This morning has dawned cool and clear in the rolling hills of Perthshire at Gleneagles. The USA are in dark blue sweaters with the Stars and Stripes on their chests, most are wearing touques, Matt Kuchar looks as Monty said "like he's on a skiing holiday" with big winter mittens to round the outfit off.. Europe are in white sweaters and hats and blue pants..
The crowd arrived in the dark, apparently capped at 45,000, they could put 10 times as many in here if they'd let them..
Live scoring click here http://www.rydercup.com/europe/scoring?autorefresh=1
With the lack of wind there have been birdies galore in this morning's fourballs, here are the pairings
Rose and Stenson win 3&2 vs Watson and Kuchar
Justin is in full flight right now and Stenson woke up with a stiff back so may not play this afternoon. Bubba is revived playing with Kuchar who rarely makes a mistake. This match was amazing with the Rose and Stenson making 10 straight birdies to win 3&2
Donaldson / Westwood vs Furyk / Mahan win 4&3
Jim Furyk is playing well for a change in the Ryder Cup as is Hunter, they have made 6 birdies and are 3up thru 10, and the European pair weren't playing badly but the US pair were in charge from the start and won handily 4&3
Bjorn / Kaymer vs Reed / Speith win 5&3
The American rookies were not chosen to play yesterday afternoon after winning 5&4 in the morning, a definite mistake in hindsight by captain Watson as they are solid again this morning, in charge all the way to win 5&3. I am not sure why Thomas Bjorn is playing ahead of Sergio Garcia, or GMac for that matter...
McIlroy / Poulter vs Walker / Fowler A/S
Europe, and they were paired at Medinah. They were currently 2up at the turn, but US has fought back to be 1up at 16. Poulter chipped in from off the green to save a halve and bring the house down then sank the birdie to win the 16th to go A/S. The teams halved 17 and the 18th with each side getting a hard earned 1/2 point.
After a morning with more than it's fair share of drama and birdies the US won 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 Total score going into the afternoon Europe 6 1/2 USA 5 1/2
Saturday afternoon Foursome pairings
Mickelson and Bradley, Watson and Simpson will not play for the US, Poulter, Gallagher Stenson with his tight back and Bjorn sit for Europe
Donaldson / Westwood win 2&1 vs Johnson / Kuchar
This was a good fair match that went back and forth until USA ran out of holes after a halve in 3 at the 17th..
Garcia / McIlroy win 3&2 vs Furyk / Mahan
on the 4th tee Europe was 1up and it stayed that way all the way until the 14th when they got it to 2up and were conceded the match on 16..Sergio played better today, Rory is getting better as the week goes on..
Rose / Kaymer A/S vs Speith / Reed
Reed may never forget the 2 footer he missed on 16 as the teams halved that par 5 in 6's ! The rookies haven't lost yet in 3 outings and it was fitting that Justin Rose holed an 8 footer on the 18th to halve the match and cap a magnificent 2 days of golf on his behalf..
Dubuisson / GMac win 5&4 vs Walker / Fowler
For US fans who have never seen Victor Dubuisson's sublime talent they have now. GMac calmed him down and the French star did the rest. They were 5up at the turn after Rickie and Jimmy Walker finally ran out of gas. Never close..
Europe has won 6 of the 8 foursome matches and halved the other 2 which has resulted in a 10-6 tally in favour of the Europeans..
The weather http://www.metcheck.com/SEASONAL/ryder_cup_weather_forecast.asp for Sunday, overcast, no rain, very little wind.
Europe now need 4 points on Sunday to retain the Cup and play begins at 5am est or 10am at Gleneagles..
Bryan Angus
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