Afternoon foursome: The questions came thick and fast to Sergio Garcia, but one, in Spanish, prompted an answer, in Spanish, that left everyone but the inquisitor confused and seemed to have no end.

Eventually, England's Luke Donald, his foursomes partner, nudged the player who is the life and soul of this European team in the arm, urging him that it was time to move on.

"I can't stop, he's just been telling me that I've been playing s**t and I'm trying to make him realise I'm having a pretty decent summer," remarked Garcia to his colleague-in-arms.

How anyone could question Garcia's game on this day of all days was astonishing. Garcia lives and breaths the Ryder Cup, and his day's work spoke volumes for his contribution. Two matches, two wins.

In the afternoon foursomes, the Spaniard teamed-up with Donald for a two-hole win over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. How good is that?

Donald, who had surprisingly been omitted from the morning fourballs, and who won't play in that format again today either, got off to a shaky start in his foursomes match with Garcia but gradually found his rhythm to forge a strong partnership that claimed the ultimate scalp.

"I hit a horrible tee shot (on the first) again for my first tee shot in the Ryder Cup and I hit a pretty poor iron shot on the third hole too.

" I think when you miss the morning and come straight into the foursomes, there's a lot more pressure on individual shots," said Donald.

Ultimately, though, the Garcia-Donald partnership was to record a prized victory over the top American duo. In fact, it was the only foursomes match that had a decisive outcome, as the other three were all halved in quite contrasting fashion.

"I'm just really lucky, I get really good team-mates," replied Garcia when quizzed about his Ryder Cup record, that now sees him with seven foursomes wins since he made his team debut in 1999.

In truth, Donald may have wondered if the Garcia magic had disappeared on a couple of occasions early on in the back nine.

Having turned with a one-hole advantage on the two Americans, and gone two-up with a win in par on the 10th when Woods missed a short putt that was on the verge of being a gimme, Garcia's wedge approach from 139 yards on the 11th was so poor that he left the unfortunate Donald with no shot from the rough.

The Englishman failed to find the green with his recovery, and their advantage fell to just one hole.

By the time they walked off the 14th green, the match was all-square after Woods hit in a glorious four-iron tee shot to four feet and Furyk sank the birdie putt.

And when Furyk again rolled in an eight-footer for birdie on the 16th to halve the hole after Garcia's magical touch with the sand wedge from 108 yards left the ball just 18 inches from the cup, you wondered if the perseverance of Woods and Furyk would lead to the Europeans cracking.

Not a bit of it!

On the 17th, with 153 yards to the pin, Garcia's nine-iron approach left Donald with a four-foot birdie putt, which he holed.

The passion exuded by Garcia spread to Donald, who allowed himself a clenched fist to the mass of spectators packed around the green.

And there were high-fives to beat the band between Garcia and Donald when they also claimed the 18th, in par, after Furyk's untypical error in pulling his approach to the final green into the lake.

Furyk had 230 yards to the green on the 18th hole, but knew instantly that he was in trouble.

"I made a bad swing, caught the ball on the toe and got it hooking. I just did everything you shouldn't do," said Furyk, while Woods conceded: "We just weren't able to get it together."

The broadest smiles belonged to Garcia, a player who loves all that the Ryder Cup stands for, the demands it places on a player's mental strength and his golf game.

"I just love the Ryder Cup. I couldn't live without it, it's just amazing. I guess that drives me on even harder in this event."

Donald's omission from the morning fourballs caused him some disappointment.

"I want to be out there as much as I can, but it is a tough decision Woosie has with 12 players playing pretty well right now. It's working. I mean, we're 5-3 up, so you can't argue with what the captain has done," he said.

With his omission again from the second series of this afternoon's fourball matches, it seems that Donald is destined to only play another round of foursomes - most probably with Garcia - before tomorrow's singles.

Donald and Garcia

bt Woods and Furyk 2 holes