Rookies' vital point keeps Europe on course

Ryder Cup new boys David Howell and Paul Casey came good when it mattered most today to keep Europe on course for a fourth Ryder Cup win in five matches.

With pride hurt, unwanted history made and points to prove, America came out with all guns blazing on the second morning at Oakland Hills.

Embarrassed by their biggest first day deficit ever and waking up to headlines like “Euro Thrash” and “Woe is US”, Hal Sutton’s side needed to respond quickly and they did.

Faced by a crowd which had turned up the volume control considerably, Europe’s grip on the 35th staging of what has become golf’s greatest event was prised apart.

But then came Howell and Casey, playing their first game and rising to the occasion magnificently.

One down with two to play to Jim Furyk and Chad Campbell, Howell birdied the difficult short 17th after a magnificent tee shot to six feet.

Then Casey was the only one of the four to par the 494-yard par four last, making a three-footer after Campbell had missed from twice as far.

It meant the session was taken by the United States “only” by 2 1/2-1 1/2 and going into the afternoon foursomes Europe, needing 14 points to retain the trophy, were 8-4 ahead.

Tiger Woods, beaten twice on the opening day for the third Ryder Cup running, led the fightback as Sutton predicted he would.

The world number two had debutant Chris Riley replacing off-form Phil Mickelson as his partner and they notched up the first point by beating Ian Poulter – playing his first game and unable to get going – and the previously unbeaten Darren Clarke four and three.

It was Riley who clinched victory with three birdies in the last four holes.

Fifty-year-old Jay Haas and Chris DiMarco, America’s only winner on the first day, then halved with Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia in a dramatic match which ended with the Europeans missing from eight and nine feet on the last two greens.

Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, like Westwood and Garcia, had won twice on Friday, but were never the same on their return and lost three and two to Stewart Cink and Davis Love.

Montgomerie was particularly off form and Langer took the decision to rest him before the singles,

Europe’s top-scorer of the last three matches becoming a spectator for the first time since his cup debut in 1991.

Sutton had sent his team back to their hotel on Friday night without telling them who was playing – and who, most notably Phil Mickelson, was not.

The Masters champion was dropped after losing twice with Woods and on his return to the course said: “I didn’t sleep last night – it was a brutal night."

Foursomes in the 35th Ryder Cup, United States v Europe, Oakland Hills, Detroit, Michigan:

Jay Haas and Chris DiMarco v Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood

Phil Mickelson and David Toms v Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Levet

Jim Furyk and Fred Funk v Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald

Davis Love and Tiger Woods v Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley

Boosted enormously by the success of Casey and Howell, Europe took the lead in the first three foursomes.

Haas and DiMarco made a complete mess of the first, Jimenez and Levet birdied the long second and then Furyk and Funk bogeyed the first.

Currently:

Clarke/ Westwood 1up thru 5

Jiminez/Levet 1up thru 4

Garcia/Donald 1up thru 3

Harrington/McGinley 1 down thru 2