Bernhard Langer's wildest dreams were surpassed last night as his inspired Ryder Cup team marched into a record-breaking lead at Oakland Hills in Detroit.

With the American plan of putting Tiger Woods (pictured) and Phil Mickelson together for the first time in any competition backfiring horribly, Europe ended the opening day with an incredible 6 1/2-1 1/2 advantage.

Colin Montgomerie, (pictured) inspired by the event once again, and Padraig Harrington rewarded their captain's faith in them with a first-day double and Darren Clarke put two points on the board as well.

The first of those was with Miguel Angel Jimenez and the second came with Lee Westwood - a last-green victory over Woods and Mickelson which carried extra special significance.

The two United States superstars, beaten by Montgomerie and Harrington in the foursomes, led by three after four, trailed by one with two to play, but then levelled on the short 17th.

It was crunch time then, but cometh the hour goeth the man. Masters champion Phil Mickelson carved his tee-shot - with his new driver - against the out of bounds fence and the hole was lost to a bogey five.

The look on Woods' face on the tee as he watched Mickelson's shot disappear from view told its own story.

That brought Mickelson's ninth straight defeat in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup games, while Woods had lost both his games on the opening day against Europe for the third straight match.

Montgomerie and Harrington, having conquered Woods and Mickelson two and one in the foursomes, took the scalps of Davis Love and Fred Funk as well after Funk went in the water with his approach to the 16th.

Incredibly, the 41-year-old Scot, who for the first time in seven cup appearances needed a wild card, has now lost only two of his last 18 games in the event and he and Harrington, brought together on the second afternoon at The Belfry two years ago, have three wins out of three.

And Montgomerie even produced the shot of the day, a miraculous chip at the eighth where he had to land the ball in the rough and let it run down the slippery slope to the hole. It stopped inches away.

The icing was put on the cake when Sergio Garcia and new cap Luke Donald beat Chris Perry and Stewart Cink, stretching the 24-year-old Spaniard's record to a stunning eight wins and one half in 10 foursomes or fourballs in Ryder Cup play.

The only American winners all day were pumped-up debutant Chris DiMarco and 50-year-old Jay Haas, who defeated Jimenez and rookie Thomas Levet three and two.

The previous worst opening day ever for the Americans was 2-6 at both Muirfield Village in 1987 and Brookline five years ago. And the one saving grace for home captain Hal Sutton was that he could remind his stunned side that they did come back to win the 1999 encounter.

A delighted Langer commented: "This is definitely what I was hoping for. Let's enjoy it while it lasts and hopefully it will last a long time. I have a lot of faith in my guys."

Sutton had considered the possibility of a Woods-Mickelson defeat on the eve of the match and tried to see the positive in it. "Nothing would aggravate them more. There would be some hell to play.

He added: "Nothing is going wrong for us, but everything is going right for Europe. They've made enough putts to lay down a road from Detroit to Chicago - but this is early on."