Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar were having a pretty good time at the Olympics.
Until they had to play.
Team USA pretty much did a first-day belly flop as Olympic Golf finally got going again after 112 years.
And this is what we got from our guys?
Bubba and Rickie were simply awful. Especially Rickie and his putter. Good thing Rickie hung out with Michael Phelps this past week, that’s the closest to Olympic Gold that he’ll get.
Fowler’s first round got off to a giant thud with a four putt, yes FOUR-PUTT at the par five opening hole at the Gil Hanse-designed course there waterside at Rio. Things didn’t get any better for Rickie. He would end up shooting 75, four over and that left him down there at the bottom of the heap, tied with Siddikur Tahman from Bangladesh. Did we mention that Bangladesh is an established golf powerhouse?
Bubba wasn’t much better. He was all over the place and shot 73. That left his Bubbaness in a tie for 42nd with Miguel Tabuena of the Phillipines, among others. Did we mention that the Phillipines is an established golf powerhouse?
Patrick Reed was a tad better. He was only one-over par on a course made to break par. His 73 left him tied for 34th, right there with Joost Luiten from the Netherlands, another golf powerhouse. Luiten is the country’s only player in the field, Hans Brinker and the Silver Sand Wedges, no doubt.
Which brings us to the only guy who saved face for America on day one.
Matt Kuchar.
God Bless The Kooch. Here’s a guy who didn’t even know what the format was a week ago. Yet Kooch came through with a two-under par 69 that left him just outside the top 10. That’s what Kooch does. Doesn’t win much but top 10s his way to a massive bank account. Only problem is there are no medals for finishing 10th this week.
After this start, the closest thing this team may come to a medal is Rickie leaving his fingerprints on one of Michael Phelps’ 20-plus golds.
Bubba Watson blamed it on his caddie. Oh wait, Ted Scott isn’t in Rio. Yet Bubba still blamed him, actually Bubba lamented NOT HAVING him. “It was tough without him,” Bubba mumbled after his long day on the sandy layout.
There’s simply no excuse for these guys other than the fact that they are just doing what they’ve done all year.
None of them has performed well in a major this season.
Thursday was no different.
Watson looked tentative on the greens all day.
Fowler’s putter is his worst enemy.
Reed was nothing to write home about and Kooch kept the gang from getting shut out.
“They do have the most players,” Nick Faldo said of the Americans. No other team has four players.
Even four wasn’t enough.
Kooch was the closest they got to leader Marcus Fraser, the Aussie who is a regular on the European Tour.
He got out early before the winds started whipping and established the new Olympic scoring record — an eight-under par 63.
Open champion Henrik Stenson took the brunt of the afternoon winds and it sure didn’t phase The Champion Golfer Of The Year.
Stenson’s 66 left him just three back of Fraser and the tall Swede is the man to beat.
As for the Americans?
They still have three days left to salvage some pride.
