Ryder Cup -- Saturday (5:39 PM BST)

Because the rain yesterday messed up the schedule, they had to play six alternate-shot matches in the second session. Those matches went pretty well for the Americans:

Molinari/Molinari (EUR) 2 UP Z. Johnson/Mahan (USA)
Westwood/Kaymer (EUR) Halved Furyk/Fowler (USA)
Fisher/Harrington (EUR) 3&2 Mickelson/D. Johnson (USA)
Jimenez/Hanson (EUR) 4&3 Woods/Stricker (USA)
Poulter/Donald (EUR) 2&1 Watson/Overton (USA)
McDowell/McIlroy (EUR) 1 UP Cink/Kuchar (USA)

Europe 4 - 6 United States

So the Woods/Stricker team is 2-0, the Mickelson/Dustin Johnson team is 0-2. The Cink/Kuchar team, which I thought would be totally useless, is 1-0-1 against the McDowell/McIlroy team, and I think everyone thought that would be two easy points for Euros. We also got 1 point from Watson/Overton in the best-balls, 1 point from Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan in the alternate shot (I gave them no chance against the Molinari brothers), and a gutty half by Furyk and Fowler in the alternate shot against Westwood and Kaymer, who are probably Europe's best team. We have certainly done better than I expected so far.

But the Cup is still not over. They have now started the third session, which consists of two alternate shot matches and four best-ball matches, and the Euros are rolling:

Alternate Shot (I have no idea why we put Tiger in this event):
3 UP Donald/Westwood (EUR) v. Stricker/Woods (USA) through 4
1 UP McIlroy/McDowell (EUR) v. Z. Johnson/Mahan (USA) through 3

Best Ball:
2 UP Harrington/Fisher (EUR) v. Furyk/D. Johnson (USA) through 5
1 UP Hanson/Jimenez (EUR) v. Watson/Overton (USA) through 4
Molinary/Molinari (EUR) All Square Cink/Kuchar through 2
1 UP Poulter/Kaymer (EUR) v. Mickelson/Fowler through 1

If those results were to hold, Europe would go into the singles with a lead of 9 1/2 to 6 1/2.

Looking over these pairings, it would seem that Corey Pavin probably made a big mistake in breaking up the Mickelson/D. Johnson pairing. Now, instead of losing only their match, those guys will be responsible for two losses. Oh, well. We've hung in there longer than I expected, anyway.