Tiger Woods drew first blood on the final day, beating Paul Casey 3&2 in the first of the 12 singles matches as the United States tried to recover from a record six-point deficit.

Jim Furyk then swiftly made the overall score 11-7 with a crushing 6&4 victory over David Howell in the fourth match.

At one stage Hal Sutton’s side led in six of the first seven matches, but Sergio Garcia led the European charge as he recovered from two down after eight holes to Phil Mickelson.

Garcia birdied the next three holes in a row and went on to record a vital 3&2 victory over the Masters champion.

“I think it was definitely important to have the first point for our team, but I was trying not to look at the boards because we didn’t start too well,” said Garcia after his first singles victory.

“I hoped it helped the guys coming after me seeing that I was coming back a little bit.”

Darren Clarke looked like pulling off an even better victory when he birdied the 16th and 17th to reach the 18th tee all square against Davis Love.

But when Love missed from five feet for par after finding trouble off the tee, Clarke missed from three feet and had to settle for a half.

Asked if he knew his par putt was to retain the cup, Westwood, who claimed four and a half points out of five, said: ``No, but I had a good idea the way everybody was biting their nails.''

European captain Bernhard Langer added: “It’s been a tremendous week for all of us. We had so much fun as a team.

“It was an incredible week and I’m so proud of the guys, especially today. We were down early and came back strong. They have a lot of heart.”

Latest Score: 13.5 USA 8.5