GLENEAGLES, Scotland – U.S. captain Tom Watson wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
Looking for his team to do a better job building on morning momentum this time around, Watson will send rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed back out for Saturday’s afternoon foursome matches.
Spieth and Reed were a formidable tandem again Saturday morning, running their record to 2-0, routing the European team of Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer, 5 and 3, in fourballs.
Watson got some heat Friday when he benched his rookies for foursomes after they rolled to a 5-and-4 fourballs victory. The move was heavily second guessed when the Americans failed to win a match outright in Friday’s foursomes matches, taking just a half-point in that afternoon session.
On the Euro side, the dynamic pairing of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson will be broken up with Stenson needing rest with a sore back. Rose and Stenson set a Ryder Cup fourballs record, going 12 under in a 3-and-2 victory Saturday morning.
Notably, the team of Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley won’t tee it up at all Saturday, sitting both the morning fourballs and foursomes. European stalwart Ian Poulter will also sit in the afternoon despite a strong finish in Saturday’s morning fourballs. The Saturday foursomes pairings were submitted before Poulter finally came alive in these matches.
Here are Saturday’s foursome pairings:
