Europe charges to 5-point lead in Rome 

A historic opening day at the 44TH Ryder Cup ended with Team Europe holding a 6½-1½ lead after Friday’s two sessions of foursomes and fourballs at Marco Simone G&CC in Italy.

Justin Rose drained a 9-footer for birdie on 18 to secure a half-point in his four-ball match alongside Bob MacIntyre to prevent a shell-shocked US team from winning a match on a single day for the first time in the history of the matches.

“It was a historic day, but we want it to be a historic week,” said European Captain Luke Donald. “It was sensational, a dream start for us. This morning was an amazing performance by the guys and this afternoon was tough. The US came back, we knew they would. They had a stretch there in the middle where the momentum was turning their way but man, did we turn it back.”

The hosts enjoyed a clean sweep in the morning foursomes session for the first time to race into a 4-0 lead and held off a spirited US fightback to win the fourballs 2½ -1½ in the afternoon, with three of the four matches going to the 18th green and all been halved, while Rory McIroy and Matt Fitzpatrick swept aside Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele 5&3, with Fitzpatrick being five under par after just six holes in what turned out to be a one-sided contest.

Viktor Hovland shows his emotion after holing a 20-foot putt on the last to earn a half-point for Europe during the afternoon fourballs

Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Rose all crucially holed putts on the 18th to pick up half points for Europe on a day when it took it until 1pm for any red to appear on the scoreboards, and that only lasted for 15 minutes.

“The fact that the Americans didn’t win a full point was incredible and just shows the heart, grit and determination that the European team has,” said McIlroy. We have a ton of momentum and we’ll try to ride the crowd’s energy to win both sessions on Saturday.”

The US team seemed on course to register a first full point at 2up with five to play against Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton, but then sloppy mistakes and poor putting, which have blighted both their games in recent times, crept in. That opened the door for Hatton and his birdies at 14 and 16 to level the match were vociferously welcomed by the majority of the 55,000-plus fans who packed into see the drama unfold.

Hovland then holed from 25ft for a birdie at the last, with the final role of he ball seeing it drop into the cut. It proved crucial because Thomas was only 4ft away and he duly registered the first US half-point.

The next match was an equally tight affair, with Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard‘s 2up lead after eight reduced to all square by Scottie Scheffler with wins on holes 10 and 11. Brooks Koepka edged the Americans in front with a birdie on 15, but Rahm holed his second chip-in of the day to win the par-four 16th with an eagle. The Spaniard’s wild celebrations were matched by an unusually pumped up Scheffler after he won the 17th to put the US pairing 1up with one to play and guarantee at least another half point. But that was all they came away with after Rahm conjured up another magical eagle to win the 18th, slamming a 30-footer into the hole with such pace that it jumped into the air off the back of the cup before settling into the cup, much to the Spaniard’s relief.

Rory McIlroy hugs partner Tommy Fleetwood after they had won their match on the 17th green against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay during the Friday morning foursomes

“There was definitely a bit of Seve magic on that one,” said Rahm afterwards. “He definitely pulled that one towards the hole.”

That left one match out on the course, with Rose – partnered by Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, refusing to allow Americans Max Homa and Wyndham Clark to get away from them.Three times he won a hole on the back nine to reduce the deficit to one.The final time was with a par on the 17th to send the match down the 18th and Rose nailed an eight-footer, before hammering his chest in a style made famous by his former Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter, as he gave Europe a five-point lead after day one.

Looking to Saturday’s matches, Donald has kept with the same foursomes pairings for the morning foursomes. McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood will be first out and face Spieth and Thomas at 6.35am, while Hovland and rookie Ludvig Aberg will play Scheffler and Koepka. Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka are in match three against Homa and Brian Harman, with Rahm and Hatton facing Patrick Cantlay and Schauffele in the final game.

OVERAL SCORE – EUROPE 6.5- USA 1.5

Session 1 – Foursomes | Europe 4, USA 0

MATCH
UNITED STATES
SCORE
EUROPE

1
Scheffler & Burns
4&3
Rahm & Hatton

2
Homa & Harman
4&3
Hovland & Aberg

3
Fowler & Morikawa
2&1
Straka & Lowry

4
Cantlay & Schauffele
2&1
McIlroy & Fleetwood

 

Session 2 – Four-ball | Europe 2.5, USA 1.5

MATCH
UNITED STATES
SCORE
EUROPE

5
Thomas & Spieth
TIED
Hatton & Hovland

6
Koepka & Scheffler
TIED
Rahm & Hojgaard

7
Homa & Clark
TIED
Rose & MacIntyre

8
Schauffele & Morikawa
5&3
McIlroy & Fitzpatrick

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