Olazabal and Garcia were simply irresistible at times

Europe's Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal produced a magnificent display to beat Americans Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco 3&2 in the Ryder Cup.

The fourballs win put the Europeans 6-3 up and was due reward for the Spanish pair, who continued Friday's fine form.

World number two Mickelson was totally off-colour and only battling play from DiMarco prevented a heavier defeat.

Garcia, who won twice on the opening day, now has 13 wins and only three defeats from his 18 Ryder Cup matches.

Interview: Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal

He preferred to give his partner much of the credit, saying: "Jose Maria played amazingly - I don't think he missed a fairway, it was awesome.

"We got lucky when they missed a couple of putts but we played solidly in difficult weather conditions and made a good bunch of birdies."

Olazabal said: "We had a good start which was important and then a stretch of holes where we made crucial putts and they didn't, which was they key to the match."

Garcia produced a brilliant second shot out of the rough to put the European pairing ahead on the second.

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DiMarco hit back straight away to level but Olazabal produced a fine bunker shot to three feet to give his side the advantage again on the fourth.

He sank a 15 foot left-to-right putt to extend the lead and Garcia pulled out a beautiful 184-yard iron shot to within eight feet and make it three up to the Europeans at the turn.

Olazabal piled on the pressure at the 10th and it was looking a lost cause for the Americans, although Mickelson finally holed a birdie putt on the 14th to cut the deficit to three.

It merely delayed the inevitable and Garcia's fine shot out of the sand on 16 was enough to clinch the point for Europe.