Straffan, Ireland ? The opponent was already discouraged, the competition well out of hand.

Then Paul Casey took out the whoopin’ stick – a 4-iron to be exact – and made a hole-in-one to end his match and pound home another discouraging message to the United States at the Ryder Cup.

Casey’s ace – the fifth in Ryder Cup history – closed out a 5-and-4 romp for he and David Howell over Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson, part of a dominating afternoon in which Europe expanded its lead to 10-6.

“Nice,” Casey said. “It’s my first hole-in-one. We played great golf today, but it was just one of those days.”

The Casey-Howell rout in the afternoon foursomes was only a small part of it.

They closed it out minutes after Sergio Garcia improved to 4-0 this week, combining with Luke Donald for a 2-and-1 win over Phil Mickelson and David Toms. Garcia moved to 14-3-2 lifetime. Mickelson fell to 1-8-1 over his last 10.

Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood added another half point with a tie against Chad Campbell and Vaughn Taylor.

Europe's Paul Casey, center, celebrates while watching a replay of his hole-in-one on the 14th hole. Casey and David Howell defeated Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson, and Europe took a 10-6 lead in the Ryder Cup on Saturday in Straffan, Ireland.

Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk won 3 and 2 over Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, but even that couldn’t alter the facts.

It will take nothing less than another Brookline miracle for the Americans to avoid losing this tournament. In 1999 at Brookline, the U.S. team trailed 10-6 after two days but won 81â2 of 12 points in the final-day singles to win the cup. That was the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history.

Europe is aiming for its third consecutive Ryder Cup and has won four of the last five and seven of the last 10.

“It’s imperative we, as a team, get off to a quick start,” Woods said of toay’s matches, “just like we did in ’99.”

Before Casey’s hole-in-one, it was Garcia doing most of the wowing on a dominating day at The K Club.

The par-5 16th hole defined his relentlessness in these team events. He drove the ball deep into the right rough, and Donald hacked out into a muddy mess of wood chips about 100 yards from the hole. Meanwhile, Mickelson hit his tee shot safely into the fairway.

Garcia had no business winning that hole and Mickelson had no business losing it, but that’s how it went. It put the Europe team 2 up with two holes to play.

“I don’t know,” Garcia said when asked the secret to his success. “Good partners help. Luke and myself make a really good couple.”