Fatigued Riley takes breather

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Chris Riley's seemingly endless supply of energy ran out when the U.S. Ryder Cup team needed it most.

After teaming with Tiger Woods for a dominating win in better-ball on Saturday morning, the 30-year-old told U.S. captain Hal Sutton that he was too tired to come out for alternate-shot play in the afternoon.

"I'm pretty drained right now," Riley said after the 4-and-3 victory over Darren Clarke and Ian Poulter. "So I told (Sutton) I wasn't ready to go. And look at our U.S. team, we have tons of guys that will step up and play."

Maybe not.

Sutton paired Woods with Davis Love III for the afternoon match, but the two fell 4-and-3 to Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley. Woods just didn't look as comfortable without his childhood buddy from California by his side.

Woods seemed to feed off Riley's enthusiasm and emotion in his first victory of the weekend, smiling often and high-fiving the charismatic rookie.

But Riley, who has been one of the U.S. team's lone bright spots with 1 1/2 points in two matches, has been bouncing off the walls since arriving at Oakland Hills, and it may have caught up with him on Saturday.

"I just said, 'I'll do whatever you want me to do, but if it was up to me, I'm pretty emotionally drained, and let's get a fresh guy out there,' " said Riley, who also became a father for the first time on Sept. 2.

That didn't sit well with Sutton, who played five times in the Americans' 1999 win at Brookline.

"I said, 'A 42-year-old fat man in '99 went five straight matches, so I'm sure that a 30-year-old flat-belly that's hyper can go four, can't ya?' "

When Riley hesitated, Sutton didn't.

"I just thought, 'Well if he really doesn't feel like it, well then I'm not sure he can help us as much as somebody who is really energetic about being out there. So I went a different direction."

Love was a natural alternative after teaming with Woods for two wins at The Belfry in 2002.

But Woods wasn't the same with the reserved Love as his partner, and the lackluster loss helped Europe build an 11-5 lead by the day's end.

Riley was relegated to the role of cheerleader in his team's disastrous afternoon of alternate-shot play, even though his morning match went just 15 holes and he only played one match on Friday.