Author: lenz

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: New bunkers have changed Kemper

Illinois PGA will have a different challenge if the section decides to keep its first major tourney of 2013 at Kemper Lakes.

The club, which hosted the 1989 PGA Championship, the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur and several Champions Tour stops before it became a private venue in 2009, has begun a renovation project.

Taking small steps at first, the club approved Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson’s plans to radically change the bunkering. The original course had 199,000 square feet of bunkers. When Jacobson’s work is done it’ll have 112,000. But the number of bunkers will probably increase from the present 63.

Kemper has a 10-year master plan, and Jacobson started with the green-side bunkers on the back nine. They’re smaller and deeper now, and that trend will continue when he takes on the front nine next fall. A fall round at the Long Grove layout revealed some eye-catching new looks, particularly at Nos.13, 15 and 16. Only temporary greens were in play – with the exception of the tight par-4 12th, which remained unchanged — after Genesis Golf construction company began work on Oct. 1.

In its public days Kemper hosted 24 consecutive Illinois PGA Championships. Since going private the club has cut back on outside tournament play, but it does host the IPGA Match Play Championship in April. If the tourney returns in 2013 its players will face nines with radically different sets of bunkers. Not only will the size and depth of the bunkers be different, but so will the sand. The white variety, so well-received at Knollwood during this season’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, will be used in Kemper’s new bunkers.

Having such a lack consistency from one nine to the other is not ideal, but the IPGA might decide that keeping continuity at one of its favorite tournament sites overrides that.

A great fall for the Rosinias

In September Michael Rosinia won the boys 15-17 age competition in the Youth Skills Challenge, a Ryder Cup preliminary that drew over 3,000 entrants and concluded at Medinah the week before the U.S. and European pros went at it in their memorable team competition.

Two months later the IPGA announced that Billy Rosinia, long-time head professional at Flagg Creek in Countryside and Michael’s father, was its Senior Player-of-the-Year. He’ll pick up his prize at Medinah, too, when the IPGA hosts its awards ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Rosinia and Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb have dominated the IPGA senior events and one or the other has been player-of-the-year in each of the last six years. Rosinia edged Sobb this time, finishing in the top 10 of all six tournaments he entered with one victory and two runner-up finishes on his scorecard.

St. Charles assistant Curtis Malm had earlier clinched a rare sweep of the IPGA Player-of-the-Year and Assistant Player-of-the-Year honors. Malm was the third man to do it, and the first since Glen Oak’s Matt Slowinski in 2009.

Streelman sticks with Wilson

Equipment changes have done in many a touring pro over the years, and it’ll be interesting to see how successful world No. 1 Rory McIlroy is after making a switch in 2013.

As for Chicago PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman, he’s not taking such a risk. Streelman is staying with Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods. Streelman, from Winfield, signed with Wilson in 2010 and just signed an agreement to continue playing Wilson Staff FG Tour V2 irons. He’ll also carry a Wilson bag and wear a cap supporting the company.

Streelman had three top-10 finishes in 2013, including a tie for eighth at the John Deere Classic.

Jemsek Golf remains at Pine Meadow

There was plenty of doubt for most of the summer, but Jemsek Golf will continue to operate Pine Meadow in Mundelein.

The Jemsek family, owners of Cog Hill, began a lease agreement with the University of St. Mary of the Lake and the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1985. The next year, after architects Joe Lee and Rocky Roquemore worked their magic on the land, Pine Meadow was named the Best New Public Course in the U.S. by Golf Magazine. It’s been widely recognized as one of Chicago’s best layouts ever since.

Negotiations on an extension of the lease were lengthy and complicated but they were eventually successful, though terms were not announced.

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: A new column to help golfers cope with winter weather

I may have felt that a 125-pound 14-year old would have to be teeing it up in the Masters before there was a need for me to write a golf column for primarily Midwest readers in the cold weather months.

Oops, now there is such a rare golfer– or at least there will be in another five months. An eighth-grader from China, Guan Tianlang, won last week’s Asian-Pacific Championship for amateurs in Bangkok, Thailand. That merited a Masters invitation for next April, as far Augusta National Golf Club’s members were concerned.

