COLIN Montgomerie’s European side roared back into the ascendancy at the 38th Ryder Cup, which today enters a fourth day for the first time.

The golfing gladiators from either side of the Atlantic will duke it out from 9am after the unfathomable rainfall that has ravaged Britain put paid to any thoughts of a scheduled finish despite the Celtic Manor’s state-of-the-art drainage system.

When play finally resumed at 1.30pm, almost six hours after the planned start time, Europe maintained their strong overnight position in session three, winning five and a half points out of six as the scoreboard finally became the sea of blue that so many pundits had been predicting.

Europe now have a three-point advantage at 9.5-6.5, meaning they need only five points from the 12 singles matches to reclaim the Ryder Cup.

With Lee Westwood leading the charge, having once again dismantled Tiger Woods in the Ryder Cup – he has now won six of their seven meetings in the event – Europe were an unstoppable force as attention finally switched from the weather studio to the golf course.

Westwood is on his way to overhauling Woods as the world number one, and his performance in the past three days has done little to suggest that’s a mantle that is anything but deserved, his superb play matched by the likes of Luke Donald, Ross Fisher and veteran Miguel Jimenez.

This Ryder Cup might have been unconventional in the extreme because of the weather, but there can be little doubt that it has included all the drama and electricity that has made the competition the third most viewed sporting event in existence, an estimated 620 million tuning in to see yesterday’s thrilling action.

It’ll no doubt be every bit as compelling today as the USA look to produce a fightback of Rocky Balboa proportions, the only fear being that the truncated finish will mean a reduced crowd and diminished atmosphere.