Beautiful Sunday could herald sunny Monday for Europe (Roundup)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Oct 3, 2010, 19:28 GMT

Newport, Wales - Europe are hoping that a beautiful Ryder Cup Sunday will turn into a sunny Monday as they take a three-point lead into the concluding 12 singles matches.

A near-whitewash of 5.5 to 0.5 points on Sunday sees Europe needing to win just five of the matches on Monday - the first time that play in the competition continues into a fourth day.

After overnight rain on Saturday made the Celtic Manor Resort course waterlogged and unplayable on Sunday morning, the golfers only returned to the course shortly after midday.

And even though the sun struggled to break through the clouds, it turned out to be a beautiful day for Colin Montgomerie's team as Europe picked up 5.5 of the 6 points on offer to take a three point lead into the final day.

'To turn a two-point deficit into a three-point advantage for us is simply amazing,' he said.

With the weather forecast predicting no rain and partly sunny for Monday, Europe is hoping it will be a bright finish for them as they set out to win the Ryder Cup, in which a 12-man European team compete against their American counterparts, for the 11th time.

In 1989 they retained the cup, even though they drew 14-14 as they were the defending champions.

Going into Sunday's play, captain Montgomerie had asked his players to win back the momentum they had given away in the first two sessions and his players rose to the occasion.

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald picked up the first point of the day for their team early on and from then, there was no looking back.

The English pair won their foursomes 6&5, inflicting the first defeat on Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods in international competition. It was also Woods' heaviest Ryder Cup defeat ever.

'Monty wanted us to go out and make a fast start this afternoon and get some momentum going,' Westwood said.

'And winning was just the right way. It got the crowd up for it and got them cheering so everyone else can hear it around the golf course and they can see a big winning margin go up on the board. That does a lot for everybody's confidence.'

Irish duo Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy were the next to come into the cub house with a point for the Europeans after beating Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson 3&2 in the second foursomes.

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 was full of praise for 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,' he said.

The next point came from Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jimenez who beat American rookies Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton 2-up.

The flamboyant Spaniard Jimenez, who lit up one of his trade-mark cigars virtually immediately after putting their match finished, said the crowd had been a huge factor.

'They were simply fantastico and beautiful,' he said.

Ian Poulter and playing partner PGA champion Martin Kaymer, who with Westwood is the leading point-scorer at this Ryder Cup with 2.5, gave Europe their fifth point of the day to make it 9-6 when they beat Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler 2&1.

The defeat saw Mickelson break an American Ryder Cup record - one that he would probably like to be without.

Going into the match against Kaymer and Poulter, Mickelson had lost 16 matches and shared that number with Ray Floyd, but defeat on Sunday saw him take over as the lone record holder, having lost 17 of the 33 matches he played, winning just 10.

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.

Admission on Monday would be open to Sunday's ticket-holders, organizers, with no tickets on sale to the general public.

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