BLOOMFIELD HILLS, United States (AFP) - Hal Sutton`s Dream Team of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had a nightmare start to the Ryder Cup when they crashed 2 and 1 to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington.
It started a near rout and by lunch Europe led the United States 3 1/2- 1/2.
"It was very important for us to get off to a good start and we did. We birdied the first four holes. You can`t do very much against that," said the 41-year-old Montgomerie.
"It was a big match for us. We knew we were probably playing for more than a point in terms of team spirit," he added.
European captain Bernhard Langer was delighted with the morning showing.
"I`m thrilled and so are the players. We wanted to make a fast start and it doesn`t get much better than that. Monty set the standard and with that first-hole birdie, that got the momentum rolling," said the German.
Sutton had taken the risk of pairing his two superstars together for the first time in the hope that they would kick start the US attempt to win back the Cup.
There is no love lost between the two players and while Langer made it clear he selected his pairings by making sure the players would gel together, Sutton clearly believed the antipathy between his top duo could be set aside.
But there looked little sign of it on the first tee. While Harrington and Montgomerie were standing and joking, Woods stood stern faced on one side of the tee while Mickelson stood alone with his caddy on the other side.
Montgomerie, who relishes turning over the Americans in the Ryder Cup - he grabbed 4 1/2 points out of 5 in 2002 at the Belfry - came out sizzling.
Two birdies in the first four holes and the American duo were two down and Sutton`s gamble had failed to pay off.
Woods insisted afterwards there was little he and Mickelson could do.
"Geez they made eight birdies in 14 holes and birdied six out of the first eight holes. That is awfully impressive," said the world number two.
But it was the cigar-loving duo of Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez playing in the second group who gave Europe their first points by overpowering the American pair of Davis Love and Chad Campbell 5 and 4.
With a red-hot Clarke and a rock-solid Jimenez, Love and Campbell were never in contention as they struggled to try and make a match of it as the Europeans ran out easy winners.
Love was spraying his tee shots all over the undulating Oakland Hills Country Club south course and Campbell`s putter was ice cold as he failed to capitalise on a host of birdie opportunities.
"We really didn`t play well. We kind of left each other hanging a few times. We missed a few putts early on and Darren was able to capitalize," said Campbell.
"It was disappointing," admitted Love. "We just got behind and when your behind on a tough course it`s hard to catch up. They did what they had to do."
Clarke, puffing his favourite giant-sized Cuban cigars, and Jimenez were three up after only five holes and the writing was on the wall for their American opponents.
The last group of the morning had Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood carrying on where they left on two years ago at the Belfry.
The 24-year-old Spaniard was in blistering form as he and Westwood rushed to four up after nine holes.
After a move to five up with five to go, it was only a question of when the win would come. They closed the door on the Americans on the 16th to win 5 and 3.
Europe`s surprise domination of the morning`s four-ball stunned the tens of thousands of Americans spectators packed around the fairways - creating an almost eerie silence as they tried to understand what was going on.
As Garcia walked down the eighth fairway a lone American voice from the crowd begged: "Come on Sergio, give us a chance."
At one stage the Europeans were up in all four matches - enough to send chills through the US captain who admitted he was taking a gamble with his playing order and team selection.
Ireland`s Paul McGinley, who became Europe`s hero two years ago when he sank the winning putt at the Belfry, and English rookie Luke Donald were locked in a titanic struggle with Chris Riley and Stewart Cink.
The Europeans moved one up after six holes but two holes later Riley hit his approach to only two inches and the score was all level again.
But then Cink, ranked the top putter on the US PGA Tour this season, missed a four-footer on the 13th and suddenly Europe were back to one up.
American levelled the score and it all came down to the 18th hole.
Donald had a chance to win the match but his birdie putt slipped just past, leaving the match halved.
Sutton had claimed before the match started that his team was the best collection of putters the Americans had ever put out but there was little signes of it as birdie chance after chance went begging.
Instead it was the Europeans who were collecting birdies.
Sutton`s concern was obvious to see as he went from match to match to see how his troops were performing.
His glum expression only confirmed they were underperforming.