(CNN)US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III must have been fearing a collapse of Medinah-esque proportions as a 4-0 advantage held early Friday dissolved into 6 - 6 tie as dusk began to settle at Hazeltine Saturday.
Love, after all, was the man who oversaw a dramatic US collapse on the fateful Illinois golf course in 2012 as Europe overcame a four point deficit to claim a remarkable final day victory.
Yet just when it looked like the Europeans were slipping into gear Saturday, led from the front by a chest-pumping Rory McIlroy and rookie Thomas Pieters, the Americans stepped on the pedal to once again move into a commanding lead to the delight of a boisterous home crowd.
Veteran pairing Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar beat Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia by the same scoreline while JB Holmes and Ryan Moore edged out Lee Westwood and Danny Willett on the last.
Some within the European set-up felt the excitable US crowd was becoming too involved in the spectacle.
Reports suggested McIlroy had requested one particularly unruly spectator be removed while vice-captain Ian Poulter tweeted that the US players were "embarrassed" by the behavior of their fans.
Yet that was not something immediately addressed by European captain, Darren Clarke.
"Obviously (we"re) disappointed with this afternoon"s result," Clarke told Sky Sports. "We hung in there this morning and got back close again and then we had a few chances today to get something but the American guys played very well."
"We"re going to have to work hard now tomorrow. It"s been done before from a worse position but we have a big task ahead of us. The guys are capable of doing it."
Justin Rose and Chris Wood held off a late charge from Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker to notch another point before a remarkable comeback from Sergio Garcia and Rafael Cabrera-Bello ensured their match with Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed ended all square.
The US pair were four up after 12 holes but the Spanish duo engineered an unlikely turnaround to get the scores back to all square after 18 and leave the teams finely poised 6 - 5.
The US may still have held the lead as the fourballs began but it certainly felt like the big mo was with Team Europe.
Within a few hours that had firmly switched back to the US.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/01/golf/ryder-cup-2016-day-two/index.html
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