Update

The acclaim came in vast waves from galleries from both sides of the Atlantic. ''Sergio, Sergio,'' the Europeans chanted as Sergio Garcia, the Spanish player they call ''El Nino'' - the kid - came of age yesterday with Ryder Cup victory over the world's greatest golfer, Tiger Woods.

Even the Americans, between bursts of bellowing patriotism, were moved to marvel ''Gee, he's some kid,'' as Garcia partnered Jesper Parnevik in the most tense and intimidating atmosphere in world golf.

Indeed, as more than 30,000 fans were shoe-horned along the undulating fairways of The Country Club, 10 deep in places, it was difficult to imagine a more pressured atmosphere in the whole of sport.

It was enough to dry the throat and turn the knees of the most grizzled and experienced pro to jelly. For a player who turned professional just five months ago, has played a handful of events, and who, at 19, is not old enough to drink in many of the bars in downtown Boston, to cope with such calm and cohesion was quite simply unbelievable.

He did not exactly perform the Bambi-like leap which had so endeared him to American fans at the US PGA, but on occasions he was not far away.

At times he sprinted ahead up steep inclines, only to turn at the top and applaud the shot of his partner. He was eager to offer a high-five at every European success, the first to offer encouragement at a minor setback.

In short, he was everything captain Mark James had hoped of the hyperactive boy who threatens to wrest the crown from Woods as the world's best player.

True, his swing was not as sweet as we have come to expect these past five months, but then whose was on a morning dripping with tension? Consequently, the match was by no means the feast of golf for which fans had hoped when the blind draw threw together the game's most exciting players.

Garcia learned his short game at the hands of Seve Ballesteros - perhaps the greatest exponent of chipping and pitching that golf has ever seen.

Ballesteros, the winning captain at Valderrama in 1997 and back home in Spain glued to the television, must have flashed that famous smile and nodded in approval at some of Garcia's short play throughout the session.

The Europeans never looked like losing there tie, and when Garcia's fiery iron shot on the seventeenth skirted the greenside bunker and took a right-angle kick to finish just seven feet from the hole, fate had decreed it was the Spaniard's morning.

''It was fun,'' was Garcia's refreshing verdict.''It was great playing with Jesper. I feel we make a good team.

''I felt really comfortable when we were down. I always felt we could come back. I really enjoyed it. What more could you ask for? To come out and play well and win the match.''

Then he turned an old head on young shoulders to the task of playing down the rivalry with Woods. ''Here it's Europe against the USA, not Sergio against Tiger. Everybody needs to understand that,'' he said.

Maybe, but yesterday there was no doubting which star burned the brightest.