Euros fantastic value for money

IT took until 10 minutes past five local time for the Americans to win a match on the opening day of the 35th Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills yesterday.

The fist-waving duo of Chris DiMarco and Jay Haas beat Miguel-Angle Jimenez and debutant Thomas Levet by 3 and 2, but otherwise there was little or nothing for the usually noisy Detroit fans to cheer.

Having been crushed 3½ to ½ in the morning fourballs, they were being treated in similarly ruthless fashion by the Europeans in the other afternoon fourballs. The irrepressible Pádraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie restored the morning status quo with a 16th green defeat of Davis Love and Fred Funk, while Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, three down after five against Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, fought back so effectively that they were one ahead with four to play.

And in the last match, Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald held a two-hole advantage over Kenny Perry and Stewart Cink after 14.

It all added up to a fantastic first day for Europe, who got off to just the start they wanted before lunch. Try getting your head around this - not one of the four US combinations ever got ahead in any of their fourball matches and so there wasn't a red figure in sight. At lunch it was a remarkable 3-0 scoreline to Europe with just one halved match to save a tiny bit of grace for the home side.

Even then, it needed a gutsy seven-footer by rookie Chris Riley on the home green to spare a whitewash of the American side. He and Stewart Cink managed a half-point against Paul McGinley and Graeme Donald, but otherwise it was a case of blue figures all the way.

Montgomerie got the match off to the ideal start for Bernhard Langer's men with a birdie at the 1st, a clear signal to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson that they were in for the fight of their lives against Monty and Harrington.

The Euros were to stay out in front all through. The players coming behind saw what was happening and they and their captain Bernhard Langer agreed that the manner in which Monty and Pádraig were outplaying and outscoring Tiger and Phil was a huge confidence booster.

In truth, though, Darren Clarke and Miguel-Angel Jimenez were so much in control of their contest with Davis Love and Chad Campbell that they were able to turn it all into a casual stroll on a cold autumnal morning. The Spanish-Irish duo sprinkled birdies around the place like confetti and, if anything, the Americans did well to bring it as far as the 14th.

The only tight match saw the splendid English rookie Luke Donald and Paul McGinley hunted all the way home by Riley and Cink, and a half at the end of it all was probably a fair outcome.

There was never a hole between them, so it was fitting in a way that Riley should have knocked in his nerve-wracking final green putt. But the contest also demonstrated that Europe may well have discovered a little gem in Donald, whose two iron of 208 yards into the strong crosswind at the 18th never left the flag and settled 18 feet behind.

He may not have struck the best of putts but his cast iron par ensured that the Europeans were really sitting pretty at the break.

The suspicion that, for once, the Americans were the side lacking in depth gained momentum when Jim Furyk, who has been dogged by a hand injury for a long time, and the out of form David Toms, were ruthlessly exposed by the rampant Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood who won three of their four matches at The Belfry in 2002 and stylishly picked up where they had left off then.

Toms and Furyk stumbled tamely to a comprehensive 5 and 3 thrashing.

"I'm thrilled and so are the players", enthused Langer after the fourballs point-fest.

"It was a big win for Pádraig and right behind Darren and Miguel were awesome.

"Darren played some of the best golf he's every played. Paul and Luke had a tough game and the key was not to lose."

So you can easily understand the frustration of the home fans. No matter where they turned, their men were being put to the swords by a bunch of smiling, cheerful Europeans whose mood contrasted strongly with that of their own players.

Skipper Hal Sutton must have been dismayed at seeing how Woods and Mickelson were cowed and bullied by Montgomerie and Harrington who squeezed them dry with their unrelenting golf that saw them out in 30, five under par, and seven below regulation at the conclusion of the 17 holes.

However, just to prove how stubborn he is, Sutton refused to bend. Yes, Woods and Mickelson haven't always seen eye to eye but having bitten the bullet, he wasn't going to admit he was wrong.

So he paired them together once again in the foursomes in which they came up against Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood.

Nor did you need to be mind reader to appreciate what the result meant to Montgomerie.

"Just like last year with the singles, it was worth almost two points to us psychologically", said the Scot.

"It was like the singles last time, the other guys were boosted to see us ahead early on. It made for a super morning.

"I was delighted Pádraig wanted to play with me because believe me, I wanted to play with him. It was very important for us to get off to a good start and we did.

"We birdied the first four and you can't really do much against that. We dovetailed very well thanks to my Irish partner here. Fantastic golfer."