U.S. Team Charges To Lead at Ryder Cup

Leonard, Mahan Pace Americans

LOUISVILLE, Sept. 19 -- Finally, a Ryder Cup that American golf fans can watch without wincing on the weekend.

For the first time since 1995, an underdog U.S. team that has lost this biennial match-play event to Europe three straight times, actually held the lead after the first day, partly pushed into that heady position Friday by the same man who sank the Cup-clinching putt in the Americans' previous Cup triumph in 1999.

Justin Leonard hasn't played in this event since his stunning 45-putt on the 17th green at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., sealed a victory for the American side that year and set off a raucous celebration following the greatest final day comeback in Cup history.

Nine years later, there were a number of similarly spectacular shots from the gritty Texan on this sun-kissed day, including a near-hole-in-one at the 188-yard third hole in the afternoon best-ball session that stopped an inch short of dropping into the cup. Teamed in both rounds with Ryder Cup rookie Hunter Mahan, another Texas native, they won their morning alternate shot and afternoon best-ball matches to lead the Americans to a stunning advantage at rocking and roiling Valhalla Golf Club.

The American side, which needs 14 1/2 points to win back the Cup, also got a huge contribution from veteran Phil Mickelson, paired with 23-year-old Anthony Kim. Twice they rallied from 3-down deficits in both their matches to tie in alternate shot in the morning and win best ball in the afternoon. They rallied in both sessions against European pairs that included Ireland's Padraig Harrington, winner of the past two major championships.

At the end of the day, U.S. captain Paul Azinger was giddy about his team's ability to make so many critical putts, rouse the massive crowds and demonstrate for these two sessions at least that perhaps they can win this event.

"I'm just real proud of everyone, because it could have gone either way today," he said. "We're real happy with where we are, but we're not even to the halfway point yet. We also know how good Europe is."

Leonard's last shot of the afternoon round provided yet another perfect ending for the all-Texas team, a chip from 35 feet off the fringe at the 15th hole that tracked perfectly into the cup for a thoroughly unexpected birdie. When their opponents, the Spanish duo of Sergio García and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, both missed 25-foot putts in an attempt to match his birdie, Leonard and Mahan could finally celebrate a 4-and-3 victory.

Earlier in the day, in the alternate-shot portion of the program, they got off to a horrendous bogey-bogey start on their opening two holes against Englishman Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson of Sweden. But the Americans won the next two holes, took a 2-up lead at the turn and ended the match when Leonard made a three-foot putt for par at the 16th to score the first point of the day for either team, a harbinger of grand things to come for the American side.

Leonard and Mahan also became the first U.S. team to win two matches in a single day since Lanny Wadkins and Corey Pavin accomplished the feat on the first day of the 1995 Cup competition at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., a year when the United States lost the Cup anyway.

"Best day of my life, man," Mahan gushed after the alternate-shot win.

Said Leonard, "My teeth are sore from smiling all day long."