MEDINAH, Ill. -- Tiger Woods played so poorly losing his first match, Davis Love III might have been tempted to sit him down Friday afternoon in the Ryder Cup. The way his day ended encircled by thousands of fans in the dusk at Medinah Country Club, Woods might have wished Love had. A 12-footer that scraped the left edge of the cup on the final hole left Woods bent over in agony, a big loser again on the first day of the Ryder Cup. With it, a European team beaten badly in every other afternoon match suddenly had some hope for the weekend. And Love was left with another decision: Should he sit Woods down for the alternate-shot matches Saturday for the first time in any Ryder Cup he has played in? The U.S. captain did, meaning Woods will be nothing more than a cheerleader in the morning matches. But Love said it was a decision long in the making, not one based on the results of the first day. "We just felt like we didnt want anybody to play five matches on this golf course," Love said. It goes down in the books as two losses in two matches for Woods and playing partner Steve Stricker. But the difference in the two rounds was night and day. Woods nearly hit his opening tee shot out of bounds, hit a fan on the seventh hole, and struggled to do much of anything in the morning alternate shot matches. Then he went out and made seven birdies in better ball, only to be beaten by a Belgian who couldnt miss. Almost unbelievably, for the fourth time in seven Ryder Cups for Woods, he left the course on the first day without a point to show for it. "I drove it great this afternoon and was in position," Woods said, "but we ran into a guy who just made absolutely everything." The guy was Nicolas Colsaerts, who played with almost no help from Lee Westwood and ended up beating the greatest player of his time and his playing partner, one of the finest putters in the world. Colsaerts did it not by the long drives he is known for, but by making putts and lots of them. The last one came on the 17th hole when he sunk a 25-footer for his eighth birdie of the round -- plus an eagle -- after Woods had hit his tee shot to 4 feet for a birdie that would have evened the match. "Nicolas had one of the greatest putting rounds ever," Woods said. "There werent too many putts that he missed." One Colsaerts did miss was a 30-footer on the final hole that he cozied up to the hole for a par. With players from both teams standing next to the green watching, Woods had 12 feet for birdie to get the U.S. team a tie and a half point. He thought he, but the putt lipped out on the left. And for a few seconds, at least, Woods struggled to control his emotions. "We had a chance to all square on the last hole, and I missed it," Woods said. That Woods would be the centre of attention on the opening day wasnt surprising, despite Rory McIlroy having taken over as the No. 1 player in the world. That he would play so badly in the morning match was, since his game had been good for the last month or so in the PGA Tour playoffs. He was teamed with Stricker in the morning, too, against Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, who took the lead with a birdie on the fourth hole and never surrendered it. Woods and Stricker made more bogeys than birdies, and Poulter made a clutch putt on the 16th hole on the way to a 2 and 1 win for Europe. Woods said a quick talk with swing coach Sean Foley between rounds helped him turn his game around, even though the U.S. didnt get a point to show for it. That was largely due to Colsaerts and Stricker, who didnt make a birdie of his own past the seventh hole. Woods nearly pulled off the match by himself, making a curling downhill 25-footer on 16 to get the Americans within a hole, then stiffing his tee shot on the par-3 17 after Stricker had put it in the water. The losses dropped Woods to 13-16-2 in Ryder Cup play, and 9-15-1 when he has played with a partner. He has only played on one winning Ryder Cup team, the 1999 team that came back to win on the final day. officialraybansunglassesoutl... . Beachy improved his major league-best ERA with a five-hitter and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-0 Thursday night. [url=http://www.officialraybansunglassesoutlet.com/]Ray Ban Aviators Sunglasses .cas NFL Editor Justin Boone and Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen will compare fantasy football rankings and provide justification for some of the more notable differences in their opinions. http://www.officialraybansun... . And Monday night in St. Paul, he did it in style. Rusch pitched 7.1 innings, allowing no runs on just four hits as the Goldeyes shutout the St. [url=http://www.officialraybansunglassesoutlet.com/]ray ban outlet . GOOD NIGHT AND VERY GOOD LUCKWith the desire for immediate judgement becoming more prevalent, thanks to the Interwebs and so on, it was popular early in the 2012 NFL season to question the Indianapolis Colts for drafting Andrew Luck, the consenus No. ray ban sunglasses for sale . PETERSBURG, Fla. FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Even after a year that didnt come close to his expectations, Nick Watney wasnt about to give up on his season. Amazing how one week changed his outlook in so many ways. He beat one of the strongest fields of the year at The Barclays, on the tough track of Bethpage Black. Winning the opening playoff event for the FedEx Cup guarantees him a good shot at the $10 million prize. And suddenly, playing in the Ryder Cup becomes a lot more realistic. That all came into play Sunday when Watney didnt miss a green until the 16th hole, turned a two-shot deficit against Sergio Garcia into a three-shot lead, overcame a trio of three-putt bogeys with clutch birdies, and closed with a 2-under 69 for