NEWPORT, Wales // The United States have the lead, but Europe have the momentum after a day like no other at the Ryder Cup. When play was called because of darkness, the US had a 6-4 lead.
However, Europe was ahead in all six matches that got started late in the afternoon, marked by a sea of blue on the scoreboard and giving the home team an undeniable surge of confidence going into another marathon today. "Momentum is the key in these matches," said Colin Montgomerie, Europe's captain.
Lee Westwood and Luke Donald were an astonishing four up through nine holes on Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker - that after the Americans won their first two matches to remain unbeaten as partners in team events. Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy were three up through seven holes on Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan, and had marked a short putt that gave the Europeans a chance to extend their advantage when play resumed.
The margins were smaller in the other four matches, but Europe was ahead in all of them. "That was a very important two hours of play, and we came through it with flying colours," Montgomerie said. "We want to have six blue numbers shining on the board tomorrow morning, and we want them to stay there." But, as the Americans were quick to point out, they're actually the guys with the most points. No one in the third session had played more than nine holes, and the margin in all the fourball matches was either one or two holes.
"It's very close," Corey Pavin, the US captain said. "The third session is going pretty nicely for Europe. We've just got to go back, rest up tonight and fire at 'em tomorrow [today]." There's still plenty of golf to be played, and that does not include the 12 singles matches that officials also hope to get in today after cobbling a rain-plagued schedule in hopes of avoiding the first Monday finish in Ryder Cup history.
"I've never seen points given for matches where you've played four, five, six, seven holes," Pavin said. "We're going to try to come back and turn the momentum back in our favour."
* Associated Press
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Squads
Sri Lanka Tharanga (c), Mathews, Dickwella (wk), Gunathilaka, Mendis, Kapugedera, Siriwardana, Pushpakumara, Dananjaya, Sandakan, Perera, Hasaranga, Malinga, Chameera, Fernando.
India Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane, Jadhav, Dhoni (wk), Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Thakur.
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Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
