STEWART CINK and CHAD CAMPBELL (United States) lost to IAN POULTER and JUSTIN ROSE (Europe) 4&3

IAN Poulter and Justin Rose, who lost to the same pair from three up in the opening foursomes on Friday morning, this time charged into a five-hole lead after just seven holes.

The ball was set rolling by Poulter pitching to two feet on the first. Cink drove into the creek at the next, then Rose pitched to three feet on the fourth and Poulter's approach to the fifth was just as close.

Cink was in the water at the long seventh and it could have got worse, but Rose missed an eight-foot chance at the ninth. He and his partner were out in 31 to the Americans' sorry 39, but Cink and Campbell won the 10th, 12th and 13th.

It looked as if it might come down to one on the next, but Poulter made a crucial 15-footer and Cink missed from nine. It was all over when Cink went in the water on the 15th – Poulter and Rose had their second win and had avenged their defeat of 24 hours earlier.

JUSTIN LEONARD and HUNTER MAHAN (United States) halved with MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ and GRAEME McDOWELL (Europe)

IT WAS no surprise to see Leonard and Mahan out again together after they won two points out of two on the opening day, while Faldo pinned his hopes on the untried pairing of McDowell and Jimenez. After the second hole was halved, Europe won the third with a par after Leonard found water off the tee.

McDowell's superb approach to within inches of the hole on the fourth doubled the lead and after losing the sixth to par, they were gifted the seventh in return. Leonard holed yet another birdie putt on the eighth to get back to one down and it was back to all square when Europe made a mess of the 12th. Back came McDowell and Jimenez with a birdie on the 13th, only to find an impossible lie in a greenside bunker on the next to lose the hole.

Leonard's putting was inspired as he put the Americans ahead for the first time in the match on the 17th, but Jimenez produced a fine bunker shot on the 18th to leave McDowell a 4ft putt for birdie and the Ulsterman calmly holed to win the hole and salvage half a point.

PHIL MICKELSON and ANTHONY KIM (United States) lost to HENRIK STENSON and OLIVER WILSON (Europe) 2&1

EUROPEAN rookie Oliver Wilson finally came into the action, but Henrik Stenson's duffed chip cost them the second and Anthony Kim then made eight-foot birdie putts on the next two greens.

The gap became four when Wilson missed an eight-footer on the sixth, but world No.2 Phil Mickelson hit the rocks by the seventh green and although it landed on dry land his partner chipped into the water.

Amazingly though, Europe were back level with six to go. Kim went into sand on the eighth hole , Stenson and Wilson birdied the long 10th, then Kim drove into the trees at 12.

Wilson even had a putt to take the lead on the next, but missed from 20 feet and he and Stenson bogeyed the 14th. Kim tried a near-impossible shot from the trees on the 15th. It finished in the creek and that was one-up, which became a two and one victory when Wilson holed from 28 feet and Mickelson missed from 20.

JIM FURYK and KENNY PERRY (United States) beat PADRAIG HARRINGTON and ROBERT KARLSSON (Europe) 3&1

JIM Furyk and Kenny Perry had let slip a two-hole lead with two to play on Friday but were given another chance by US captain Paul Azinger and promptly responded by charging four up after just five holes as Padraig Harrington struggled badly to find the game which has seen him win the last two major championships, the Open and the US PGA.

Former US Open champion Furyk missed from three feet on the sixth and Perry found water on the seventh to gift two holes back to the European pair, and the next six holes were halved in a mixture of pars and bogeys before Perry's superb tee-shot on the treacherous 14th helped the home side edge three clear.

Harrington holed from five feet on the 15th for birdie to keep their hopes alive but his birdie chip on the 17th was struck too hard and caught the edge of the hole and ran past, leading to a concession and a 3&1 victory for the American pair.

Saturday fourballs

BOO WEEKLEY and J B HOLMES (United States) beat LEE WESTWOOD and SOREN HANSEN (Europe) 2&1

NOT until both Europeans each dropped a shot to par at the admittedly difficult 500-yard sixth hole – unforgivably careless at this level and in such a low-scoring format – did the Americans hit the front. And not until Soren Hansen's birdie at the short 11th did the visitors win their first hole, by which time they were already three down.

That's a lot to make up in best ball play against two leading professionals and, sure enough, the Americans were good enough, despite some short putting hiccups along the way from J B Holmes, to see out the match on the penultimate green. The defeat brought to an end Lee Westwood's record-equalling 12-match unbeaten run in the event.

BEN CURTIS and STEVE STRICKER (United States) halved with SERGIO GARCIA and PAUL CASEY (Europe)

IN A game of halves – 16 of them in 18 holes – both sides had innumerable chances to make what would surely have been the crucial thrust. Paul Casey in particular seemed to spend most of the round missing from inside ten feet.

It all came down to the par-5 18th. Ben Curtis and Steve Stricker both found heavy rough while Sergio Garcia alone found the multi-level green in two shots, albeit a long way from the cup. Curtis, in fact, didn't reach in three, leaving his partner with the only birdie putt. Stricker made it though, with a dramatic 18-footer, leaving Casey – finally – to hole from ten feet for the half, which he duly did.

KENNY PERRY and JIM FURYK (US) lost to IAN POULTER and GRAEME McDOWELL (Europe) one hole

IAN Poulter, as he has been in most of his matches so far this week, was just about the star in his side's victory. Justifying Nick Faldo's decision to make him the only European to play five times, the 32-year-old Englishman made four birdies in the first ten holes to help establish a two-up lead he and Graeme McDowell more than once came close to relinquishing but ultimately never did.

The Americans didn't go quietly, though. By way of example, after McDowell, who made some great saving putts down the stretch, struck a beautiful shot to ten feet at the treacherous par-3 14th, Jim Furyk got inside him before Kenny Perry hit his effort to six inches. All in all, it was brilliant stuff.

PHIL MICKELSON and HUNTER MAHAN (US) halved with HENRIK STENSON and ROBERT KARLSSON (Europe)

DESPITE losing the opening hole to a Stenson birdie, the Americans were level as soon as the third tee. The highlight of the front nine was Mickelson's eagle at the long seventh, the first three there all week. Out in 32, four under par, the Swedes found themselves two down.

Coming home, Karlsson decided to take matters into his own hands. His birdie at the long tenth kept his side two down, but he was only getting started. Further birdies at the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th obliterated the US lead in what developed into an epic encounter neither side really deserved to lose. That no-one did was a fitting end to a magnificent day of golf.