So be it, and his participation will spice up the first major championship of 2013. Plenty of golf news will be made before that, however – even in the winter months in the Midwest. There haven’t been many places to get the word out on such developments, though, so I’m going to do my part.

My Big Three teammate, Rory Spears, is the man to provide the bits and pieces on a nearly daily basis in his Golfers on Golf blog. I’ll be providing something different.

“It Ziehms to Me’’ will be exploring some different avenues of golf and delivering the news with a unique, and hopefully entertaining, spin. There’ll be no regular publication schedule, but I’ll write as frequently as news developments require it. We hope you enjoy “It Ziehms to Me.’’

So, here we go.

THE RECENT RYDER CUP may have seemed a downer after the collapse of the U.S. team in the Sunday matches, but – while being on site at Medinah every day – I found an uplifting story behind the scenes — the reunion of the Sweeney brothers.

Frank and Mary Sweeney, their parents, moved to a residence on Sunset Terrace – about 600 yards from the Medinah clubhouse – in 1962 and raised six children there. Their four boys – Frank, Phil, Pat and Brendan – were all Medinah caddies, and the Ryder Cup marked the first time they were all together since 2007. Their father passed away in March and their mother lives in Venice, FL.

“We had a blast growing up around the course,’’ said Brendan Sweeney. “We also parked cars and worked in the bag room. If it wasn’t for Medinah and the experiences we had there in our formative years we would not be where we are today. Golf is a great sport, and we were taught by the best.’’

All four had lengthy stints as caddies, went on to college and moved on to different careers.

Frank, 56, works as a blackjack dealer at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He was a Medinah caddie from 1967-79 and worked at the 1975 U.S. Open as well as two Western Opens.

Phil, 55, lives in McHenry and is a mortgage banker for Harris Bank. He was a caddie from 1968-82 and worked two Western Opens.

Pat, 49, lives in Chicago where he is vice president of Global Video Chicago. Not only did he caddie at Medinah (1975-88, plus two Western Opens), he earned an Evans Scholarship doing it. Medinah is even more special to Pat. He was married at the club in 1994.

And then there’s Brendan, 45. He was a caddie from 1978-91, worked one Western Open and never left golf. While he lives in Orlando, FL., he works as director of golf media and player development for Indiana’s French Lick Resort – a facility that has four courses.

ON THE TEACHING FRONT there were two notable developments involving some of the game’s best.

Another honor has come to Pat Goss, the head coach at Northwestern and long-time swing guru for recent world No. 1 Luke Donald – and this is a big one. Goss, in his 17th season at NU, was named the winner of the prestigious Labron Harris Sr. Award, which goes to the college, high school or PGA professional who “represents the finest qualities the game has to offer.’’

And then from the St. Louis area comes the announcement of a new instruction video that was a joint effort by Jay Delsing, a long-time PGA Tour player, and Maria Palozola, who was director of golf at the Michael Jordan Golf Center a few years back. The video is called “Putting Perfection: 100 yards and in Wins!’’

Palozola taught at other Chicago facilities but may be better known for her tournament play at Mistwood. As Maria Long she captured the 2002 Illinois Women’s Open and proved she still had game four years later when she finished third in the state’s premier women’s competition.

THE WESTERN GOLF ASSN. honors Tom Watson on Friday in its annual Green Coat Gala, a long sold-out event at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel. That’s just the start of a much busier than usual winter for the WGA.

For one thing, there’s the detail work involved in moving next September’s BMW Championship to a new location. It shifts from long-time Chicago area base Cog Hill to Conway Farms – a Lake Forest private facility that has hosted tons of big amateur events but never a PGA Tour stop.

Then, the WGA is also taking its Western Amateur out of Chicago for a year. After three Chicago stagings it’ll be held at The Alotian Club in Arkansas in 2013.

And then there’s the newest WGA venture – the Hotel Fitness Championship , which will lead off the new Web.com Tour’s four-tournament playoff series beginning next Aug. 26. It’ll be held at Sycamore Hills, in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Duke Butler IV will be the tournament director.

This event will get big exposure next summer, as it will bring together the top 75 on the Web.com Tour money list and those ranking from 126 to 200 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points list.