a three-shot victory. Graham DeLaet (65) of Weyburn, Sask., fired the best round of the day to wind up in a four-way tie for fifth, four shots off the lead at 6 under. "Its been not quite the year I wanted," Watney said. "But this really makes it all forgotten. Winning a tournament is hard, but winning out here and against this field was very, very difficult. Im kind of still on a high right now." U.S. captain Davis Love III has a lot more choices for his four wild-card selections next week. Watney won by three shots over Brandt Snedeker, who already was part of the discussion as a potential pick. Snedeker, a winner in San Diego and a contender in the British Open, battled to the end and made big putts on the last two holes for a 1-under 70 to finish alone in second. Dustin Johnson, also under consideration as a pick, shot 68 and tied for third with Garcia, whose bogey on the final hole gave him a 75. Not even Watney thought he was worthy of being picked for the Ryder Cup going into the week. "Im thinking much more now than I was coming in," he said. "Coming in here, I didnt deserve to be in the conversation because I had not played my way in. Someone told me that Davis said he wanted a hot player, and we still have a week to go. But like I said, Id love to be on the team. But Im not really concerned with it just because its out of my control." Love will announce his picks after the second playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, which ends on Labor Day. Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk are likely to be two of those picks, and the other two suddenly are wide open. "Ryder Cup is definitely on my mind," Snedeker said. "But Im not letting it affect the way I play. Try to win every golf tournament. It gives me more motivation to do it, and if I do that, I know I will make the decision easy for them. "Davis has an extremely difficult choice with a bunch of guys who did not play well enough over the last two years to be on the team. You cant go wrong with any of them. I think that its certainly helped everybody who played well this week." Watney, who won for the fifth time in his career, finished on 10-under 278. In what amounted to a duel with Garcia for so much of the day, Watney fell two shots behind after he three-putted for bogey on the fifth hole and Garcia made a 40-footer for birdie on the next hole. Garcia, going for his second straight PGA Tour win, never had much of a chance after that. "I hit a couple bad shots at the wrong moments," Garcia ssaid.dddddddddddd "And unfortunately, I just wasnt feeling comfortable." Watney two-putted for birdie on the seventh. On the par-3 eighth, Garcia scrambled for bogey from the bunker, while Watney holed a bending, 30-foot birdie putt to take his first lead of the day. Another two-shot swing followed on the 10th, when Garcia three-putted and Watney hit a beautiful approach to 4 feet for birdie. Both were sloppy on the back nine, but Watney hit all the right shots and seized control for good with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 14th. "I made more putts than I made all year," Watney said. He credits that to some tips from Darrell Kestner, the respected club pro at nearby Deepdale, a lesson set up by a friend. Kestner worked on his setup, mainly keeping Watney from leaning to far back on his heels. "It paid off," Watney said. Tiger Woods, six shots behind at the start of the day, never made a move. He alternated between bogeys and birdies until the sixth hole, and his round imploded on the back nine with a three-putt double bogey on the 12th, a poor wedge that led to bogey on the par-5 13th, and a tee shot on the par-3 14th that sailed over the green and one-hopped against the gallery. He closed with a 76 and tied for 38th. Woods left without speaking to CBS Sports or any other media. It was this third 72-hole tournament over par this year, the other two coming at majors. Bethpage Black didnt feel like one on Sunday. After a third round in which several players felt the greens were close to dead and nearly impossible to putt, there was plenty of water on them overnight. High scores were more a product of bad play, and it was difficult for anyone to make up too much ground because conditions were comparable throughout the day. And while it was effectively a two-man race for much of the day, there was plenty at stake in the FedEx Cup. Only the top 100 players advance to the Deutsche Bank for the second of four playoff events. The biggest move belonged to Graham DeLaet of Canada, who started the week at No. 106 and was right on the bubble going into the final round. It turned out way better than DeLaet could have imagined. Despite back-to-back bogeys on the front nine, he answered with four birdies on his next seven holes, and then holed out with on the 15th for eagle with a 9-iron from 161 yards. He closed with two birdies for a Sunday-best 65. Not only did he advance, DeLaet moved up 62 spots to No. 44 and should be safe for the next two tournaments. "I guess a lot of people think theres too much volatility in it, but it was in my favour," DeLaet said. "If you can have one really good event, you can catapult yourself up. And now I feel I have a chance to get into the Tour Championship, where this morning I was just hoping to play next week." It was a good day for another Canadian -- David Hearn. Playing with Woods, he closed with a 71 and moved from No. 108 to No. 67. The other four from outside the top 100 who moved in were Jonas Blixt, Tommy Gainey and Jason Day, who closed with a 66. The odd man out was John Mallinger, who started the week at No. 88 and missed the cut. He became the highest-seeded player to fail to advance since this FedEx Cup playoff system began in 2007. ' ' '