McIlroy and McDowell the real deal in white heat of battle

GOLF/DAY ONE FOURSOMES:TWO RORY McIlroys showed up at Medinah yesterday. Seriously! One of them had all the swagger and flair of the world's number one golfer. He wore a lime green sweater with black trimmings. The real deal. The other was an impersonator who wore Union Jack trousers, a tricolour flag wrapped around his body and a wig of black curly hair. Seriously!

A case of Halloween arriving early? Or, perhaps, just typical of the type of spectator with an identity crisis attracted to the Ryder Cup. Whatever about the whys of donning such garb to imitate the Boy Wonder, the real McIlroy was doing what he usually does these days: winning on the golf course!

And, yet again, McIlroy – nowadays disavowed of any notion that this biennial shindig is a mere exhibition – had a strong man by his side in the shape of Graeme McDowell.

On the first tee, in the morning chill, as Freddie “Boom Boom” Couples took on the role of conductor and orchestrated the crowd into a a chorus of U-S-A and alternatively Óle chants, McDowell made a seamless transition from winning the last singles of the 2010 match to hitting the opening tee shot of the 2012 match. Okay, so it wasn’t a thing of beauty – pulled left into the trees – but, for the most part, what followed thereafter confirmed the stature of the two Northern Irishmen as a formidable duo.

Just how formidable? The bonhomie evident on the first tee – where Messrs McIlroy and McDowell and Messrs Furyk and Snedeker smiled and joked and shook hands – was replaced by a chill on the second green where McDowell was denied a free drop from an intrusive sprinkler.

“Play it where it lies,” shouted a voice from the gallery as referee David Price finally got to the scene to give a verdict. And, going by the strictest rule book, the decision was most probably the right one. All the same, it sent out an indicator – no favours asked for or given – and the two Macs rolled up their sleeves and got down to the serious business of leading from the front.

Irony after irony followed that refusal of relief from the sprinkler head. Firstly, McIlroy and McDowell grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck by going on a birdie blitz from the fourth hole to the seventh, a run of four successive birdies; and, secondly, it seemed as if fate decreed that Furyk and Snedeker would forever be calling upon the rules official thereafter for relief from sprinkler heads, sewer lids, merchandised bags and all manner of stuff.

Furyk was also required to call a penalty shot on himself on the 10th hole, where – in making a practice swing with his wedge from the back of the green – he disturbed the grass next to his ball and caused it to move. The Americans lost that 10th hole – a bogey to a conceded birdie – and dropped further behind on the 11th where Snedeker’s approach shot was tugged left. Furyk got relief firstly from a bag and then from a shore cover but couldn’t rescue the situation and the Irish duo moved three shots up.

In fairness to Furyk and Snedeker, their response was to show their mettle with a par win on the par-three 13th (where McIlroy’s pitch from the back of the green ran 10 feet past the hole) and then winning birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to claw back the three-hole deficit and make it all square.

In the end, it all came down to who could keep their nerve best. On the 18th, Snedeker’s tee shot was pushed some 40 yards into the trees; McIlroy’s huge drive clipped the branch of a tree and fortunately kicked on to a decent lie in the semi-rough. Furyk had no option but to punch a recovery shot up the fairway. McDowell’s approach found a greenside bunker. Snedeker’s wedge approach finished 20 feet below the cup. McIlroy’s bunker shot was splashed out to seven feet. Furyk missed his par-saving putt.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Again. McDowell – Europe’s hero from Celtic Manor – rolled in the seven-footer to secure a one hole win. “Welcome to the Ryder Cup, hope you enjoyed yourself,” voiced McDowell to his girlfriend, Kristin Snape, as he walked off the green.

“My job is fairly easy. I’ve got the best player in the world beside me and he makes my job extremely easy,” said a rather too modest McDowell after getting the foursomes point on board.