Westwood the lord of the manor

Golf:Europe picked up where they off last night and with the first match already in the bag they remain up in the other five matches as Colin Montgomerie's side look to overturn a 6-4 deficit by day's end at Celtic Manor.

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald ruthlessly put to bed Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker’s unbeaten run with a thumping 6 and 5 foursomes win. The English pair resumed at the 10th having been four up overnight.

They were straight into action at the par three 10th where Donald sensibly played to the heart of the green, only for Westwood to drain a 30-footer for birdie with his first shot of the day. Two more birdies quickly followed before hands were shaken at the 13th, a very early bath for the Americans.

“When you are playing Tiger you seem to up your game a little bit,” said Westwood after today’s win. “He has got a big reputation. It seems like you go out with nothing to lose.

“We played great. Monty (Colin Montgomerie) wanted us to go out and make a strong start and get some momentum going, to get the crowd cheering.”

Donald added: “We thought they would come out strong, and we needed to come out stronger. Westy’s putt on 10 was magnificent, It was amazing to see that go in.”

Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy were on course to record their first win of the campaign where they have played three times together. McIlroy holed a fine birdie putt at the 11th to put the Irish pair three up in the second foursomes match.

Pádraig Harrington and Ross Fisher were locked in a tight battle with Jim Furyk and Dustin Johnson in the top fourball match but maintained their narrow one up lead through 10 holes. This match had garnered no less than nine birdies.

Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jimenez were also one up on Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton with the latter holing his approach to the eighth for a winning eagle.

The Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Franceso, were also one up on Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar (after eight holes), while Ian Poulter and Martin Kaymer were cruising against the hapless, and winless, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler to be three up (after seven holes) in the bottom match.

Monty demanded the scoreline must be at least 8-8 by the end of the day. The way things are going he might get more than he wished for as the leaderboards are a sea of European blue.

Both captains will announce their line-up for tomorrow's singles one hour before play concludes today. The 12 singles matches will get under way from 9.05pm tomorrow morning.