FROM HERE AND THERE:

This year’s John Deere Classic reported a record $6.79 million charity distribution off its 2012 PGA Tour stop at TPC Deere Run. That’s a $1.5 million increase over 2011, and 493 Quad Cities charities are the beneficiaries.

Steve Skinner and Josh Lesnik, chief executive officer and president respectively of KemperSports, were ranked 13th on Golf Inc. Magazine’s Most Powerful People in Golf. It’s the 12th straight year that KemperSports has been represented on the list, and the Northbrook-based organization is now the sixth largest golf management company. Among the more than a dozen additions to its portfolio this year is Stone Creek, home course of the University of Illinois golf teams.

James Lepp, who started his collegiate career at Illinois, continues to do big things. Lepp, who eventually transferred to Washington, won an NCAA title in 2005 and won on the Canadian PGA Tour in 2007. He took a break from golf in 2008 to start Kikkor golf shoe company but is back in it as a player, participating in The Golf Channel’s Big Break series.

AND A FINAL THOUGHT: An avid viewer of The Golf Channel, I’m generally less-than-impressed with the settings of foreign tournaments. The crowds don’t look as big as what I’m used to seeing in the U.S., and the courses don’t look as good, either.

A major exception came in watching the last World Golf Championship event of 2012, the HSBC Championship that was won by Ian Poulter at Mission Hills in China. It was played on the Olazabal Course (designed by the most recent European Ryder Cup captain). A beautiful layout for TV purposes with some intriguing elevation changes, it’s one of 12 courses at Mission Hills. That makes it the largest golf club in the world and provides more proof of how global the sport has become.

IPGA PLAYERS: Orrick wins again, but Malm sweeps player-of-the-year awards

GALENA, IL. – It was a rarity when Steve Orrick won the Illinois PGA Championship in August. He was the first non-Chicago area club professional to take that title in 60 years.

It wasn’t so unusual for Orrick, the head man at Country Club of Decatur, to rule the last of the section’s four major championships on Tuesday, however. Orrick won the IPGA Players Championship for the third time in five years on the North Course at Eagle Ridge Resort. In addition to his wins in 2008 and 2009 Orrick tied for second in 2011.

“There must be something in the air up here,’’ said Orrick. “I’ve played good every time I’ve come here.’’

This week was no exception. He coped with two days of chilly weather and swirling winds to post a 4-under-par 140 total for the tourney’s 36 holes. Only three other players bettered par. Cog Hill’s Garrett Chaussard and teaching pro Travis Johns, of Twin Lakes in Palatine, were two shots back in a tie for second and Kishwaukee’s Dave Paeglow was another stroke back in fourth.

Though he won two of the IPGA’s four majors of 2012 Orrick didn’t claim player-of-the-year honors. That went to St. Charles assistant Curtis Malm, who tied for sixth at Eagle Ridge. Not only did Malm win the section’s top player-of-the-year prize, he was also player-of-the-year among its assistant pros. Only two players have swept those awards in the same year – Dino Lucchesi (1997 and 1998) and Matt Slowinski (2009).

Malm did it with consistency. He won the first major, the IPGA Match Play title, in May, tied for sixth at the Illinois Open in July and was solo second at the IPGA Championship in August. Orrick skipped the Match Play and missed the cut at the Open.

“The Match Play is too early in the year. I don’t want to take that much time off,’’ said Orrick. “It cost me, and this year was also the first time I missed the cut in the Illinois Open.’’

Malm won the Illinois Open as an amateur in 2000 and worked his way through the lower level professional ranks until his breakthrough season. He still has an IPGA stroke play event at Schaumburg on Oct. 22, a makeup of an event rained out earlier, and the PGA Assistants national championship at Port St. Lucie, FL., the following week. He was fifth in the national assistants event last year and has obviously gotten better.

“ I’m a better player in terms of consistency than I was when I won the Illinois Open, but I thought I was a pretty good player back then,’’ said Malm. “This has been a great year. I’m glad it’s (almost) over.’’

