Bloomfield Township, Mich. ? Hal Sutton wanted his best two players to set the tone for the Ryder Cup. Did they ever.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were hammered in the morning and blew it in the afternoon, and the rest of the Americans followed suit Friday as Europe matched the largest first-day lead in Ryder Cup history.

This might have been the quietest day at a Ryder Cup, as most of the 38,000 fans sat in stunned silence watching Colin Montgomerie & Co. build a 61/2-11/2 lead without too much effort.

“I don’t think we surprised ourselves,” Padraig Harrington said. “That’s what we set out to do.”

Montgomerie and Harrington were the ones who set the tone, making four straight birdies to start their opening better-ball match. They never trailed against Woods and Mickelson — the American “Dream Team” playing together for the first time in the Ryder Cup — and won, 2 and 1.

“Psychologically, it was almost worth two points to us,” Montgomerie said.

Europe didn’t need the extra point. It had Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke also winning both their matches and again grabbing early momentum in these biennial matches.

“This was their day,” said Chris DiMarco, who teamed with Jay Haas in an alternate-shot match for the only U.S. victory on an otherwise bleak day. The other half-point came from Chris Riley, who made a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole to enable him and Stewart Cink to halve their better-ball match.

Europe matched the largest first-day lead, first set by the United States in 1975 in an era before continental players were added to the mix and the Americans seemingly only had to show up to win the shiny gold trophy.

Tiger Woods reacts to a missed birdie putt. Woods and partner Phil Mickelson lost two matches in Ryder Cup play Friday in Bloomfield Township, Mich.

The Europeans must feel the same way. They have won the cup six of the last nine times, and there was nothing Friday to suggest these matches would turn out any differently.

It took the Americans 70 holes and 61/2 hours before they led in any match — and not even that one lasted.

Woods and Mickelson seized early control against Clarke and Westwood in the alternate-shot match when Woods hit a towering 3-wood within 10 feet on the par-5 second hole. They won the next two holes for a 3-up lead, but that was gone by the 10th hole.