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9 SEPTEMBER 2007

Americans overhaul early GB&I lead

A fast start by Great Britain & Ireland in the second series of foursomes has run into the golfing doldrums as America has piled on the pressure to overturn a home advantage and take the lead in two matches with two all-square as the last of the four encounters reaches the turn.

An inspired spell of play that produced three birdies in a row propelled Irish pair Rory McIlroy and Jonathan Caldwell into a four-hole lead over Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler, both unbeaten in yesterday foursomes and singles, after just five holes.

But the Americans won the next four holes, three of them with par figures, and turned the tables completely when, again, par figures were good enough to secure the 11th and 12th holes. The promising Irish start now looked decidedly shaky - two down with six to play - but they had pulled off a remarkable come-back yesterday morning from a similar position.

Welsh pair Rhys Davies and Nigel Edwards, who helped the GB&I cause with singles victories yesterday, recovered from one down against Colt Knost and Dustin Johnson after the Americans opened with a pair of birdies, and took a slender lead when a par three was good enough at the shortest hole on the course, the 145-yard seventh. But a dropped shot at the next brought the match back to square at the turn.

Jamie Moul and Daniel Willett lost the opening hole to a birdie by Trip Kuehne and Jonathan Moore, dropped further behind when they failed to make par at the short fourth and halved the fifth in double-bogey sixes. The short seventh was also halved, this time with birdies twos, but the Americans increased their lead to three holes with another birdie at the eighth.

In the bottom match David Horsey and John Parry were two up after just three holes with an opening birdie and two par figures, but a dropped shot cost them the fourth and the Americans birdied the sixth to bring the match back to level.