HAVING been given a rare lesson in golf by English pair David Howell and Paul Casey yesterday, Jose Maria Olazabal is bracing himself for another rough day at The Wynyard Club.

Olazabal and fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez suffered the ignominy of a 5&4 defeat in yesterday's fourballs and the Continental Europe captain is hoping a change of partner will help revitalise his game today.

But, after hearing himself and Thomas Levet will battle it out with Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, the former US Masters champion is not banking on a point coming from his morning greensome.

Harrington and McGinley have found their own form after overcoming the battling Scandinavians Niclas Fasth and Peter Hanson 3&1 yesterday and Olazabal is expecting the Irishmen to be at their best.

"I'm going to get my ass whipped again then," joked Olazabal, whose side are still two points to the good against Great Britain & Ireland.

"I certainly got my ass whipped really well on Friday. Those boys (Howell and Casey) must have been listening very carefully to what Monty (Colin Montgomerie) said in their meeting on Thursday.

"They made a bunch of birdies and at the end of the day I have to say that I'm pretty happy that my team has only lost 3-2 from the day's play.

"Most of the day we were down in four matches and it looked like they were going to turn the tables around completely, but Emanuele (Canonica) and Maarten (Lafeber) managed to hold on for the last few holes. That made a big difference to the scoreline."

Canonica and Lafeber had looked destined to halve their game with Welshmen Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge until the former turned on the heroics at the 15th.

The Italian chipped in from 40 yards shy of the green to completely stun the Britain pair and edge the Europeans ahead by one in a contest in which Bradley Dredge's mistake of carrying too many clubs on the first tee proved costly.

"It was a good drive initially and a good shot to finish on," said Canonica. "I thought it was close enough when I hit it. It then broke and it proved to be a very important moment. To go one up with three holes to play was fantastic timing."

Europe's other heroes were Henrik Stenson and Thomas Bjorn for the second day running.

Swede Stenson and Dane Bjorn have been paired together for the third time in a row for this morning's matches having won both their fourballs in each other's company. Both men earned three holes each in their match as they recorded a 3&2 win over Montgomerie and Graeme McDowell.

Once again Stenson's power from the tee proved the talking point. On Thursday he drove to the edge of the 13th green, some 387 yards, yesterday he found it.

But the European golfer wanted Bjorn to take his share of the praise.

"I have been striking the driver really good and I hit a couple of great bombs out there, especially the one on 13, which got to within six feet. Unfortunately I missed the putt but still got an easy birdie," said Stenson.

"My driving was good but my putting and approach wasn't that good. Thomas was the strong one here."

Published: 24/09/2005