John Clay’s Sidelines

 From Valhalla:

• At 7:25: U.S. leads 5.5 to 2.5 after first day. First time since 1995 that the Americans have led after the first day.

• At 7:25: Euros rally as Westwood-Hansen earn a half with Holmes-Weekley.

• At 6:49: Homes-Weekley are still 1-up going to 17.

• At 6:30: Holmes-Weekley still hold a 1-up lead, now with three holes to play.

• At 6:10: Mickelson-Kim fight from 3-down to win 1-up over Harrington-McDowell. U.S. now leads 5-2.

• At 6:07: Leonard-Mahan wins its second match of the day. Leonard chips in on 15 and Americans close out match 4 and 3. U.S. now leads 4-2 overall.

• At 6:00: Poulter-Rose defeat Stricker-Curtis 3 and 2 for the first European win of the day. Score now U.S. 3, Europe 2. Curtis did not play well. Will be interesting to see if Azinger includes him in tomorrow's play.

• At 5:40: Back-to-back moments for the Americans. Boo Weekley drains a long putt, with the pin still in, to win the 12th — then pumps up the crowd — and put Holmes-Weekley up by one. Then Mickelson makes a clutch putt on 17. And McDowell just missed his putt that would have halved the hole. Harrington also misses, and Mickelson-Kim lead 1-up going to the 18th.

•  At 5:28: Poulter-Rose are about to close out Stricker-Curtis, not that Curtis has contributed much to the match. Poulter-Rose 3-up four to play. Curtis did par 13, his first contributing hole since the 8th.

• At 5:17: Leonard birdies 12 and Leonard-Mahan is back to a 2-up lead over Garcia-Jimenez. That duo needs to hold the lead, what with the Americans down in one match and all-square in two others.

• At 5:10: Weekly birdies No. 10 and the country boys Holmes-Weekley have climbed back into an all-square with Westwood-Hansen.

• At 4:56: McDowell birdies 15 and McDowell-Harrington vs. Mickelson-Kim is back to all-square with three holes to go. Meanwhile, Jiminez birdies 11 to cut Leonard-Mahan lead to 1-up.

• At 4:41: Kim makes birdie 2 at 14 and Mickelson-Kim lead for the first time all day, 1-up on Harrington-McDowell. So now Euros lead two matches, Americans lead two matches.

• At 4:40: J.B. is on fire. The ex-Cat strings together his second consecutive birdie and Holmes-Weekly now 1-down to Westwood-Hansen after nine holes.

• At 4:30: Mickelson-Kim have done it again. Down by three after four holes, the duo has rallied to go all-square with Harrington-McDowell with five holes to play. Mickelson-Kim trailed Harrington-Karlsson by three with six holes remaining this morning, then rallied to halve the match.

• At 4:20: Padraig Harrington is putting lights-out. He's birdied two of the last three holes. Harrington-McDowell 1-up after 12. And Mickelson-Kim are doing a great job keeping it this close.

• At 4:18: Holmes bounces back and birdies No. 8. But Westwood matches to half the hole. Westwood-Hansen still enjoy a 2-up lead. Meanwhile, Leonard-Mahan has gone 2-up on Garcia-Jimenez after nine.

• At 4:05: Steve Stricker makes a nice putt at nine to keep Stricker-Curtis 2-down to Poutler-Rose. Weekley-Holmes is still 2-down to Westwood-Hansen. Harrington-McDowell is holding on to that 1-up lead over Mickelson-Kim. Leonard-Mahan is the only U.S. group in front, leading Garica-Jimenez 1-up.

• A 3:25: Holmes-Weekley went 1-up after the first hole, but has struggled since. Lee Westwood is on fire. He's birdied two, four and five to give Westwood-Hansen a 2-up lead on the two country boys from the U.S.

• At 3:05: Scoreboard
  • Harrington-McDowell 2-up on Mickelson-Kim after eight holes.
  • Stricker-Curtis and Poulter-Rose is all-square after five.
  • Leonard-Mahan is 2-up on Garcia-Jimenez through five.
  • Westwood-Hansen is 1-up on Holmes-Weekley after four.

• The Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty is one journalist not too happy to be in Louisville, as he writes here.

• President George H.W. Bush, 41 as they call him, is here in one of those ugly shirts, himself.

• E-mailer Larry wants to know, "Did both teams buy their shirts at the same Ugly Store?" Apparently so.

• Apparently at the rally last night, U.S. captain Paul Azinger said that
  it was ok to cheer missed putts. The European press wanted to know if
  that was true. Said Azinger today, 'Oh, let's say, I think I said, "You
  can cheer when they miss. You can cheer when they miss.' Essentially,
  you know, when we go over there, they cheer when we miss. I don't think
  that the Americans are really into what The Ryder Cup is all about in
  the fact that, you know, there is that other element. It wasn't meant
  to be malicious and I'm really proud that our fans have been absolutely
  perfectly behaved this morning."

• Earlier, Johnny Miller said of Jimenez, "You hate to lose to a guy in a ponytail."

•  At 2:30: Mickelson-Kim are following a similar path as their morning match, falling behind, then rallying. Harrington-McDowell were 3-up after four holes. Now it's a 1-up lead after six. Meanwhile, J.B. Holmes birdied the first hole for a 1-up Holmes-Weekley lead over Westwood-Hansen. Mahan-Leonard are 1-up on Garcia-Jimenez after two holes. Poulter-Rose lead Stricker-Curtis 1-up after four holes.

• At 1:45: I'm going to go watch J.B. Holmes tee off. Will be back with more updates after that.

• At 1:40: Mickelson-Kim have now fallen 2-down to McDowell-Harrington. Harrington birdied the 3rd hole.

• At 1:32: Thanks to a par by Graeme McDowell compared to three bogeys, Harrington-McDowell has gone 1-up on Mickelson-Kim.