BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Tiger Woods found the ball plugged in tall, thick grass - a chain-link fence on one side, a pine tree on the other.

He hovered over it, looking for any way out of this mess.

Nope.

Which is the way it went for the entire U.S. team on the opening day of the Ryder Cup.

From the first hole Friday, where Colin Montgomerie made a 10-foot birdie putt, to the last, where the Americans meekly conceded to Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald, this was one for the ages.

At the end of the day, the Europeans had won 6½ points out of eight matches, the most overwhelming margin by either team after the first day since the current format was put in place a quarter-century ago.

"We sure did a little bit better than I expected," Montgomerie said in the biggest understatement of the day.

Nothing went right for the Americans - especially for Woods and his playing partner, Phil Mickelson.

U.S. captain Hal Sutton paired them up for the first time in team competition, counting on his own version of the Dream Team to set a commanding tone for the Americans. Instead, they trailed Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington from the very first hole of better ball, bowing out without even getting to No. 18.

Woods and Mickelson went back out in the afternoon for alternate shot play, evening their match with Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke at the 17th when the European duo needed two shots to get out of a bunker.

The gallery at Oakland Hills was as loud as it had been all day, shouting "USA! USA! USA!"

But they clammed up when Mickelson stepped up to 18 - and promptly hit his new 3-wood so far left that it would have ended up in a backyard except for the out-of-bounds fence.

"Oh, dear," said American teammate Davis Love III, who had plenty of time to watch after his second decisive defeat of the day.

Woods was up next, but he didn't have a shot. After taking an unplayable lie and one-stroke penalty, he could only punch the ball back into the fairway. The Americans wound up losing the hole and the match.

Sutton was downright disgusted with his team. His most dramatic move was benching Mickelson for Saturday's morning matches, choosing to rely instead on Ryder Cup rookies Chris DiMarco, Chris Riley and Chad Campbell.

On Friday, DiMarco teamed with 50-year-old Jay Haas, the oldest member of the U.S team, to give the Americans their only victory. Riley made a crucial putt in the morning to preserve the other half-point.

Mickelson was already a target for changing equipment last week and then not playing the course the final two days of practice. He sure didn't help himself by hitting one tee shot that nearly struck his wife, then blowing any chance of gaining a crucial point with his final drive of the day.

"It's not going to cause us any grief in the morning because he's going to be cheering instead of playing," Sutton said.

He blistered the Americans for being too scared on the greens, where they failed to put any pressure on the Europeans and wound up going 70 holes and 6½ hours before they led in any match.

Then, he headed back to the hotel for a meeting that wasn't likely to be warm and fuzzy.

"When I get really mad at myself, I don't want somebody patting me on the back and lovin' on me," Sutton said. "I can assure you, I'm not going to be lovin' on them."

Europe, meanwhile, was loving every minute of it.

As usual, it was Montgomerie leading the way.

The stuffy Scot set a Ryder Cup record by playing in his 29th consecutive match, following up the 2-and-1 victory over Woods and Mickelson with an even easier match in the afternoon against Love and Fred Funk (4 and 2).

Montgomerie is 18-7-5 in his Ryder Cup career, the best winning percentage among any European. Even more meaningful was beating Woods and Mickelson to set the tone.

"Psychologically, it was almost worth two points to us," Monty said.

This might have been the quietest day at a Ryder Cup, as most of the 38,000 fans sat in stunned silence watching Europe steamroll through a team that has higher world rankings, more majors and bigger stars.

Five players - Montgomerie, Harrington, Westwood, Clarke and Sergio Garcia - won both their matches,

Clarke and Westwood finished the job Monty and Harrington started. The Americans took a 3-up lead after four holes, only to give it away. The Europeans needed only a bogey on the final hole to clinch the win.

"I let it slide on 18 with a poor tee shot," Mickelson said, "and it basically cost us the match."

No one knows how Woods felt about the pairing, the day, the tee shot, anything. Assistant captain Steve Jones drove him and Mickelson away in a cart through a throng of reporters, straight to the locker room.

The lead is so large - the United States in 1975 is the only other team with such a huge margin - that Europe mathematically can clinch the cup on Saturday.

But Montgomerie remembered 1999, when the Europeans led 6-2 after the first day and 10-6 after the second, only to be victimized by the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history.

"We got off to a good start," Montgomerie cautioned. "That's all it is."