Europe races to 4-0 lead after first session

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy – Jon Rahm could not miss.

An orange moon hung in the distance as he stood in the darkness Friday morning, stroking putts on the floodlit practice green before he and Tyrrell Hatton were to take on Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler in the first match of the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone. Around and around the cup Rahm went, filling it up, not missing, not missing, not missing.

When the sun came up it was more of the same in the opening Foursomes on Day 1, as everything turned blue, as in Europe, in an instant. Europe won all four matches and leads 4-0.

This was just the fourth opening-session sweep in Ryder Cup history, and the first by Europe, whose captain this week, Luke Donald, preached the importance of building a quick lead.

“All week, all we've been talking about is getting off to fast starts,” said Rory McIlroy, who with Tommy Fleetwood beat Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele, 2 and 1. “Playing three-hole matches in practice, three holes, go again, three holes, go again, something that Luke’s drilled into us. We were ready to go from the first tee shot as obviously you can see in how everyone played.”

Rahm and Hatton made four birdies and an eagle in the often-challenging alternate-shot format to take command and brush off Scheffler, the world No. 1, and Burns, 4 and 3.

FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland pitched in for birdie at the first and teammate Ludvig Åberg, the PGA TOUR U product who has become a sensation since turning pro, made clutch putts as they rolled to an equally convincing 4-and-3 victory over Brian Harman and Max Homa.

Shane Lowry and Ryder Cup rookie Sepp Straka got away with a bogey at the first, built a 4-up lead, and hung on to beat Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa, 2 and 1.

That left the U.S. Team’s most accomplished duo, Cantlay and Schauffele, in the anchor match. They were the only thing standing between the U.S. and a total wipeout in the opening session. But they couldn’t overcome two of Europe’s stalwarts, McIlroy and Fleetwood.

Cantlay/Schauffele sprayed it off the tee, and while they birdied 14 to cut Europe’s lead to 1 up, a shocking reversal on 15 – Fleetwood save par from 20 feet and Schauffele missed from 3 feet – restored Europe’s 2-up lead with three to play.

The Americans once again cut the deficit with a birdie on 16, but McIlroy struck the decisive blow, his tee shot setting up a tap-in birdie on the par-3 17th. He and Fleetwood won, 2 and 1.

Cantlay/Schauffele had been a perfect 5-0 in Foursomes in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

The narrative coming into this week was that we were due for a close Ryder Cup after recent blowouts in favor of the home team, and that perhaps the Americans, who after all had won by 10 points at home two years ago, could win on the road for the first time since 1993.

It took all of about 10 minutes for that plan, and U.S. Captain Zach Johnson’s meticulously thought-out pairings, to start going south.

Hovland holed out for birdie at the first to elicit the first huge roar for the home team as Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka, watching the video board on the first tee, high-fived amid the din.

Up ahead, Rahm, a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season, putted in from off the green to birdie the third hole. He was just getting started. He nearly aced the par-3 seventh, his conceded birdie enough to win the hole; and holed out from well off the green to halve the 10th hole. He and Hatton shot 3-under on the front nine, birdied the 11th and eagled the par-5 12th.

The Americans, meanwhile, looked out of sorts, as they have so often on the road.

Johnson had rolled the dice in electing to send out Scheffler and Burns in the lead group; the duo, while great friends, did not enjoyed great success as a team at the 2022 Presidents Cup, going 0-2 in Foursomes and 0-2-1 overall. They never had a chance against Rahm/Hatton.

In Match 2, Homa could not find the form that propelled him to a 4-0 record at the Presidents Cup last year, nor was Harman the same player who won The Open Championship in July. They shot 1 over par and put up little resistance, giving the home crowd, which included tennis player Novak Djokovic following on foot and wearing Europe colors, plenty to cheer about.

The first session is not destiny; Europe retained the Solheim Cup last week despite falling behind 4-0. But for a U.S. Team that was already facing an uphill climb, this one hurt. Europe now leads the Foursomes 91.5-81.5 since the continent joined in 1979.

“We'll have to make some adjustments across the board,” said Schauffele, who will go out with Morikawa in Four-ball play in the afternoon. “We'll be fine. Not sweating it. Yeah, I'm not worried. Our team is deep. These boys will come out hungry these next matches.”