Beautiful Sunday sees Europe take lead into historic Monday (4th Lead)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Oct 3, 2010, 17:59 GMT

Newport, Wales - Europe had a beautiful Sunday as they continued where they left off on Saturday evening, managing to pick up five and a half of the six points on offer at the Ryder Cup.

The near-whitewash gives Europe a 9.5-6.5 lead ahead of the 12 singles matches which will, for the first time in Ryder Cup history, be played on Monday.

Play again had to be suspended for several hours as overnight rain made the Celtic Manor Resort course in Newport, Wales water-logged and as a result organizers said that play would only resume midday on Sunday and the 12 singles matches would be played on Monday.

Europe drew first blood early on as Lee Westwood and Luke Donald picked up the first point of the day for their team.

The pair, playing in a foursome against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, managed to birdie the first four holes they played when play resumed early afternoon on Sunday.

As the Americans, however, also managed to birdie the 12th, the match was only decided at the 13th, where Westwood managed to hole a six-foot putt, which gave the Europeans the game 6&5.

It was the first defeat for the Stricker/Woods combination in international competition and cut the US lead in the standings to just one point at 6-5.

It was also Woods' heaviest Ryder Cup defeat ever.

American captain Corey Pavin paid a tribute to Westwood and Donald. 'I have to say that they played very well.

'It happens sometimes. Woods and Stricker played well in their first two matches, but then it did not work for them in their third. I think it was a combination of their opponents playing well and them not playing well.'

The Irish duo of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy then added a second point for the Europeans, beating Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson 3&2 in the second foursomes.

McIlroy, who holed a nine-foot putt on the par-3 17th for a birdie after Johnson had missed his birdie putt, said that they knew the US were eager to try to turn things around after being down in all six matches on the course at the end of play on Saturday.

'We knew their intentions early with Zach holing that big putt on the eighth green. We then came back and made a good birdie on 11 and then just kept them at a nice distance.

'It was great to get a win on the board for Europe and it was great to win those first two matches. It really filters down to the rest of the team, and that gave the boys still playing a bit of confidence.'

Ross Fisher was on song in his fourball with Padraig Harrington as he added three birdies to the three he played on Saturday to anchor a 2&1 victory against Jim Furyk and Dustin Johnson.

It was Fisher who holed the final putt for a birdie at the 17th to put Europe 7-6 ahead.

Harrington paid a tribute to Fisher. 'Quality-wise, he certainly played the best golf anybody has probably ever seen in a Ryder Cup, he made all the shots, holed all the putts. He really did play awesome.'

Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jimenez added another point to the Europeans as Jimenez birdied the 16th to put them 1-up with 2 to play and as neither of the American rookies Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton managed to find a birdie on the two remaining holes Europe won 2-up.

PGA champion Martin Kaymer and playing partner Ian Poulter found the form when they needed it after allowing Phil Mickelson and Ricki Fowler back into the match.

Kaymer managed a par-4 on the 14th when the Americans played a bogey and Poulter birdied the 15th to put the Europeans 2-up through 15 and it was a lead they were not going to give away as they saw out the match on the 17th, winning 2&1.

The only European blemish on the day came through the Molinari brothers - Edoardo and Francesco - who halved their match against Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar.

They did, however, win the final hole for half a point as Francesco, whose putting has been poor so far in the competition, managed a birdie.

Earlier Sunday, organizers announced that the concluding 12 singles matches would be played on Monday after the water-logged course made play impossible until midday.

Players were due to tee off early Sunday in an attempt to make up some of the backlog after pouring rain forced a seven-hour break in play on Friday, but organizers said that rain falling throughout Saturday night had resulted in a water-logged course.

It is the first time in the history of the competition, which sees 12-man teams from the United States take on their European counterparts, that play will have to go into Monday.

The organizers said that only spectators with tickets for Sunday would be admitted to the course on Monday and that there would be no tickets on sale to the general public.

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