The United States tightened their grip on the 39th Ryder Cup on Saturday as they won the second foursome sessions 3-1 to take an overall lead of 8-4.
Mickelson and Bradley: Set it up nicely
Davis Love's men started the day 5-3 ahead after impressing on Friday and they made sure they didn't give the Europeans a sniff of getting level with Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley leading the way.
In fact, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose were the only bright spots for the visitors on Saturday morning as they beat Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, the Masters and US Open champions respectively, one-up.
Rose said: "I feel like we actually didn't have our best stuff today and to win that point was massive."
While Poulter and Rose gave Europe some hope, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood were on the receiving end of a thrashing as they ran into a pumped up Mickelson and Bradley.
The American duo needed only 12 holes to see off Donald and Westwood and record their third straight win together.
The duo's 7&6 drubbing of the world numbers two and four equalled the competition's record winning margin for either fourballs or foursomes.
"This is the most exhilarating experience of all my Ryder Cups," said Mickelson.
"I've played now in a number of events and to see his (Bradley's) youthful excitement gets me excited. He's just got me fired up and it's been really fun for both of us."
Just a day after experiencing the highs of defeating Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts was brought back down to earth as he and Sergio Garcia suffered a 2&1 defeat against Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson.
"It's pretty painful - very, very painful," Colsaerts said. "We got a decent chance to go to 18 and make something happen, but it's just one of those moments where you need a few Ryder Cups under your belt."
Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker added the cherry on top for the Americans as they beat Northern Irish duo Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, who beat them in the lead match on Friday morning, one-up.
Draw for afternoon fourballs (Times BST):
1805 Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar v Nicolas Colsaerts and Paul Lawrie
1820 Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson v Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari
1835 Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker v Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald
1850 Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson v Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter
golf365.com