IAN POULTER BELIEVES Europe can still win the 2012 Ryder Cup despite trailing the USA heading into Sunday’s play at Medinah.

With just the singles matches remaining, the United States lead 10-6 at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois, but a spectacular finish on Saturday has given Team Europe hope.

Poulter pulled his team back into contention with five birdies on the final five holes of the afternoon’s four-ball action as he and world number one Rory McIlroy narrowly defeated Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar.

The win has lifted the spirit of the Europeans as they look to secure their seventh Ryder Cup from the last nine attempts.

“It was (an) incredible finish to what was looking like a very mundane day,” said Poulter, who has won all three of his matches so far. ”I kept saying to Rory, he kept saying to me, we just need something. We just need something.

“We was down, we was two down, nothing was happening, putts weren’t going in, and he hit a fantastic three iron into 13 to about eight feet, hit a great putt, a little bit left to right, (it) went in, and that was the spark we needed to ignite what was a bizarre finish.

“That point (for victory) is huge for the team. It’s given the whole team a massive boost, to be able to go into tomorrow knowing that you can win from this position. It’s been done in the past, it’s going to be done again, and we’ve definitely all got a chance tomorrow to go out there and try and get our hands on that trophy.”

Europe will need to overturn the biggest final-day deficit in Ryder Cup history if they are to clinch victory. The Americans fought back from four points down to win at Brookline in 1999 in a remarkable finish. Paul Lawrie was on the receiving end that day, and was not ruling out his Europe team doing likewise this year.

“There’s still 12 singles matches tomorrow,” said Lawrie. “We can all win tomorrow and why not?

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