One footnote to Chicago’s last major golf event of 2012: Katie Dick, assistant pro at Bryn Mawr and the only woman in the 94-player field, make a hole-in-in on the 13th hole. She used a 5-iron and is in line for a $4,500 bonus if no one gets an ace in the final stroke play event at Schaumburg on Oct. 22.

Western golf groups honor two legends

The Western Golf Assn. and the Women’s Western Golf Assn., now in partnership, are honoring two of the greats of the game.

The WWGA named Mickey Wright this year’s Woman of Distinction honoree at a luncheon on Thursday at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe. The award was first passed out in 1994 when another LPGA legend, Patty Berg, was honored. The award is given bi-annually and other past winners include Louise Suggs, Betty Jameson, Peggy Kirk Bell, Wiffi Smith, Nancy Lopez, Carol Mann and Kathy Whitworth.

Wright won the Women’s Western Open in 1962, 1963 and 1966. The tourney was discontinued after the 1967 tourney, but the WWGA is considering reviving the event – once one of the women’s annual major championships – in some form.

Now 77, Wright was unable to receive the award but sent her thanks for the honor.

“This has been quite a year for me,’’ she wrote. “I apologize for not being there in person to tell you how honored and appreciative I am to receive this award. First to have the USGA honor me with “The Mickey Wright Room’’ at the USGA Museum in Far Hills, N.J., and now the icing on the cake with your Woman of Distinction award.’’

Wright won 82 tournament titles, second all-time behind Whitworth’s 88. She also won the Vare Trophy five times (1960-64) and is the only player in LPGA history to hold all four major titles at the same time. She won the final two majors in 1961, the U.S. Women’s Open and LPGA Championship, and then took the first two majors of 1962 – the Titleholders Championship and the Western Open.

In 1994 she finished second in the Sprint Senior Challenge, which earned her $30,000 – the biggest paycheck of her career.

The WWGA also welcomed in a new set of officers, headed by president Kim Schriver of Glen View Club. Other officers are Pat Stahl Cincinnati, first vice president; Sandra Fullmer, Eagle Ridge, second vice president; Cynthia Hirsch, Lake Shore, third vice president; Diane Kalthoff, Knollwood, secretary; and Judy Anderson, Glen View, treasurer.

Meanwhile, the Western Golf Assn. is preparing for its Nov. 9 Green Coat Gala at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel. The event, already sold out, raised $350,000 for the Evans Scholars last year when Curtis Strange was the honoree and guest speaker. This year the spotlight will be on Tom Watson, a three-time winner of the Western Open.

Malm is the player to watch in IPGA’s last major at Eagle Ridge

It’ll be nothing like the just-completed Ryder Cup, but there is one big competitive event left in the Chicago golf season.

The Illinois PGA will stage the last of its four major tournaments, the IPGA Players Championship, at Eagle Ridge in Galena on Monday and Tuesday. The section’s player-of-the-year and assistant player-of-the-year awards will be on the line with Curtis Malm, assistant pro at St. Charles Country Club, in position to clinch them both.

If Malm finishes at least tied for third he’d be the second section member to sweep both awards. Dino Lucchesi did it in the 1997 and 1998 and Matt Slowinski in 2009.

If Malm doesn’t finish that high in the 36-hole competition on the resort’s North course there’ll be one stroke play event — the Schaumburg Classic on Oct. 22 — left to determine player-of-the-year winners. That rescheduled event was rained out in August.

Malm won the IPGA Match Play title in May, tied for sixth at the Illinois Open in July and was second to Steve Orrick of Country Club of Decatur at the IPGA Championship in August.

Cantigny’s Rich Dukelow won last year’s Players Championship en route to winning player-of-the-year honors. He’ll try to become the first back-to-back winner of the Players since Orrick did it in 2008-09.

WGA is branching out

The Western Golf Assn., which has long conducted the BMW Championship, Western Amateur and Western Junior tournaments to bolster its Evans Scholars Foundation, will add a Web.com Tour event to its managerial duties in 2013. It’ll be part of the PGA Tour developmental circuit’s new four-event Tour Finals.

“Obviously it’s not the BMW, but it is a big deal and about the scope of the old Western Open,’’ said WGA executive director John Kaczkowski. “We don’t expect the same size crowds, but the (Web.com) tour has worked well in small to middle-sized markets.’’

