Only two times in the last ten Ryder Cup Matches as the team in Red, White and Blue led after day one of the competition.  Today marked the first time since 1982 that the American squad emerged victorious in both team sessions on the first day of the event.

Captain Azinger too a few risks and the risks paid off as the PGA Tour player, major champion and avid poker player led his mixture of inexperienced Ryder Cup Rookies and under performing stars to a 5 1/2 - 2 1/2 day one lead. 

Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan exemplified the American team from the very beginning.  After getting off to a slow start, losing the first two with bogeys, the two Texans kept firing their guns and the result was 2 points for the Americans at the end of the day.  Captain Azinger kept another dynamic duo together for both the morning and afternoon.  The number two ranked player in the world, Phil Mickelson was paired with young gun, Anthony Kim.  Kim and Mickelson were a bad bunker shot away from tallying two points of their own, but instead settled for 1 1/2 points for the day. 

The other American tandem to put a mark in the win column was the pairing of Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell.  Three down at one point during their match and off to a rough start, Campbell commented, ''It was a rough start. We started on the front nine and I couldn't get Stewart in the fairway, but I definitely knew one shot at a time and we could fight our way back into it, and we did.". 

A Shocker
The schedule was set for day two of the Ryder Cup late on Friday night and two names were suspiciously left out of the line up.  Sergio Garcia, undefeated in his foursomes play (8-0-1), will sit out Friday morning.  Lee Westwood, fighting a buot of tonsilitis and a regular partner of Garcia's is also riding the pine.  During a time when Captain Faldo needs his best to perform at their best, he is looking to Graeme McDowell, Oliver Wilson, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Jimenez and Henrik Stenson to spark a comeback on this Saturday in Louisville, KY.