Rookie Jason Dufner confessed he continues to be haunted by the USA’s half-a-point loss to Europe at Medinah.
Dufner was among five rookies in the Davis Love 111 captained side.
Dufner’s Ryder Cup baptism of fire was teaming with Zach Johnson to face the European pair of England stalwart Lee Westwood and double Ryder Cup star, Francesco Molinari.
American Ryder Cup rookie, Jason Dufner admits he’s still haunted in losing to the Europeans at Medinah. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
And Dufner performed well with he and Johnson handing out a 3 & 2 defeat to the Europeans.
He and Johnson then teamed a day later to defeat Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Belgium rookie Nicolas Colsaerts.
However it was late on Saturday afternoon when the tide began to turn in favour of Europe when Ian Poulter, who was teamed with Rory McIlroy, birdied his five closing holes to defeat then then unbeaten duo of Dufner and Johnson.
But now some three weeks on and Dufner, who has travelled to Australia for the Perth International, confessed he’s still worried by the events at Medinah.
“I often catch myself thinking about it and I think about how could I have gained another point for the team,” said Dufner.
“We were pretty close to winning the Ryder Cup. The European Team had a great day on Sunday. A lot of guys on the team were disappointed about, you know, what had happened.
“There’s a lot of guys, and that was my first Ryder Cup, but there was a lot of guys on that team that have lost a lot of Ryder Cups lately.
“You know, when you have that lead going into Sunday, maybe you look ahead a little bit and thinking, man, this might be the time we win, and when it doesn’t happen, you know, that was really disappointing.
“So I’ve been thinking about what could I have done better, where could I have maybe picked up another half point, how could I have helped my teammates more, my captains more.
“It’s been a tough couple weeks since the Ryder Cup for myself, and toughest thing about it is you’ve got to wait two years again until you can play again. That’s a long time for us.
“Personally, if you have a bad event, or if you fall on your face on the last nine holes, you know that you have another event around the corner to kind of redeem yourself.
“But in that event, you have to wait two more years to have a chance to kind of get back and win the thing.
“So there’s a lot of different dynamics with the Ryder Cup and kind of failing how we did as a team and losing the event. So it’s been a tough couple weeks but I’m looking forward to kind of playing golf again and getting over it and moving past it a little bit.”
The 35-year-old Alabama resident is no stranger to Down Under, having played in several events there over the years.
“I always enjoy playing here in Australia,” he said on the eve of the tournament.
“I’ve played in Adelaide four or five times. I played the Aussie Masters in Melbourne a couple years ago. So I’ve always enjoyed coming over here and the opportunity presented itself to come over here and play during this time period when our tour is a little bit slower now with the FedEx Cup being over and our regular season being over.
“I’m going to play in Malaysia next week, so that’s a closer journey to Malaysia than from all the way in the States, so it was just a nice fit for my schedule and a good opportunity to come over here and play and show the fans of Australia my game and play some golf over here.”
Those Aussie golf fans will be treated not only to Dufner – a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and member of the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team – but other top players as well. The field boasts 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and American Bo Van Pelt.
Dufner will be paired in the first round with Aussie Greg Chalmers – a PGA Tour regular – and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari, a stalwart on the European Tour.