The WGA-run event will be the Hotel Fitness Championship, and it’ll be held at Sycamore Hills in Ft. Wayne, Ind., from Aug. 26-Sept. 1. It’ll have 156 players and a $1 million purse and kick off the Finals to determine 50 players advancing to the PGA Tour in 2014.

Since Kaczkowski stepped up from tournament director the WGA has looked for additional tournaments. It also reached a merger agreement with the Women’s Western Golf Assn.

“We’ve been considering adding more professional events for several years,’’ said Kaczkowski. “We pursued others that didn’t make sense financially, but this one does. We’ll look at all options going forward.’’

State Amateur, Open will be back-to-back in 2013

When the U.S. Golf Assn. decided to move its 2013 U.S. Amateur championship at Brookline, Mass., up a week, to Aug. 12-18, that led to some changes on the local front as well.

The Chicago District Golf Assn. made the biggest adjustment, moving its 83rd Illinois State Amateur from its usual dates the second week in August to July 16-18 to reduce the scheduling demands that having the state and national tourneys back-to-back would have created. Next year’s Illinois State Amateur will be at Aldeen, in Rockford.

The IPGA only slightly adjusted its Illinois Open dates. That tourney dropped back a week, to July 22-24 at The Glen Club, in Glenview. The new scheduling will create a big two-week focus on golf for the state’s best players.

Onwentsia’s Carson is top professional

The IPGA has announced its annual award winners for 2012 with Bruce Carson, the veteran head professional at Onwentsia in Lake Forest, taking the top honor. He was named the section’s 58th Illinois Golf Professional of the Year. He’ll receive the award Nov. 15 at Medinah.

Also to be honored are: Scott Baines, Des Plaines, Assistant Professional of the Year; Pat Goss, Evanston Teacher of the Year; Michael Carbray, Glen Ellyn, Junior Golf Leader; Jim Sobb, Barrington, Bill Strausbaugh Award; Nick Papadakes, Wadsworth, Horton Smith Award; Jeff Siegmund, Plainfield, Player Development Award; Wade Gurysh Libertyville, PGA Merchandiser of the Year (Private Facilities); Robert Falkiner, Prospect Heights; PGA Merchandiser of the Year (Public Facilities); and Pat Kenny, Bill Heald Career Achievement Award.

RYDER CUP: Kaymer’s attitude adjustment paid off in the end

Germany’s Martin Kaymer changed his attitude. For that he was rewarded Sunday with the honor of assuring the Ryder Cup would remain in Europe for two more years.

Kaymer hadn’t been playing well leading into this year’s Ryder Cup. In fact he skipped the last qualifying tournament for Team Europe even though he held the last automatic berth and was in danger of losing it.

“This year I haven’t done much. I’ve been through a few things’’ said Kaymer. “But I’m playing good now.’’

Still, Kaymer was the only player on either team to compete just once in the two days of team matches at Medinah. European captain Jose Maria Olazabal sent him out only in the afternoon four-balls on Friday. Later that day Kaymer and Olazabal had a long talk about the significance of the Ryder Cup.

It wasn’t that Kaymer didn’t know about the competition, which began in 1927. He earned 2 ½ point for Europe in the 2010 matches in Wales but, Kaymer admits, “My attitude wasn’t the right one.’’

Even though Kaymer was on the winning side on Friday, partnered with Justin Rose, Olazabal sat him on Saturday and didn’t put him off in singles until the 11th of the 12 matches. It was Kaymer, though, who provided the point that kept the Ryder Cup in Europe.

“Jose Maria came up to me at the 16th hole and said `We need your point,’’’ said Kaymer. “That didn’t really help. I was so nervous.’’

Kaymer was all square with Steve Stricker when Olazabal arrived, and he was able to follow his captain’s orders in part because Stricker was struggling.

On the 17th Kaymer rolled in a four-foot par putt after Stricker made bogey to go 1-up. That was a big putt, but the six-foot par-saver he made on the 18th was even bigger.

