The United States team’s only saving grace following Friday’s opening round of the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club is that the majority of golf fans back home likely didn’t watch its embarrassing defeat by the European squad.
For the first time in Ryder Cup history, the Europeans went 4-0 in the Friday morning session after winning four foursomes (alternate-shot) matches. The European team, which is attempting to recapture the trophy after losing 19-9 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021, completely dominated the match. In none of the early games, the United States was able to maintain a lead.
The European team has only gone undefeated in a session four times overall. The European team hasn’t led after the first session since 2006, so that’s a first. In that year, at the K Club in Straffan, Ireland, it won the Ryder Cup 1812-912.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry declared, “This morning, we are off to a wonderful start. “We must continue to put pressure on. We are really pleased with our start today, but there is still a lot of golf to be played. We discussed getting things going quickly, and we have.
With 24 matches remaining, the American team, which is attempting to break a 30-year dry spell in Ryder Cups played outside of the United States, has a lot of work to do. The American team needs 14 points to keep the trophy; the European squad needs 1412 points to reclaim it.
The first point for Europe was recorded by Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm of England, who defeated Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns of the United States 4-and-3.
On the third hole, Rahm and Hatton seize command of the top match, never relinquishing it. At the third hole, a par 4, Rahm sank a 12-foot birdie putt to take the lead. On the par-4 fifth, he sank a second 4-foot birdie putt. Afterward, Rahm’s tee shot on the par-3 seventh landed 2 feet from the hole after hitting the pin with it.
On the 10th hole, Rahm chipped in from off the green to save par and tie the score, denying the American team the opportunity to recover one stroke. The European team made a birdie on the eleventh hole and an eagle on the twelfth, thus ending the match.
Scheffler and Burns, who have a good friendship, struggled in international competition, going 0-3-1. At the 2022 Presidents Cup in Charlotte, North Carolina, they had a combined record of 0-2-1.
The Open Championship winners Brian Harman and Max Homa fared no better in the second match, losing 4 and 3 against the Scandinavian duo of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.
The current FedEx Cup champion from Norway, Hovland, set the tone on the opening hole. Hovland chipped in from on the green and converted a 9-footer for birdie to win the hole after Aberg mishit his second ball, which landed around 35 feet to the right of the pin. Hovland sank a 9-foot birdie putt on the following hole to take a two-up lead.
The next two holes were won by Harman and Homa to square the match, but the Europeans didn’t give up easily. Aberg’s chip on hole no. 4 lipped out of the hole, while Hovland’s chip on hole no. 3 bounced off the pin. The Americans were matched in that manner. Aberg, a former Texas Tech star and Ryder Cup rookie made birdie putts of 12 feet on holes 6 and 9 to go three up.
They played incredibly well, no doubt about it, Homa added. We didn’t have many opportunities, and when we did, we regrettably missed them. They really played well, I mean.
Rickie Fowler, a veteran of the U.S. Ryder Cup, missed an 8-foot putt in the third game that would have won the hole. In a 2 and 1 defeat to Lowry and Austria’s Sepp Straka, that is how the remaining round played out for Fowler and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.
After four holes, the European pair was two holes ahead. They subsequently won holes Nos. 7 through 9, putting them four holes up. It wasn’t enough, despite Fowler and Morikawa’s late comeback to win a few holes.
Even the usually dependable duo of Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele couldn’t do much on Friday as they fell 2 and 1 to Tommy Fleetwood of England and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. The American team trailed by one at the halfway point and by two after 11 holes. With Schauffele’s 12-foot birdie putt on hole No. 14, the Americans drew within one. Schauffele missed a 4-footer for par on the following hole. The European team won the hole, putting them two up in the contest.
On Friday, four four-ball (best ball) matches will resume the game. At 6:25 a.m. ET, Hovland, and Hatton take on Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas; Scheffler and Brooks Koepka play Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard; Homa and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark play Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose; and Morikawa and Schauffele play Rory and Matt Fitzpatrick at 7:10 a.m. ET.