• Ryder Cup, Day One

Love hails US spirit

Tiger Woods winds up for the fist pump © PA Photos

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The Ryder Cup gets underway at Medinah Country Club on September 28. ESPN will have extensive coverage of the event - including interactive text commentary, reports and reaction - for all three days.

United States captain Davis Love III praised his team's comeback on Day One of the Ryder Cup as they moved into a 5-3 lead over their European counterparts.

At one stage, the home side were behind in every match on course during the morning's play at Medinah Country Club, but clawed their way back to steal the advantage heading into the second day. Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson claimed a 5&4 win in their fourballs match, while Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson claimed an upset win over Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

"Well, we were down, but we were only one down this morning on a lot of matches," Love said. "You know, just everybody played real well and hung in there and had a lot of fun.

"Seemed like as the sun came out, we just got better and better. It's just nice to see those scores, those 5&4s and 3&2s, and it's nice when you get on a roll like that."

Europe's only point in Friday afternoon's session came in the third match courtesy of Nicolas Colsaerts and Lee Westwood, who defeated Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker one-up. Colsaerts made eight birdies and an eagle to leave his high-profile opponents stunned.

"(Woods and Stricker) played great," Love said. "I think Colsaerts was close to nine or 10-under on his own ball. That's unbelievable golf, and that's usually what it takes to beat Tiger Woods.

"They weren't as sharp this morning, but they played great, and they probably would have beat anybody else on the course except for Colsaerts. "

Woods, though, was less impressed by his own performance as he rued an "awful" start to the morning session before finding his range with some fine putts and iron shots in the afternoon fourballs.

"I didn't play very good this morning at all," Woods said. "I was hitting it awful and not doing anything well. But I hit it good this afternoon. I drove it great this afternoon and was in position, but we ran into a guy who just made absolutely everything.

"(Coach) Sean (Foley) and I talked about my swing at basically half-time and made a few adjustments, and I really hit it well this afternoon, but as I said, we ran into a guy who made everything today.

"I don't know what (Colsaerts) shot. He was like seven-under through 10. I quit counting after that.

"I thought we did all the things that we needed to do, and as I said, Nicolas had one of the greatest putting rounds ever. There weren't too many putts that he missed, but most of them were 15 feet and out. It was an awfully impressive day. I had a chance on the last hole to all square it, and I missed it."

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