Kaymer put his tee shot in a fairway bunker on the finishing hole, but his second found the green inside of Stricker’s ball. Stricker missed badly on his first putt. So did Kaymer. Stricker connected on his par putt, and then Kaymer made the par-saver that clinched the point and set off a long and wild victory celebration by his teammates.

German golfers haven’t had much impact on the Ryder Cup over the years, and the biggest one was negative. Bernhard Langer missed a similar six-foot putt on the last hole of the most emotional of the biennial competitions, the 1991 staging at Kiawah Island, S.C., that has become known as “the War on the Shore.’’ That miss gave the U.S. the Cup. Langer also helped convince Kaymer of the significance of the event this week.

Kaymer owns a major title, the 2010 PGA Championship at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits course. That was an emotional event, too, as Kaymer won in a playoff with Bubba Watson after Dustin Johnson, who would have also been in the playoff, was penalized for grounding his club in a bunker on the last hole.

Winning a major brings a career upgrade, and – Kaymer now believes – so does the Ryder Cup.

“But it’s a completely different level,’’ said Kaymer. “The major win was just for myself, but I can see the guys behind me. My brother was here, my father was here. Sergio (Garcia) ran onto the green. There was so much more behind me. Now I know how it really feels to win the Ryder Cup.’’

RYDER CUP: Donald’s fast start was the key to Europe’s comeback

Luke Donald did his job perfectly for Team Europe on Sunday.

With his team trailing 10-6, captain Jose Maria Olazabal sent former world No. 1 and Northwestern alum Donald out first in Sunday’s singles in hopes of building some quick momentum for his team.

Donald didn’t disappoint. His opponent, long-hitting Bubba Watson, had been a momentum generated for the U.S. the first two days of the 39th Ryder Cup, but not on Sunday. Donald won Nos. 2, 4 and 11 with birdies and No. 12 with a par to go 4-up.

Watson got two holes back with birdies at the 15th and 16th, one with a chip-in, before Donald closed him out with a sand save par at the 17th for a 2 and 1 win. That stage for Europeans’ epic comeback.

“It was a big honor for me that Ollie (Olazabal) had enough trust in me to go out and get that first point for Europe,’’ said Donald. “I did what I had to do.’’

This Ryder Cup, Donald’s fourth, was a strange one. His first two matches, in foursomes, were blowout losses. One ended on the 12th hole the other on the 15th.

Just a few minutes after the second loss things got better in a hurry. Donald, teaming with Sergio Garcia, put up a 1-up victory over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker – the first indication that Team Europe wasn’t dead even before a singles match was played.

Prior to the competition Donald was hopeful that his popularity in Chicago would at least partially defuse crowd partisanship for the Americans. At least he was not quite viewed as the enemy throughout.

“It certainly helped having some local support,’’ said Donald. “I felt a lot of love from the crowd, and it was just a feeling of relief when the game was over. Bubba pushed me hard at the end.’’

It was Donald’s job to set a positive tone for his team after a largely dismal first two days.

“Our spirits were low halfway through the afternoon (on Saturday), and when we won those last two matches we really had a pep in our step. We still had an opportunity to make history. We felt that Seve (the late Seve Ballesteros) was watching down on us.’’

Ballesteros played his last Ryder Cup match in 1995 and captained a winning European team in 1997, so Donald was never his teammate, but all the Euros used golf bags emblazoned with Ballesteros’ likeness.

Donald’s unique position as a hometown player competing for the visiting team produced only mediocre results. Point-wise it was his worst Ryder Cup. Donald made his first Ryder Cup team as a captain’s pick in 2004 and went 2-1-1. He was more successful in the next two, going 3-0-0 in 2006 and 3-1-0 in 2010. He didn’t play in 2008.

In his four Ryder Cups Donald played two on American soil and two in Europe.

“It’s always tough to play away from home in a Ryder Cup, but I actually felt somewhat loved this week – even though I was playing for the Euros. It was nice to hear all the cheers.’’

RYDER CUP: Poulter’s five-birdie finish gives Europe some hope

There may be no better match play competitor in Ryder Cup history than England’s Ian Poulter. He’s kept Team Europe alive – at least barely – through two days of the 39th staging of the event at Medinah, and he gave a pulsating finish to Saturday’s session.

