LEE Westwood last night hailed a ‘‘phenomenal effort’’ from Europe’s Ryder Cup stars after their Celtic Manor masterclass left the United States in disarray.

Westwood and Luke Donald led from the front by inflicting the heaviest matchplay defeat of world No 1 Tiger Woods’ 14- year professional career.

That 6&5 foursomes drubbing set the tone as Europe went on to win four more matches.

The Molinari brothers halved the other, turning a 6- 4 deficit into a 9½- 6½ lead heading into today’s delayed singles matches.

It was ‘Super Sunday’ in the Usk Valley, with Westwood and company requiring five more points to make it a ‘Magnificent Monday’ and regain the trophy lost in Louisville, Kentucky, two years ago.

‘‘We played very well,’’ said Westwood, who has now beaten Woods six times from seven attempts in the Ryder Cup.

Donald, meanwhile, preserved his 100 per cent foursomes record.

‘‘Tiger and Steve (Stricker) are considered their strongest pair, probably.

‘‘But there are 12 main men in this team. It is strong all the way through, and that was a phenomenal effort.’’ Europe led all six matches – two foursomes and a quartet of fourballs – going into yesterday’s action, which was delayed 15 minutes short of six hours by heavy rain.

Westwood added: ‘‘We tried to impress on the people who hadn’t played in the Ryder Cup before that they (USA) were going to come out fast.

We had to come out faster.

‘‘It is very difficult when you have six blues on the scoreboard overnight. We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves – we knew we had to convert our chances.’’ Donald said: ‘‘It was a nice place to be with all that blue on the board. It couldn’t get any better, so we had to hold on to those leads as much as we could.

‘‘It was great to see Lee hole a 40-foot putt on ten. It’s a great day for European golf – a lead going into tomorrow is what you want.’’ Ian Poulter teamed up with German Martin Kaymer for a 2&1 win against an out-ofsorts Phil Mickelson and American rookie Rickie Fowler.

‘‘We knew they would come out hard and fast, and the key was to try to put your foot on the pedal and keep going,’’ said Poulte.

‘‘It shows how strong this side is.

Seeing a sea of blue on the board is huge motivation to keep knocking it close and keep knocking those putts in.’’ Padraig Harrington, a 2&1 winner with Ross Fisher over Jim Furyk and Dustin Johnson, enjoyed his first Ryder Cup fourballs success since 2004.

‘‘We were in a difficult situation going out today,’’ he said. ‘‘We hadn’t won the points, even though it was blue on the board overnight.

‘‘To gain 5.5 points today was phenomenal, really. It’s nice to play like we did, but there is a lot of work to be done tomorrow. They (USA) have another opportunity tomorrow.

‘‘Ross played some fantastic golf.

Quality wise, he certainly played the best golf anybody has probably ever seen in a Ryder Cup.

‘‘He made all the shots, holed all the putts. He really did play awesome.’’ Fisher though, paid tribute to his colleague, adding: ‘‘The help I got from Padraig today was huge.

‘‘Yesterday, I struggled in my first game. The putts weren’t going in, so I needed to be patient.

‘‘When you have got a three-time major champion reading your putts, you know you’ve got a great chance.”