Monty's pot of gold just over the rainbow

The Ryder Cup is heading into a fourth day after the Welsh weather made itself known over the weekend, but the prize is now within Colin Montgomerie's reach, writes The Sun's Steven Howard.

We've had it all - torrential rain, wind, mist, fog and even a little sunshine. Not to forget mud last seen at the Somme.

Yesterday we got our first rainbow. At the end of it, a pot of gold is now tantalisingly within Colin Montgomerie's reach.

Yesterday we had Monty as Mr Toad, leading the charge atop his buggy, racing from tee to green, hole to hole, with a wild-eyed fervour. The only thing missing were the goggles.

And Monty as Mr Motivator, on the end of a walkie-talkie that had seen so much use the previous day it had worn out three batteries. Charged up once again, the European skipper had asked his men to give the crowd something to cheer.

But even he must have been stunned by the brilliant kaleidoscope of shots with which his Ryder Cup heroes responded.

The rainbow that spread from one side of the Usk Valley to the other appeared not long after Lee Westwood sunk a six-footer on the 13th to put Europe's first points of the day on the board.

And though there was a wobble during the middle of the afternoon - over two hours without a birdie - the bandwagon steadied itself before hitting turbo-force and thundering past the Americans.

Montgomerie said: "In my 20 years' experience of this event I truly believe this was one of the greatest days in European golf.

"To stop the Americans even winning a match was fantastic.

"I am so proud to captain these players. In truth, they made my job extremely easy today."

Monty had asked for four victories from the rain-reduced session to take it into the last day at a cliff-hanging 8-8. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined they would win five - and take a half in the other.

The most desperate blow of all for American skipper Corey Pavin came when Francesco Molinari salvaged a half on the 18th and final hole of the day to deny Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar the only Yank win of the day.

As he and brother Edoardo hugged in the middle of the green, Monty was embracing anyone he could lay his hands on.

Tiger Woods stood stock-still, stone-faced and shattered as the enormity of what had just happened sunk in. All around him was bedlam as European fans and players rejoiced.

Except, significantly, one man - Westwood. The European colossus confined his celebrations to a quiet round of applause.

Though his team only need five points from today's final session to regain the Cup, Westwood knows there is still work to be done.

Especially against an American side who hold a 10-5 lead in singles since the European team format was first introduced.

Yet Pavin may have blundered by leaving his big guns to last while Monty has frontloaded his line-up with Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter out first.

By the time Woods appears in match eight - and Phil Mickelson a further two behind - it could be all over.

And what of Monty?

Here is a man who has never won a Major. On no less than five occasions he has finished runner-up, marking him down as the greatest golfer never to have landed one of the slam events.

Yet give him the Ryder Cup and he's rarely out of the winner's enclosure.

Long Europe's talisman, he is second only to Nick Faldo in points accrued and he has never lost a singles. But, as he admits, to win as skipper will be the greatest achievement of his career.

They say that when you cut Pavin he bleeds Ryder Cup. But that's mere red.

When you cut Monty, it's Ryder Cup blue.

In the end, it was an afternoon that will live for ever in the memory of those lucky enough to be there.

Heretic turned hero

Meanwhile, Paul Hayward in The Guardian believes Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will be remembered as one of the great Ryder Cup pairings.

Plenty of heroes start out as heretics. A sceptic prior to this muddy Glastonbury of golf, Rory McIlroy is a believer now.

Excitement had danced in his eyes all the way round Celtic Manor and now we were seeing the full conversion. "An exhibition," he had called this transatlantic struggle, back in the summer, when he had the majors on his mind, but now he was giddy with the Ryder Cup's crazy energy.

With Graeme McDowell, the older US Open champion, McIlroy was finishing off Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan 3&1 with a birdie putt at the 17th in a foursome match that may be remembered as the cradle for one of the great European pairings.

Seve Ballesteros & José María Olazábal were invoked. High praise. G-Mac & Wee-Mac, as McIlroy called the partnership, are a union to terrify any American duo. After this first full point for McIlroy, no captain would part the men from Portrush and Holywood. Colin Montgomerie's only problem with them as a fourth day beckoned was separating them for the singles, in which McIlroy faces the veteran Stewart Cink "I'm going to miss him tomorrow," McDowell said.

It was always a good bet that the 21-year-old McIlroy would be disabused of his notion that the Ryder Cup was a poor substitute for the thrills of strokeplay golf, the limitations of which were described by McDowell as he stood in the cauldron of the 17th green. "On the final Sunday of a major you're out there on your own, you feel lonely, you just want to get over the line," he said. "Here there are 40,000 people cheering your name. This is fun, this is adrenaline, this is the Ryder Cup."

That line, an ad-man's dream, drew McIlroy's approval. The youngest player on either side had pumped the crowd at the 16th, wind-milling his arms to encourage pro-European chanting and punching the air in the now obligatory manner. As Johnson's second shot, a chip from off the green, raced three feet past the hole and victory was affirmed with a birdie putt, McIlroy articulated the binding force of two friends going into combat together in such an intense environment.

McDowell, who won two of his four matches at Valhalla two years ago, knew he was on a winner with McIlroy's talent and appealed to his partner's youth and exuberance with buoyant words and matey gestures. As the two stood for interviews McDowell threw an arm round the neck of his accomplice. Short of going all the way and conducting a civil marriage there and then, the two could not have offered a clearer declaration of comradeship.

All McIlroy wanted to do then was speed off to support the other European pairings. Watching him dissolve himself into this brotherhood, the thought occurred that golfers secretly crave the comfort of the herd. By insisting individual titles meant more to him than his impending debut in this event McIlroy had exposed himself to mockery from his colleagues.

"A lot of guys have said, 'Oh, what about this exhibition in a couple of weeks' time?' and other stuff like that," he admitted last week. "But it's all been in good humour. It's just one of those things I'm going to have to talk about for the next few years until people forget about it."

We see now that a protective cloak has been thrown over him since he told the BBC: "I would love to face [Tiger Woods] unless his game rapidly improves. I think anyone in the European team would fancy their chances against him." This provocation prompted Woods to say "me, too", meaning that McIlroy would be in his sights in Wales. Colin Montgomerie, Europe's captain, then let slip that he would try to "avoid" fielding his prodigy against the world No1 when the curtain rose on Friday.

So behind the luminous pleasure McIlroy radiated here there had been a risk of damage to his spirits and reputation. The Woods remark might have haunted him down the years, the "exhibition" put-down could have cast him as a selfish passenger in the eyes of the galleries. Instead McDowell nursed him through and Sergio Garcia followed him from a buggy to keep his mood high.

"To get that first win under my belt in the Ryder Cup is fantastic and to do it alongside this guy [McDowell] is even more special," McIlroy said. "He's been great for me this week and it's made my life a lot easier walking the fairways with him."

This Northern Irish double act had shared a fourballs point with Cink and Matt Kuchar and then lost to the same US team in the foursomes, before Johnson and Mahan sprang up as easier meat. "We have been talking about this for a couple of years. We have spent a lot of time together and we've been joking around about winning Ryder Cup points," McDowell said.

"I think we both realise now – I certainly found out two years ago – how difficult winning a point is in this tournament and we certainly experienced that over the last couple of days. To play alongside one of my best friends and someone I regard as one of the best players I've ever seen in the world has been great."

These two are seriously buddied-up. "At the start of the week there was no one else I really wanted to play with," McIlroy said.

If Europe drive home their three-point lead in the singles no one will care about the rivers of mud or the delays, and McIlroy's "exhibition" gaffe will fade from the library of things the young say and then pretty quickly regret.

This week's hero is often last week's heathen.