Europe head into the final day of the 40th Ryder Cup with the same advantage they made up in the Miracle of Medinah after another rearguard action in the foursomes yesterday at Gleneagles.
Justin Rose holed a five-foot putt on the 18th of the PGA Centenary Course to maintain his unbeaten record for the weekend and to claim a half over the young American duo of Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, after the Europeans swept the other three matches in the alternate-shot format.
After losing the fourballs by a point for the second successive day, the Euros won the foursomes three and a half to a half, also the same score as it had been on Friday.
It means the margin at the end of two days is 10-6, the same as it was in Medinah two years ago and at Brookline in 1999, when on each occasion the trailing team came back to win.
However it seems unlikely that the US can win the eight and a half matches they need to regain the trophy from Europe’s grasp, with more of captain Tom Watson’s decisions coming under close scrutiny yesterday.
After incurring the wrath of critics by leaving out Spieth and Reed from yesterday’s foursomes, this time he omitted Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, who were 4-1 as a team before today.
Paul McGinley’s carefully crafted foursomes pairings did the job for him again, with only the tiring Rose and Martin Kaymer not recording comfortable victories.
McGinley’s twinning of rookies Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson with Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell respectively continued to be a masterstroke. The Irishman and the Frenchman routed Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler 5 and 4, while Donaldson and Westwood defeated Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar 2 and 1.
And he finally got a sustained performance from his pairing of Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, the World No 1 and No 3 defeating Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk 3 and 2.
It meant that Europe finishes the foursomes with a 7-1 advantage, another record in the history of the competition.
In the morning, Europe had again been under pressure in fourballs but there was a record-smashing performance by Rose and Henrik Stenson, 12-under for 16 holes, in beating Kuchar and Bubba Watson 3 and 2.
But a key half point was won by McIlroy and Ian Poulter, with the largely dormant Englishman suddenly reviving with two chip-ins on the 15th and 16th holes to help the duo get all-square with Fowler and Walker.
The USA won the other two matches comfortably, with Spieth and Reed also unbeaten over the weekend besting Thomas Bjorn and Kaymer while Furyk and Mahan defeated Donaldson and Westwood.