FanHouse GraemeMcdowell

For amateur golfers, not men like Tiger Woods, the end of the round is when your knees start a-knockin'. Your hands clam up, your brow starts sweating and you're not exactly sure what you did right the first 14 holes.

On Friday at Bethpage Black, in what was the second day of the first round of the U.S. Open (say that five times fast), Tiger rolled in a birdie putt on the 14th to get back to even par. On a golf course known more for curse words and broken hearts than birdie opportunities, even par is a number players would be thrilled with given the current conditions overtaking Long Island.

But for Woods on Friday, even par was hopeful thinking that only lasted for those first 14 holes.

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The Ryder Cup is one of the only events in golf where you can really mess with someone's psyche. Stories of players jangling change in their pockets, or staring their opponents down do happen, and it even gets to the point where not conceding a short putt is tactical.

Ian Poulter is claiming one American player, who wasn't identified by the Englishmen but was noted as Anthony Kim, ran into him with his shoulder during Saturday's fourball match.

Cameras caught a collision between the two players as Poulter walked out of a tee box. Kim wasn't playing in the fourballs, but decided to walk the course as a spectator and was a boisterous presence as he cheered on Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk in their close fourball tussle with Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

"As opposed to walking around me as I was walking off the tee, he decided to drop his right shoulder into me," related Poulter. "You don't need that when you're playing. It's not what you'd expect from a fellow professional." Footage shows Poulter remonstrating with Kim shortly afterwards. Kim's energy, and his crushing victory over Sergio Garcia in Sunday's singles match, have been praised by the US press as vital to the team's victory.

For the first time in these Ryder Cup matches, the American team looked like the inferior group, but still managed to maintain the lead over the Europeans.

In the morning foursomes, where the Americans won 3 to 1 yesterday, the Europeans gained some ground, winning 2.5 points to the U.S. 1.5. The biggest blow came to the solid group of Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson, who choked their way to their first lost point of the week. The victors over the Lefty and Belt Buckle were none other than Ryan's cousin Oliver Wilson and Henrik Stensen, who were four down to the Americans after six holes but scratched their way back hole by hole until 17, where Wilson cashed a 20-footer for birdie to take the full point (awkward fist pump accompanying picture).

Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan also didn't dominate, splitting the point with that guy with a ponytail and Graeme McDowell on the pivotal 18th hole. After Leonard made another clutch putt on the 17th to go one up, Mahan hit a bit of a pull off the tee on 18 and put their team in a tough position.

The afternoon matches are already underway, and on the first hole J.B. Holmes hit a 373 yard drive. Also, Boo Weekley has already made a birdie and annoyed Lee Westwood, so make sure you tune in.

Somewhere in the United Kingdom, Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke are having a good chuckle. It's early -- we're only one day into the 37th Ryder Cup -- but the European squad is in an unfamiliar position: down after seven matches. Specifically, they trail the United States, underdogs on paper and in real life, 5-2.

And part of the reason for the early-on beatdown is because captain Nick Faldo, known just as much for his quirky disposition and sometimes vindictive personality as for his six major victories, thought it would be great fun to go with Ian Poulter and Paul Casey over grizzled Cup veterans Monty and Clarke. So far, so bad on that front.

The U.S. got off to a 3-1 lead after the morning foursomes, but Faldo inexplicably decided to break up the Lee Westwood-Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington-Robert Karlsson pairings for the afternoon four-ball, even though they were the only groups to earn points (halves, as it turned out).

Instead, Harrington was paired with Graeme McDowell, and Sergio with Miguel Angel Jimenez (Johnny Miller's a big fan, by the way). The result: 0-2. For more perspective, when Poulter and Justin Rose are the only group on the European side to win a match in seven tries, things are pretty dire.

The Ryder Cup starts Friday, which is another way of saying the Europeans are just three days from Operation Beatdown '08. It's hardly surprising that our friends across the pond are favored -- they've won the last three events, and the only reason it's not six straight is because Justin Leonard holed a "no way that goes in" 40-footer in 1999.

But, hey, there's a reason they play these things: anything can happen. As a companion piece to Shane Bacon's look at the American side, here's my ill-informed take on the European team, their past record, and who I think they will be best paired with this week.

Sergio Garcia (14-4-2) and Oliver Wilson (rookie) -- America hates Ryder Cup Garcia for a reason: because he never loses (or at least it seems that way). He's played with Jesper Parnevik, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lee Westwood during the last four events and he's won 70% of the time. Not too shabby. I'll be honest: I have no idea who Oliver Wilson is. For all I know, we're related. Whatever, he'll just have to stay out of Garcia's way on Friday and Saturday and hope the Euros are far enough ahead on Sunday that it won't matter if he goes down 9 and 8.

With a golf course playing as tough as Oakland Hills this week, red figures are few and far between.

Camilo Villegas and company are trying to change that. The flashy Florida Gator is five-under on his round today through 13 holes, taking the "just hit it close all day" approach to championship golf.

Villegas is joined by Graeme McDowell and Andres Romero as a couple of foriegn-born golfers using birdies as acceleration to pass a number of people on their way up the leaderboard. Camilo is having the best round of the tournament today, making five birdies and no bogeys, including a putt on the par-3 13th that was heading for the left lip but got rejected like Dikembe Mutombo had taken up this crazy game.

The Colombian known more for his looks and phsique than his golf game had never played up to his standards in majors until this year's U.S. Open, where he finished a career-high ninth at Torrey Pines. A man that can always make a load of birdies (ninth of tour this sesaon with 3.68 a round), Villegas is still searching for his first win on tour.

Posting one or two over in the clubhouse today before the leaders head out sure would look good coming 9 PM tonight. With the wind picking up and the weather appearing to worsen as the day progresses, Villegas could make tons of waves if he could get through Oakland Hill's personal Amen Corner, 16, 17 and 18.

UPDATE: Of course, right when I post this, Villegas makes a bogey on 14. We bloggers should get a real job.