By Martyn Herman
ROME (Reuters) – A dominant Europe carved out a commanding 6.5-1.5 lead in the 44th Ryder Cup as the United States were left reeling by a foursomes wipe-out on a spectacular opening day at a sun-drenched Marco Simone Country Club on Friday.
Roared on by massive raucous galleries, Luke Donald’s team were unstoppable as they enjoyed a ‘bluewash’ in the opening session, sweeping every match to take a 4-0 lead in their quest to regain the trophy after suffering a drubbing in 2021.
It was the first time in the history of the competition that a European team had won every match of an opening session, but Zach Johnson’s Americans found some inspiration and fight in the later fourballs to retain some hope heading into the weekend.
A thrilling fourballs session looked to be going the way of the Americans as they led in three matches but it ended 2.5-1.5 to Europe with three duels decided on the 18th.
The U.S. have not won in Europe for 30 years and need only to draw (14 points) to keep the trophy but after such a chastening day they face a monumental task.
Home skipper Donald opted to play the foursomes first rather than fourballs which had been the case at home since 1997 and it proved a masterstroke as his players fed off the energy of a raucous home crowd to streak ahead.
Spain’s Jon Rahm and English partner Tyrrell Hatton lit the blue touchpaper with a 4&3 win over world number one Scottie Scheffler and rookie Sam Burns and Scandinavian duo Viktor Hovland and debutant Ludvig Aberg followed suit with a 4&3 defeat of British Open winner Brian Harman and Max Homa.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Austrian Sepp Straka maintained the European momentum with a 2&1 defeat of Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa while Rory McIlroy, playing with Tommy Fleetwood, then put the icing on the cake of a sensational morning by subduing Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Both captains shuffled their pairings in the fourballs, meaning all 24 players saw action on day one.
Digging deep, the Americans finally put some red on the scoreboard and got their first half point as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas tied with Hovland and Hatton.
Brooks Koepka and world number one Scheffler looked set for victory over Rahm and Danish rookie Nicolai Hojgaard but Rahm’s eagle at the last ensured another tie.
The Americans ended the day without a single win as veteran Justin Rose made a birdie at a jam-packed last hole to scrape a tie alongside Robert Macintyre against U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and fellow rookie Homa.
An inspired Matt Fitzpatrick, playing with McIlroy, earned his first Ryder Cup point in his third appearance with a 5-3 defeat of Morikawa and Schauffele having led by six at the turn.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)
