Ryder Cup: Europe's bright start fades Europe led in all four matches in the opening session at one point but trail 5-3 after day one of the 39th Ryder Cup. For a change, in recent matches at least, the Americans were the ones holing the putts. Rookie Keegan Bradley, in particular, rolled in a string of bombs. They helped him win twice in the company of Phil Mickelson. Not needed in a morning session that finished 2-2, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, two of this year's major winners, came out in the fourballs and blew Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson out of the water. A ten-under betterball for 14 holes, in fairness, would have been too good for just about anyone. It saw Simpson make a winning Ryder Cup debut, matching the feat achieved earlier in the day by both Bradley and Jason Dufner. They all look set to fare better in this event than Tiger Woods. He was awful in the morning, missing the opening fairway by fully 40 yards then carving a number of subsequent drives into the giant trees that line the fairways on the Medinah No 3 course. He also lost in the afternoon, though, on this occasion it was more down to the brilliance of Nicolas Colsaerts, the first Belgian to play in the biennial joust. Playing with Ryder Cup veteran Lee Westwood, Colsaerts left the Englishman, who was a tad off his game all day, in the shade. He bagged four birdies in his first seven holes. He then eagled the ninth and kept it going on the back nine. His heroic effort spared Europe suffering a 4-0 whitewash in the session. A cool customer, Colsaerts looks as though he was born for the big stage. Olazabal needs more of his players firing on the same amount of cylinders over the next couple of days. Both the Spaniard and his American counterpart, Davis Love III, pitched all 12 of their players into the frying pan on day one. Olazbal will be hoping he doesn't live to regret leaving out Ian Poulter, in particular, and Luke Donald as early as the second session. It went well left, as did the American's opening effort, hit by Furyk. Rory McIlroy's tee shot came to rest close to a sprinkler head. Bizzarely, the match referee couldn't make his mind up and called for a second opinion. It only served to motivate the dynamic duo from Northern Ireland. McIlroy, the world No 1, chipped in for a 3 at the par-4 fourth, sparking a burst that produced four birdies in a row, only two of which were matched by the Americans. Furyk produced one of the best shots of the morning - Mickelson's 7-iron tee shot at the 17th to clinch victory was an afternoon contender - hitting a fairway hybrid to three feet. He made amends, however, by holding his nerve to hole a three-footer to clinch victory after a splendid sand shot from his playing partner. There were no gifts for McIlroy and McDowell in the afternoon. Three down after three, they were soundly beaten by Mickelson and Bradley, the latter becoming an instant hit in the event. He loved every minute and showed the same passion for the event as so many Europeans have in recent encounters, notably Poulter. Playing in the second morning match, Bradley had drawn first blood for the Americans by holing from 25 feet for a birdie-2 at the second. It was an early warning to Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia that their 100 per cent foursome record faced a serious test. Westwood headed into his morning match with seven foursome wins to his name. They went down 3 and 2 to Zach Johnson and Dufner, who watched his birdie putt at the ninth hang on the edge of the hole for a couple of seconds before toppling in. "It felt like the crowd willed the ball in," he said. That still wasn't enough for Woods to stay out of trouble, particularly in the morning. Playing with Steve Stricker - he must have felt he'd been paired with an imposter - they were always behind and lost 2 and 1 to the English duo of Poulter, who took great joy in holing out of a bunker at the 11th, and Justin Rose. Europe don't want to have another day when they lose overall as that would leave a mountain to climb in tomorrow's singles.