Clarke and Bjorn leave Tiger licking wounds
Clarke and Bjorn against Woods and Azinger? American win. Garcia and Westwood against Duval and Love? 2-0 Yanks; Monty and Langer should take Hoch and Furyk, but Harrington and Fasth would succumb to Mickelson and Toms. Three-one to the US, and Sam Torrance's brave but doomed Europeans already chasing the game with only one session of golf completed.
The scoreline was accurate but it was the blood-red tops of Europe in the driving seat and Curtis Strange was left wondering where all the much-vaunted security at The Belfry was after his men were mugged, relieved of their superiority complex and left licking their wounds.
Even at that, only Mickelson and Toms saved American face and then only because gravity denied Harrington's putt to halve at the 18th.
Monty and Langer won as expected against Hoch and Furyk, with the American's bearing the demeanour of men who had stepped in something particularly unpleasant on the first tee. In the end it was merely egg on their faces after a 4 & 3 pasting they were simply incapable of defending themselves against.
Garcia and Westwood, with the Englishman unexpectedly providing four of the five birdies that gave them a similar 4 and 3 win over the heavily favoured Love and Duval, did the business in spectacular style.
"We're disappointed with the outcome," said Duval, "especially as we felt we were on the verge of playing really well."
Love concurred. "They made critical putts from seven through eleven, and I missed two putts on four and five and we might have been two up rather than one down. If we'd got those putts, then we'd have been off and running and when we didn't, we were up against it."
However, Clarke and Bjorn were the real early day stars for Europe. The Americans were round in nine under par and still lost.
The Tyrone man started this incredible game with a three-hole birdie blitz and although Tiger matched two of those, the Europeans had a one-hole lead. Azinger birdied the fifth to level it and Woods and Bjorn birdied the sixth to keep this titanic battle right on the line.
"Darren got off to a great start and that calmed me down," Bjorn said.
After nine, the European pair were down for a 32 (four under) and Woods and Azinger had totalled 31.
At this point though, it was the Dane who was about to take on the birdie baton for the Europeans. He birdied the tenth to level the match and on the Par 3 12th, he rolled in another to put them one ahead. Even the mighty Tiger was looking nonplussed, although the Americans were certainly not buckling. With just one hole between them it was going down to the wire.
Clarke and Azinger birdied the 13th and shared par threes on the next to maintain the status quo.
The galleries following the game were 20 deep by now and the tension hung over The Belfry. Everyone found dry land off the 18th tee, with Europe one up and all but Clarke on short grass. His anxious drive whizzing by Woods' three wood to creep into the light rough.
His lie was not great, which made his approach to 12 feet all the more remarkable. Woods duly matched that with a replica shot to the same distance, but there were gasps of horror from the crowd when Zinger put his to 20 inches.
Clarke conceded Azinger's putt and the Europeans were left with two chances to match the birdie and take the match. They only needed one. Bjorn drained it to claim the first scalp of the weekend.
Although they were the first match out on the course Monty and Langer and Westwood and Garcia had effectively closed out their games and Europe were left with a three-one lead.
Azinger described the Europeans as having "ham and egged it to death", Yankeespeak for dovetailing.
Woods too was generous in his analysis of Clarke and Bjorn. "Thomas played beautifully on the back nine. I think he shot five under par. For us it was a matter of trying to make as many putts as we could, but it just wasn't enough."
Clarke reckoned himself and the Dane knew they had to play well to win. "The thing was that we were making birdies all over the place, but so were they. I mean, they shot 63 and lost. You've got to trust yourself. We're both professional players; we can play the game," he said sagely.
As the captain had said on Thursday, both men are proven 'Tiger killers'. They proved it again yesterday morning.
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