ATLANTA -- Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton have plenty in common.
They've both enjoyed breakthrough seasons in 2010. They each launch the golf ball massive distances and they will be two of five rookies competing for the United States in next week's Ryder Cup.
Oh, and here's another: Through one round so far in the Tour Championship, both players are struggling, posting matching scores of 5-over 75 to share last place at the FedEx Cup finale.
Which leads to one more: Neither of 'em are worried about what this means going into next week.
"It's just one of those things," said Watson, who posted a double-bogey and six bogeys on Thursday. "It's just one round. Everybody has bad rounds. It's no big deal."
In truth, Bubba has limped through a few of "those rounds" in recent weeks. Since losing in a playoff at the PGA Championship last month, he hasn't cracked the top-30 in three starts.
When it comes to the latest round, though, he maintains that East Lake Golf Club doesn't suit his bombs-away style.
"The golf course doesn't set up good for me," Watson said. "I've never played good here -- never played close to good here -- and that's the difference. Just not a fan of the golf course. It just doesn't set up good for me."
As for Overton, his round was doomed from the beginning.
"I missed a 2-footer on the first hole, then hit a bad 8-iron on the second hole," he explained. "It's just one of those things where I really didn't get into the round right away, for some reason."
Much like Watson, this has been a recurring theme for Overton recently. After opening the year with six top-10 finishes and 10 top-25s in his first 21 starts, he's failed to finish better than T-56 in his past four.
And just like his fellow Ryder Cup rookie, he doesn't believe these numbers portend poor results for next week's competition.
"I'm not worried one bit," said Overton, who joins Rickie Fowler as the first U.S. team members without a single career victory. "I'm usually a pretty consistent player. It's just hard to finish at the top. And this was just one of those days that didn't go my way."
If misery loves company, Overton and Watson might find themselves with plenty of friends on the Sunday night flight to Wales.
Of the nine U.S. Ryder Cup players in this week's field, they are joined by three others -- Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker -- on the bottom third of the leaderboard, while only Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan were under-par from that group.
What does it all mean? Maybe nothing. Maybe these players will turn it around in time to help their squad retain the trophy at Celtic Manor.
Or maybe -- despite the best efforts of Watson and Overton to assuage any fears -- it's time to start worrying about the form of many team members in advance of the Ryder Cup.
Jason Sobel is a golf writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn.com.
