U.S. faces large deficit heading into final day

The Associated Press

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- The Americans' comeback was short-lived. The next one will have to be the biggest ever for them to win the Ryder Cup.

Backed by the clutch performance from its English rookies and reliable play from Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, Europe put the United States in another huge hole Saturday by taking an 11-5 lead and making victory Sunday seem like a mere formality.

Europe looked like it might get swept in the morning, but recovered to win 1 1/2 points to maintain its lead. Then it turned the Ryder Cup into a runaway, sending Tiger Woods and Davis Love III to a crushing loss and whipping up on the rest of their teammates.

The Americans can't even rely on memories from Brookline five years ago, when they trailed 10-6 before staging the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history by front-loading their best players to build momentum and eventually winning on Justin Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt.

Finding their best players is the real problem.

"There's not a lot we can say," U.S. captain Hal Sutton said. "We've been outplayed to this point. We'll have to come out charging."

Europe will be waiting. Even as its fans wrapped themselves in flags and heartily sang "Ole! Ole!," the players were cautious.

"We've got too much respect for the Americans," Paul McGinley said after he and Padraig Harrington stormed back form an early deficit to beat Woods and Love. "The lessons from Brookline have been learned. It's a great day, two really good days. But we have a long way to go."