Sam Torrance and his European side will take a 4¿-3¿ lead into the second day of the 34th Ryder Cup at the Belfry following a day of high drama and exemplary golf here at the Warwickshire venue.
Three Irishmen were on show in the afternoon foursomes but unfortunately none could muster a single point between them. Darren Clarke, who won in the morning with his same playing partner Thomas Bjorn against Tiger Woods and Paul Azinger, surrendered a strong position to lose by 2&1 to Hal Sutton and rookie Scott Verplank in the top match.
The all-Irish combination of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley had no answer to the constant onslaught from Jim Furyk and another rookie Stuart Cink in the final match. The Dubliners went down by 3&2.
"I'm disappointed to have lost on my debut, we played well but were up against two guys on top of their game," remarked McGinley afterwards. "This is typical Ryder Cup stuff with results ebbing and flowing during the day," offered the Dubliner after the European's two point morning lead was halved by the end of the day.
Yet again, Sergio Garcia and a rejuvenated Lee Westwood proved to be the backbone of the Euroepan side, earning their win of the day. This time it came against none other than Tiger Woods and Mark Calcavecchia by a 2&1 margin.
"It's great to see Lee play so well," enthused Garcia. "We gelled so well together and I'm happy not only for his supporters but for himself," added the Spaniard.
Asked how satisfying it was to scalp Woods, Garcia played down the head-to-head reference. "This is the Ryder Cup, it's not about me and Tiger. Everything we did today gives us a boost," said the inspirational 22-year-old.
Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer failed to maintain their 100 per cent record after squandering a three hole lead with just four to play. Phil Mickelson and David Toms made three birdies in a row to force the match up the last all square. Both made bogeys and shared the point.
Earlier today Harrington horse-shoed his 10 foot putt at the last to halve the match with Mickelson and Toms while playing alongside Niclas Fasth. And this afternoon Clarke and Bjorn squandered a two advantage after 12 holes to eventually lose.
It is these sort of permutations that could prove costly by the end of the week. That said, let this not take away from an excellent collective team performance from the side who were most definitely considered underdogs before play started this morning.
The US Captain Curtis Strange will feel the more relieved of the two captains after today's play even though they trail by a point. He warned his team this matchplay business was going to be tough and so it proved:
"If any of my players thought it was going to be easy, they were proved otherwise today. They know it's going to be tough...but as for the afternoon comeback, we had no choice," said Strange.
Torrance was full of praise for all his players who helped taking a lead into the second day: "I'm proud of all the guys today, they fought hard and both teams played well." Asked if he felt the Europeans missed chances to go further ahead, the Scot replied gruffly, "We're ahead aren't we, that'll do me," he concluded.
One noticeable omission from Torrance's pairings for tomorrow is the sidelining of Harrington. One of the `rocks' of the European team was up against it in both matches and failed to win any points and has thus been given a rest.
Tomorrow's Foursomes:
8amP Fulke and P Price v P Mickelson and D Toms
8.15amS Garcia and L Westwood v J Furyk and S Cink
8.30amC Montgomerie and B Langer v S Verplank and S Hoch
8.45amD Clarke and T Bjorn v T Woods and D Love III