into contention with a solid 68.

That propelled the United States into the lead for team honours on 10-under, three strokes ahead of Denmark's Bjorn and Thorbjorn Olesen (72).

Australia's Day and Adam Scott were tied for third with Japan's Hideto Tanihara (67) and Ryo Ishikawa (71), a further four strokes adrift.

World number 18 Day, who is still grieving over eight relatives killed when Typhoon Haiyan pounded the Philippines earlier this month, grafted to a one-under round but felt cheated after lipping out on several holes.

Leading scores after round two

1 Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 66 68 134

2 Kevin Streelman (USA) 66 69 135

3= Jason Day (AUS) 68 70 138

Ricardo Santos (POR) 69 69 138

5= Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 72 67 139

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com