Though Tiger Woods lost for a third time this week, the United States tightened their grip on the 39th Ryder Cup by taking a commanding 10-6 lead over holders Europe at Medinah Country Club on Saturday. After red-hot duo Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley inspired the Americans to win the morning's foursomes session 3-1, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson led the way in the afternoon's fourballs which were split 2-2.
Europe had trailed in three of the fourballs but Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald held off a fightback by Woods and Steve Stricker to win one up before Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter came from two down to beat Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson by the same margin. Matchplay specialist Poulter finished with five consecutive birdies, the last of them a 15-foot putt in fading light to give the Europeans a slim hope of retaining the Cup heading into Sunday's concluding 12 singles encounters. A strong European team had arrived at Medinah closely matched with the US but with several of their top players not at their best, they face a daunting challenge on the last day.
The Americans famously pulled off the largest Ryder Cup comeback at Brookline in 1999 when they trailed 10-6 going into the final day and the Europeans would have to match that to keep the trophy. "Those last two matches were massive," Europe captain Jose Maria Olazabal, who played that year at Brookline in the decisive match, said of his team's strong finish on Saturday.