Ryder Cup notes: Tom Watson hears from critics early

GLENEAGLES, Scotland — — Second-guessing ranks as a time-honored tradition at the Ryder Cup, and team captains face most of the scrutiny.

On Friday, the start of competition at Gleneagles, U.S. captain Tom Watson opened himself up to criticism on two fronts.

The biggest debate centered on his afternoon benching of red-hot rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, who won convincingly over Ian Poulter and Stephen Gallacher in the morning.

“I felt like in alternate shot, [Spieth] and I would have been great to go back out and take the momentum of what we had just done,” Reed said. “But at the end of the day, Captain Watson, he picks pairings for a reason.”

The other question aimed at Watson involved his selection of Webb Simpson as a wild-card player.

Earlier in the week, Simpson talked about lobbying Watson for one of the three discretionary slots on the roster. An Internet report cited unnamed sources saying the captain had someone else in mind before receiving a late-night text from Simpson.

“That rumor, whether it’s true or not, I don’t really care,” Simpson said. “It doesn’t affect me and how I play.”

On Friday, the former U.S. Open winner never looked comfortable as he and Bubba Watson fell, 5 and 4, to Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.

“Obviously, being a captain’s pick, you want to have a good Ryder Cup to show your captain that you were a good pick and a value to the team,” Simpson said.

Hometown hero

Gallacher made good on a golfer’s dream as a Scotsman playing in the Ryder Cup on his home soil. When he walked on the course, the crowd exploded in cheers.

“The first tee was magic, just exactly what I was expecting,” he said.

But the raucous start might have put him off-kilter as he and Poulter fell behind early. Gallacher said: “It took me a few holes to kind of settle in and find my rhythm.”

Stinging shot

Not everything went well for Rose, who suffered a bee sting on his right thumb. The former U.S. Open winner said he deserved it.

“I hit a terrible shot into the water hazard on the ninth and I was sort of searching for my golf ball,” he said. “The next thing, I don’t know if it’s a bee sting or a wasp, but anyway, I had the barb of the insect inside me.”

With his thumb swelling, he took an antihistamine and continued play, saying: “I hit a nice putt on 10 and I thought, OK, no worries.”

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