Europe dominates, set to claim cup
NEWPORT, Wales Europe could only dream of a Sunday like this at the Ryder Cup. It gave Tiger Woods his worst beating ever, hit all the right shots to spur on its foot-stomping, flag-waving crowd and kept the Americans from winning a single match.
Too bad this one won't end until today.
The Europeans already had reason to be in a festive mood amid the rain and muck of Celtic Manor.
Bolstered by the sight of blue on every leaderboard, they won five matches and halved the last one when Francesco Molinari knocked in a 3-foot birdie putt and celebrated with his brother, Edoardo. That stretched their lead to 9½-6½.
Europe needs to win only five of the 12 singles match to reclaim the gold trophy.
"In my time 20 years since I've been playing Ryder Cup this is one of the greatest days for European golf we've ever had," European captain Colin Montgomerie said. "To run a 2-point deficit into a 3-point lead was quite amazing. To stop America from winning a match, just fantastic."
Lee Westwood, Europe's leader in the team room and on the golf course, inspired from the start. He teamed with Luke Donald to demoralize Woods and Steve Stricker, who had never lost in six previous matches. Europe was 4 up when the matches resumed, and Westwood promptly knocked in a 30-foot birdie putt to win the hole. The cheer was heard by every match on the course.
More big putts followed until they had a 6-and-5 victory, the biggest rout of the week.
"When you're playing Tiger, you just seem to up your game a little bit," said Westwood, who is 6-1 in team matches against Woods. "I supposed he's got nothing to win apart from the point but he's got a big reputation."
PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter held off a rally to beat Phil Mickelson and 21-year-old Rickie Fowler. Mickelson set an American record with his 17th loss and headed into singles without having contributed a point.
Montgomerie is leading off with strength Westwood against Stricker, and the top part of his Monday lineup is loaded with some of his best performers at Celtic Manor, with Rory McIlroy, Poulter and Donald at the top.
Pavin has Woods in the eighth spot against Francesco Molinari, while Mickelson is at No. 10 against Peter Hanson. Then again, it's hard to figure out who is playing well for the Americans this week especially after the beating they took on Sunday.
"We're going to try to close the gap and see if we can make a run at this," Mickelson said.