Ryder Cup: Monty Moved By Crowds

Each Ryder Cup throws up a defining moment. Yesterday may well have seen this year's version when Colin Montgomerie holed a slippery six-foot birdie putt on the final green, in the final foursomes group, for a half against a pumped up United States pairing of Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco.

It gave Ian Woosnam's European team their third shared point of the afternoon and, together with Luke Donald and Sergio García's impressive two-up win over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, meant they lost only one match all day. There is clearly a long way to go and a lot of meaningful shots to come, but the last putt of the opening day is a pretty good time to secure the initiative, and that was not lost on the Scot.

"Five-three beats 4½-2½," he said. "That's a good day, to get five points out of eight on the first day. We did well this afternoon; three halves and a win is fine. Not to lose a game is very important for us." Montgomerie also paid tribute to his playing partner, Lee Westwood, and he was right to do so. With Mickelson having left his bunker shot 12ft short of the hole and with Montgomerie's second shot on the far right edge of the green, Westwood knew two more might be good enough. But he had not been able to buy a putt all round and was none too impressed about being left a monster to contend with.

"[Westwood's] was a fantastic putt since he hasn't had one since the 5th," said Montgomerie. "He says 'Thanks Monty. I've got a 30 bloody yard putt with a six-foot swing' and he gave me a chance to hole it."

Even so, once DiMarco had missed the Americans' fourth shot, Montgomerie still had to take that chance. With his captain, team-mates and thousands of spectators lining the fairway ropes willing him on, Monty drained it. "How many times have we seen him hole that left-to-right putt coming back?" asked Woosnam. "He's done it so many times. What a man to have on your team."