Nick Faldo Might Be Worst European Ryder Cup Captain Ever, U.S. Leads After Day 1

Somewhere in the United Kingdom, Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke are having a good chuckle. It's early -- we're only one day into the 37th Ryder Cup -- but the European squad is in an unfamiliar position: down after seven matches. Specifically, they trail the United States, underdogs on paper and in real life, 5-2.

And part of the reason for the early-on beatdown is because captain Nick Faldo, known just as much for his quirky disposition and sometimes vindictive personality as for his six major victories, thought it would be great fun to go with Ian Poulter and Paul Casey over grizzled Cup veterans Monty and Clarke. So far, so bad on that front.

The U.S. got off to a 3-1 lead after the morning foursomes, but Faldo inexplicably decided to break up the Lee Westwood-Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington-Robert Karlsson pairings for the afternoon four-ball, even though they were the only groups to earn points (halves, as it turned out).

Instead, Harrington was paired with Graeme McDowell, and Sergio with Miguel Angel Jimenez (Johnny Miller's a big fan, by the way). The result: 0-2. For more perspective, when Poulter and Justin Rose are the only group on the European side to win a match in seven tries, things are pretty dire.

For the Americans, things couldn't have gone better: FIGJAM and Anthony Kim earned 1.5 points and Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan added two more. J.B. Holmes, who could be a porn star after this weekend, and Boo Weekley are still on the course (1 up, through 16), and are easily the two most popular guys on the property. Partly because they're playing well, but also because they're making the redneck contingent proud to be, well, rednecks.

There's still a long way to go -- the U.S. needs 13.5 points to win back the Cup -- but this is the best start for the Americans in almost 20 years. As for Faldo: he might want to think about where he'll go after this is all over. Apparently, there's already some discussion about running him out of Great Britain should the Euros falter.