While the electricity generated by the galleries has surpassed the standard of the golf at times, this event has always been about the end rather than the means. With a few threads hanging out of their team, America, as expected, have struggled.

Every one of Europe's players have made a contribution to the cause, whereas some of the visitors have already been singed in this cauldron.

It was no great surprise that the likes of Brett Wetterich and Vaughn Taylor were going to find themselves out of their depth, and it was no great surprise . . . despite Tom Lehman's optimistic pre-match noises . . .

that the world's two best individuals, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, would once again tread water in a team environment.

But Lehman also needed more firepower from Chris DiMarco and Chad Campbell. In fairness, DiMarco, who has yet to win a match and who was unceremoniously dropped for yesterday afternoon's foursomes, as well as Jim Furyk, haven't exactly been helped by their more illustrious partners.

Europe, meanwhile, have been able to push towards a third victory in a row with the sort of strength in depth and flexibility that used to be the preserve of the Americans. On both days, Ian Woosnam has rubbed the slate clean between sessions and has sent four different pairings into the fray.

He also had the confidence to blood all 12 players on Friday while Lehman felt he couldn't risk Scott Verplank and Taylor.

And this was a new-look Europe which could afford to rest Colin Montgomerie yesterday morning and to use the quality of Luke Donald and David Howell sparingly.

When Paul Casey, who along with Howell was later to defeat Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson in the foursomes by 5 and 4 with a hole-in-one at the 14th hole, rolled in a short putt on the last green to earn half a point in the top fourball game, Europe had won the first three sessions and their lead had increased to three.

Aided to some degree by even more sloppy play from Mickelson, who has now failed to win any of his four games to date, Garcia and Donald saw off the world number two and his new partner, David Toms, by 2 and 1. If Mickelson probably should have been dropped for the session, Garcia maintained his 100 per cent record.

With Montgomerie and Lee Westwood halving with Campbell and Taylor, Europe had boosted their advantage to 10-5 with the final game involving Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley and Woods and Furyk still out on the course.

No American, and especially not Woods or Mickelson, has grabbed the contest by the throat, and even if the European challenge has once more been an impressive collective effort, Garcia has now come to define Europe's supremacy with his swagger and his brilliant shot-making.

For entirely different reasons, Woosnam might have had private reservations about how his wild cards Darren Clarke and Westwood would perform, but both players have more than repaid their captain's faith. Clarke has managed his emotions alongside Westwood to cut Lehman to the quick with victories over Mickelson and DiMarco, and Woods and Furyk.

In the build-up to the event when diplomacy, charm and an ability to say and do the right thing at the right time were sorely needed, Woosnam was found wanting.

However, once he arrived at the K Club, and once competition became more relevant than protocol, the Welshman has appeared more relaxed and more in control.

Going into the second session of foursomes, only two European pairings had tasted defeat in 12 games. Harrington and Montgomerie couldn't offer any excuses for a disappointing performance against Woods and Furyk on the opening morning, but there wasn't too much Henrik Stenson and Harrington could do as they ran into some inspired putting by Johnson yesterday morning.

As for Lehman, who had comprehensively outplayed Woosnam during the recent weeks of phoney war, his expression has grown more haunted as the matches now head towards their inevitable conclusion. With Woods and Mickelson failing abysmally to lead from the front, what could America's captain have done differently?

Well, the gamble of pitching Wetterich in at the outset didn't work, and yesterday afternoon it might have been a better option to have played the feisty JJ Henry instead of Campbell or even Mickelson.

Equally, he had included Verplank in the foursomes line-up before replacing him with the hot-putting Johnson, however, Johnson and Cink were soon losing their way against Casey and Howell.

But with Mickleson and DiMarco delivering a mere half a point in their three outings, and with Woods still searching for the game which swept him to two major championships in a row during the summer, Lehman's now fate appears to be sealed.

You would have thought that after days of practice on a course Woods knows more intimately than any of his colleagues, the world's best player would have managed to acclimatise. This time, it is more a case of poor form than his traditional discomfort with the team format, but if any other player . . . bar Mickelson . . . had struggled so badly over the first three sessions, Lehman would have wielded the axe.

Jose Maria Olazabal and the effervescent Garcia ran over the hapless Mickelson and DiMarco by 3 and 2, while the margin was the same for Clarke and Westwood who dispatched Woods and Furyk, and it also seemed that Robert Karlsson and Casey would account for Cink and Henry at the top of the order.

Two up after nine, the Europeans then contrived to let their advantage slip as Henry brilliantly eagled the 16th hole, before adding a birdie at the stress-inducing 17th to put the Americans one up. They probably should have closed out the match at the last, but Henry three-putted and Cink failed to make his birdie as Casey kept his nerve to sink a five footer for a half point to increase Europe's overall lead to three.