FOURSOMES

STENSON & ROSE v JOHNSON & FOWLER Europe’s trusty partnership was reunited after Henrik Stenson sat out the morning and it came as little surprise to see him and Justin Rose deliver success again.

They were helped by America’s morning partnership going stale – shooting five over for the first 11 holes to find themselves five down.

And the hapless duo’s day was summed up by a shocker on the 10th as world No.1 Dustin Johnson missed a three-footer to fall further behind a pair who were never down all day.

EUROPE WINS 3&2 McILROY & POULTER v WATSON & SIMPSON It must have been tempting to bench Rory McIlroy after a birdiefree morning but Thomas Bjorn’s faith was repaid in full.

Credit to McIlroy, his confidence could have been knocked when an opening bogey and a birdie at the third fired the Americans two-up before he could catch his breath.

But in the company of a passionate character such as Ian Poulter digging deep is compulsory and when they pulled one back with a birdie on sixth, the course of the match changed.

Four straight bogeys by Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson signalled a collapse from which they would never recover. They limped in with four pars from the 13th before bleeding out on the 16th green.

EUROPE WINS 4&2 GARCIA & NOREN v MICKELSON & DECHAMBEAU Rumours swept the range that Phil Mickelson could be benched as his swing battled misses, left and right.

But as damaging as bogeys on two and three were, there was little Lefty and debutant Bryson DeChambeau could do about the sizzling stuff that followed.

Sergio Garcia was considered the biggest gamble of Bjorn’s four wild cards – but how he justified his place as he and Alex Noren reeled off a hat-trick of birdies on a five-hole winning streak. Seven up at the turn – no way back.

Shaking hands on the 14th was almost an act of mercy.

EUROPE WINS 5&4 MOLINARI & FLEETWOOD v THOMAS & SPIETH Two pairings sent straight back out after a winning start. But only one had the energy to motor on.

And Open champion Francesco Molinari and rookie companion Tommy Fleetwood clicked brilliantly to deliver two points from two.

From their birdie on the third they never looked back. A slip-up on the eighth gave the US a glimmer of hope. But it didn’t last. A missed tiddler by Justin Thomas on the next green leaked the deficit back to three. Resistance over.

EUROPE WINS 5&4 FINAL: EUROPE 5 USA 3