After playing partner Rory McIlroy made birdie at No. 13 Poulter reeled off five birds in a row, the last of which clinched a 1-up victory over Americans Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson. Poulter and McIlroy were 2-down when their run began.

“We had to make birdies and – wow! – five in a row. It was awesome,’’ said Poulter, who is 3-0-0 this week, even though his team trails the U.S. 10-6 going into Sunday’s concluding 12 singles matches.

Poulter, who made the European team as a captain’s pick this time, ran his career Ryder Cup record to 11-3-0. He won his morning matches Friday and Saturday with another Englishman, Justin Rose, as his partner.

European captain Jose Maria Olazabal rested Poulter on Friday afternoon, but sent him off first Saturday. Poulter was good throughout but saved his best for the last five holes. His first two birdies came off great bunker shots and his last was the best of all – a 15-footer as darkness was setting in.

“After 13 I could have walked in,’’ in said McIlroy, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. “It was a Poulter shoot from there on in, and it was a joy to watch. He’s very intense, and when the putts start going in he gets that look in his eye. He looks right through you. This event brings the best out of Ian.’’

“I surprised myself,’’ said Poulter. “In match play I love the fight. You stare your opponent in the face. In match play I’m tough to play against. It’s that simple.’’

In addition to his sterling Ryder Cup record Poulter won the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in 2010 and the Volvo World Match Play Championship in 2011. Though ranked No. 28 in the world, he was the only player to finish in the top 10 at three of the four major championships this year.

Though he’s built a reputation off his match play record Poulter isn’t bad in singles, either. He was 3-0-0 in his Ryder Cup singles matches in 2004, 2008 and 2010.

“It’s pretty fun, this Ryder Cup,’’ said Poulter, who believes his team can get at least the eight points it needs to retain the trophy today.

“You can win from this position,’’ he insisted. “It’s been done in the past (by the U.S. in 1999), and it will be done again.’’

RYDER CUP: European captain’s picks were too much for Tiger

Opening day at the 39th Ryder Cup didn’t go well for Team Europe on Friday, but the gang that won four of the last five competitions did win one battle.

The two captain’s picks made by European captain Jose Maria Olazabal were twice as productive as the four captain’s picks made by U.S. captain Davis Love III.

Different selection methods were used to decide the rosters of the two teams. The top five on the European PGA Tour were automatic picks for Olazabal as were the next top five (not counting those players) in the world rankings.

So, all that Olazabal had to pick were England’s Ian Poulter and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, and both of them played big roles in taking down Tiger Woods on Thursday.

Poulter and fellow Englander Justin Rose took care of Woods and his long-time partner Steve Stricker 2-1 in the morning foursomes and Colsaerts did almost all the work himself when he paired with Lee Westwood for a 1-up win in the last four-ball match of the afternoon.

Europe trails after Day 1 by a 5-3 margin, but its captain’s picks went 2-0. By comparison Love’s four choices – Dustin Johnson, Stricker, Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk were a combined 1-4.

Poulter may not have earned an automatic berth on the team, but he may just as well have been one because he was an obvious choice for Olazabal. In three previous Ryder Cups Poulter was a star for Europe, posting an 8-3-0 record, and he was the only player with top-10 finishes in three of the year’s four major championships.

Two of Poulter’s three Ryder Cup losses came when Woods was an opponent. This time, though, Poulter holed a bunker shot and made a critical five-foot par save as he and Rose never trailed.

Colsaerts, 29, earned his captain’s pick with a strong finish to a season that included a title in the Volvo World Match Play tourney. One of the longest hitters in Europe, he is the first player from Belgium to play in the Ryder Cup, and his debut may well be the most spectacular in the event’s history. He was 10-under-par on his own ball, making eight birdies and an eagle.

“I don’t know what to say,’’ said Colsaerts. “When I was a kid I dreamed of being in this tournament, and it felt wonderful to produce on such a big stage.’’

“I had the best seat in the house to watch it,’’ said Westwood, long one of Europe’s best Ryder Cuppers. “His round was a joy to watch. I didn’t really have a lot to do. Everything he looked at went in.’’

