Faldo's Controversial Wildcard Gets Off to a Bumpy Start

Nobody can accuse Nick Faldo of lacking audacity. Criticism of him had grown prior to today's tee-off in proportion to his increasingly erratic behavior during press conferences, with the Europe captain seemingly doing little to quiet the snipers. Much of the criticism in Louisville has focused on "sandwich-gate", but initially Faldo courted controversy by handing what many felt should have been Darren Clarke's wildcard to Ian Poulter, who had opted not to play at Gleneagles in the final qualification event. Selecting Poulter to play in the opening series of matches only heaped further pressure on his selection. Pairing Poulter with his closest golf buddy, Justin Rose, for the afternoon series as well was the personification of stubbornness.

In fairness to Faldo, his choice of four ball pairings were made while Poulter and Rose had been making serene progress around the scenic front nine. Their score, 32, for that section of the course was lower than that of any other foursomes pairing. Faldo was not to know they would then collapse to an embarrassing defeat against the unheralded Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell, although an understanding of the players' history might have hinted as much. While Poulter excelled in the intensity of the final day of the Open at Birkdale, finishing runner-up to Padraig Harrington, that was his only top-10 finish since January - hardly the form of a captain's pick. It has become customary, meanwhile, for Rose to perform admirably in the first round of majors before slipping down the leaderboard.

Although neither played a false shot in the first few holes, Rose, a debutant despite his decade of fame since his amateur heroics at the previous Birkdale Open, had looked dreadfully nervous as he lingered on the practice putting green five minutes longer than his playing partners. His wife, Kate, was asked how he felt. "Much better than me," was her reply, though that seemed unlikely.

Sensing his own reputation was on the line, Faldo, whose other wildcard pick, Paul Casey, lost in his only outing, could be seen more frequently with his compatriots than any other group during the day. It is a captain's duty to inspire his players, not least when he is their childhood idol, as the former six-time major winner was for Rose and Poulter. But whereas Paul Azinger's soothing arm around the previously erratic Campbell steadied the lowest-ranked player in either side, Poulter's game in particular disintegrated as Cink exerted pressure with a flurry of wonderful iron-shots. Three bogeys in five holes gifted the Americans, as startled as anyone, the lead, before a disastrous double-bogey on the 18th green, where both Poulter and Rose missed putts from inside six feet, sealed their fate.

Suddenly Azinger's decision not to send Cink and Campbell back out after lunch appeared ill-judged, but not to the extent of Faldo's unyielding faith in Poulter. His morning defeat had been so drawn-out that he and Rose had no time for lunch before they ventured back out desperately needing a win against Steve Stricker and Ben Curtis, with Europe 3-1 down.