Paul Casey was the toast of Europe as the luck of the English conspired to all but end America's Ryder Cup hopes in Ireland yesterday.

The 29-year-old from Cheltenham achieved only the fifth hole in one in the competition's 79-year history as captain Ian Woosnam's men homed in on yet another victory.

Europe lead 10-6 going into today's 12 singles matches - needing just four points to retain the trophy for a record third time.

And Casey, whose ace at the 14th brought him and David Howell a 5 and 4 afternoon victory over Stewart Cink and Ryder Cup rookie Zach Johnson, said: ''This is a great moment in my career but it is all about our team - and I believe our team can do it.''

Earlier in the day, a wonder shot from just off the 16th green by Darren Clarke - whose wife died just six weeks ago - had enabled the Irishman and his English partner Lee Westwood to complete an impressive 3 and 2 victory over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.

Woods's poor form infuriated him so much so that US captain Tom Lehman had to give the grim-faced legend a mid-round pep talk after a series of disastrous shots.

The world No.1 failed to make a single birdie in that morning defeat, leaving Lehman to ponder the possibility of doing the unthinkable - and dropping him for the afternoon foursomes.

Said Clarke, a great friend of Woods: ''I do feel for Tiger. He had an off day. His timing was off and his putting to go with it.

''You want him to play at his best and you want to try to beat people when they are at their best. But he had a tough day - we all have them.''

Tough it may have been for Woods, but he did show his metal in the afternoon as he and Furyk eased to a 3 and 2 win over Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinlay.

Afterwards, defiant Tiger called on his team-mates to emulate their 1999 fightback at Brookline in today's (Sunday's) last-day singles at the K Club.

The Americans trailed Europe by the same 6-10 scoreline going into the final day seven years ago and Woods said: "It's imperative that we get off to a quick start like we did in '99.

"I think we had six matches that we were up in and got points early. Hopefully we can do the same tomorrow.

"It's imperative that we get together as a whole collectively, play well as a team.

"The Europeans are playing great and they're not going to give it to us. We've got to beat them."

At Brookline, the US produced an astonishing rally in the last-day singles, winning eight and halving one of the 12 matches to reclaim the trophy by 14½ points to 13½.

Europe have won four of the last five Ryder Cup matches while Woods has been on the winning team once in four appearances - at Brookline in 1999.