Colsaerts’ biggest putt was a clutch 25-footer with a two-foot break for birdie at No. 17. The Euros needed it with Woods’ coin marker sitting three feet from the cup for the birdie that could have evened the match had Colsaerts missed.

While Olazabal made good captain’s picks, he didn’t make full use of them Thursday. Poulter played only in the morning and Colsaerts only in the afternoon.

“Ollie (Olazabal) really wanted to get everybody playing on Friday, so four guys had to change after the morning round,’’ said Poulter. “I realize we’re a team, and that team is very, very, very strong this year. He said he would like to keep me fresh for Saturday and Sunday.’’

Seve and Jose Maria was the best Ryder Cup pairing ever

The first big thing that Jose Maria Olazabal, the European Ryder Cup captain, did for team was get his players some special golf bags. All 12 of them arrived at the first tee this week at Medinah with bags emblazoned with the iconic silhouette depicting the late Seve Ballesteros’ British Open title in 1984.

That silhouette became Ballesteros’ business logo, and he had it tattooed on his left forearm. He described the moment he rolled in that last putt at Scotland’s St. Andrews course as “the happiest moment of my whole sporting life.’’

Ballesteros passed away on May 7, 2011, following a battle with cancer. This Ryder Cup will be Europe’s first without the charismatic Spaniard and no one will miss him more than Olazabal. They formed the most successful partnership in Ryder Cup history, going 11-2-2 in matches they played together.

Though Olazabal won two Masters titles, his career world-wide is best defined by the things he did with Ballesteros at his side. It’s the competitive spirit that they had together that Olazabal hopes to create as captain at this 39th Ryder Cup, and the golf bag tribute to Ballesteros underscores that.

“He was a great figure, not just for myself but for the whole European squad every year that he played,’’ said Olazabal. “We are going to miss him a lot. He was a special man.’’

Olazabal, also from Spain, grew up in a picturesque farmhouse 100 yards from the clubhouse at the Real Golf Club de San Sebastian, where his mother and father both worked.

He hit his first shot at age 2, and his skills progressed steadily from there. Olazabal made his first Ryder Cup team in 1987, when the matches were played at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village course in Ohio. The electric atmosphere and huge crowds there left Olazabal in awe, but – fortunately for him – Ballesteros was there.

“He made it clear to (European captain) Tony Jacklin that he wanted to play with me,’’ recalled Olazabal. “I will never forget that little walk from the putting green to the first tee. I was shaking like a leaf, so I kept my head down. He looked at me and said, `Jose Maria, you play your game, and I’ll take care of the rest.’ And he did.’’

Europe won that ’87 Ryder Cup on American soil, a first in the series and a victory that went a long way in popularizing the event after the U.S. had dominated for six ho hum decades.

Olazabal, Europe’s vice captain in 2008 and 2010, inherits a European squad that has won four of the last five Ryder Cups and six of the last eight. His team this week is loaded with veterans, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts being its only Ryder Cup rookie.

The Ryder Cup has changed a bit since Olazabal and Ballesteros played together. Olazabal flew to Chicago on Monday with only three of his players with him. The visiting teams used to arrive on the same flight.

“Of the rest of the guys, five were playing last week (in Tour Championship in Atlanta) and the rest have a house or a place here in the States, so it was very logical for them to stay here and just make the trip from their homes,’’ said Olazabal.

Like American captain Davis Love III, Olazabal tended to plenty of off-course administrative details over the last two years to get his team ready for this week. Like Love, he played a limited schedule but shot 65 in his last round before Ryder Cup obligations became overwhelming.

While Love made four captain’s picks Olazabal had to make only two – England’s Ian Poulter and Colsaerts. The determination of pairings will be an ongoing project, just as it will be for Love.

“This is a new Ryder Cup. We are playing here against a very strong team,’’ said Olazabal. “We are playing away. The crowds are going to be rooting for the home team really strong, and we have to be prepared for that. Both teams are pretty much even, and it’s going to be a close match.’’

So, who should win?

“I don’t see any favorites,’’ said Olazabal. “It will be decided, obviously, on the golf course.’’