It was not the best of starts and certainly not the kind one would have wanted on debut. But that’s the way golf is and as our skipper, Nick Price, a veteran and someone who has been on a winning Presidents Cup team said, “Golf is a fickle game’. Tomorrow is another day. Today was not ours and certainly not mine.
We are down 1-4, but there is still 25 points to play for in next three days. I am sitting out tomorrow for the Fourballs and hopefully whenever I am asked to go in again, I can get some points.
As for today, I think both Thongchai and me were nowhere close to our best. We both struggled, and I think we just lost momentum. There were opportunities that I could have made a few more putts definitely, and then I think on the back nine we just let it all get away from us really quick.
So first hole we had an opportunity, didn't take it. Second, I didn't make it. Third we went from a position of strength and suddenly we found ourselves three down through four. I think I let one get away from me on seventh, the par-5. That was an important putt because we could have gotten some momentum back.
Rickie (Fowler) putted great all day. If I'm not mistaken, he must have made about six or seven one-putts today, and none of them were inside of ten feet. Maybe eight or ten foot was probably the shortest of those seven that he made. So it helps when you're playing match play, especially when you're playing alternate shots because there's only one putt. It's not four-ball best ball where your partner's also got a chance at it.
We didn't make a single birdie in 14 holes, and we hit 13 fairways. I mean, we only missed one fairway on 10th. We hit every fairway apart from that and did not make a birdie. So that tells you that we didn't putt well, and that's what you need.
The Americans played well and apart from Rickie, I saw some stuff from Phil Mickelson, that was fantastic. Off the course, last night was great at the opening ceremony. Hearing the National Anthem was very special. There's not a lot of times in your career that that will happen, and the times that it does happen it really makes you feel like all the effort, everything that you've put into it -- not just you but everybody around you and many more. It makes it worth the effort.