Match recaps: Results from Friday's Ryder Cup matches

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy – The U.S. Team was already staring down 30 years of European Ryder Cup dominance on the road. You can add a five-point deficit now, too.

Friday at the 44th Ryder Cup was the latest reminder of the Europeans’ dominance on their home turf. What was supposed to be a transitional year for Europe, one in which several of its stalwarts were missing for the first time in decades, looked more like a debut party for a new generation.

The Europeans won all four of the morning Foursomes matches and mounted a late charge during the afternoon Four-ball to keep the U.S. Team from winning a match. Despite leading in three of the four Four-ball matches on the back nine, the Americans mustered only three ties. It is the first time the United States has not won a single match in a day at the Ryder Cup.

The result is a sea of blue across Marco Simone Golf & Country Club that will not be easily erased. Europe leads 6.5-1.5 with every ounce of momentum on their side.

Read below for recaps from each of Friday’s matches:

FRIDAY P.M. FOUR-BALL

Match 5: Justin Thomas/Jordan Spieth (U.S.) tie Viktor Hovland/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe)

It was an instant classic in the opening match of Friday’s Four-ball session.

Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth flashed the form that has made them one of the U.S. Team’s stingiest pairings, while Viktor Hovland – playing with Tyrrell Hatton – continued his ascension with a major moment on the 18th hole.

Hovland drained a 26-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, forcing Thomas to hole a 6-footer just to settle for a tie. It was a gut punch for the American duo that took a 2-up lead after 13 holes but couldn’t string together enough birdies to stay ahead.

While Spieth provided the firepower early, tallying five birdies through 13 holes, wayward tee shots made him a non-factor down the stretch. He did not finish any of the final four holes. It was up to Thomas, the controversial captain’s pick, to buoy the Americans. He did so on the 15th, getting up and down for par and securing a crucial halve. But his putter failed him on the next two holes, missing a 7-footer to tie the par-4 16th and a 12-footer on the par-3 17th. Hovland and Hatton combined for eight birdies. Spieth and Thomas made six birdies.

There will surely be questions about why Thomas and Spieth didn’t play in the opening Foursomes session. They have typically gone out in the first pairing of the Ryder Cup but were sidelined as the Americans lost all four matches on Friday morning. Both players had moments of hardship. Still, it was the first point of any kind for the U.S. Team after a disastrous opening session.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0.5, Europe 4.5

Match 6: Scottie Scheffler/Brooks Koepka (U.S.) tie Jon Rahm/Nicolai Højgaard (Europe)

There’s an inevitability to Jon Rahm when he’s playing well. There's a feeling every iron shot will be flagged -- every wedge shot and putt is going to drop.

For large stretches of Friday’s Four-ball, that form evaded Rahm. Then, when he needed it most, it arrived. Rahm eagled two of the last three holes to flip the match and quell any momentum the Americans hoped to take into Saturday.

Rahm chipped in for an eagle on the par-4 16th, his third hole out of the day, to tie the match. Then, after Scottie Scheffler answered with a birdie to win the 17th, Rahm buried a 33-foot eagle putt on the 18th to win the hole and tie the match.

However, Rahm’s heroics would never have happened without Nicolai Højgaard. The Ryder Cup rookie made seven birdies. All three of the holes Team Europe won through 15 holes came from Højgaard.

It was a valiant effort for Scheffler and Koepka, who made birdie on each of the final five holes and were only outdone by Rahm's back-nine magic.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 1, Europe 6

Match 7: Max Homa/Wyndham Clark (U.S.) tie Robert MacIntyre/Justin Rose (Europe)

The 18th hole was not kind to the Americans on Friday. They couldn’t reach it during the morning Foursomes session. They wished they hadn’t during the afternoon Four-ball session.

In the final match of a brutal first day for the U.S. Team at Marco Simone, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark lost the last two holes to tie Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre.

It was one of three matches that reached the 18th hole. The Americans led in two of the matches and were tied in the other as they reached the tee box. Each ended in a tie.

The U.S. Team controlled the match from the par-3 seventh hole onward. That was where Clark stuck his tee shot to 5 feet and made the putt to take their first lead. They would maintain a 2-up lead for most of the match until it reached the penultimate hole. Clark had a chance to end it at 17, but his 13-foot par putt slid past the cup.

Homa missed his opportunity to end it, too. His 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th narrowly lipped out on the low side, opening the door for Justin Rose to win the hole and tie the match with a 9-foot birdie putt.

Rose buried the putt – and with it, the U.S. Team’s realistic chance to win.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 1.5, Europe 6.5

Match 8: Rory McIlroy/Matt Fitzpatrick (Europe) def. Collin Morikawa/Xander Schauffele (U.S.), 5 and 3

Rory McIlroy couldn’t help but laugh. He rode shotgun in one of the most impressive Ryder Cup performances this century – Ian Poulter’s Saturday Four-ball finish at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah.

And McIlroy was doing it again. He watched along as his partner Matt Fitzpatrick caught fire Friday, playing the opening six holes in 5 under.

Fitzpatrick hadn’t won a point in either of his two previous Ryder Cup appearances. He was intent on changing that. He drained a 20-foot putt on the second hole and a 14-footer at the third, both for birdie. On the par-4 fifth, Fitzpatrick striped his tee shot to 13 feet and holed the eagle putt, punctuated by a rousing fist pump by Fitzpatrick and a sheepish chuckle from McIlroy. By the time Fitzpatrick hit a wedge to 4 feet on the par-4 sixth and converted another birdie, the lead was now 5 up.

For extra measure, McIlroy sank an 18-foot birdie on the par-3 seventh to jump to 6 up. They finished the front nine 8 under. The duo guided it in from there, closing out Morikawa and Schauffele on the 15th hole.

For Fitzpatrick, it’s quite an emphatic way to get your first Ryder Cup point.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0.5, Europe 5.5

FRIDAY A.M. FOURSOMES

Match 1: Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe) def. Scottie Scheffler/Sam Burns (U.S.), 4 and 3

Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns are good friends on the golf course. Unfortunately, they’re winless together on it.

Their loss Friday morning dropped them to 0-3-1 as a team in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, including 0-3 in Foursomes.

Rahm put Europe ahead by holing a 30-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the third hole. His tee shot on No. 7 hit the stick and stopped 2 feet from the hole to set up a birdie that put Europe 2-up in this match. Rahm’s heroics continued on the back nine. He chipped in for par to halve the 10th hole, drove the green to set up a winning birdie on the 11th and then hit a 180-yard approach to 13 feet to set up a winning eagle on the 12th. The match ended with Europe’s two-putt par on the 15th hole.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0, Europe 1

Match 2: Viktor Hovland/Ludvig Åberg (Europe) def. Max Homa/Brian Harman (U.S.), 4 and 3

The onslaught of blue on the scorecard began immediately. Viktor Hovland chipped in for birdie from the fringe to win the first hole in a match that the Europeans never trailed. Hovland and Åberg made four birdies to just one from Homa and Harman.

The result surely won’t slow the Åberg hype train. The PGA TOUR rookie looked comfortable in his debut and, unlike his teammate, won’t be winless in his first Ryder Cup appearance. The win is Hovland’s first in a Ryder Cup match after he finished 0-3-2 in his debut at Whistling Straits in 2021.

The Americans did well to rally from a 2-down deficit through two holes with wins on Nos. 3 and 4, but their success was fleeting. The Europeans quickly responded with wins on the fifth and sixth holes to regain a 2-up lead. They added to it with a birdie at the par-5 ninth to make the turn 3-up and coast into the clubhouse with a victory.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0, Europe 2

Match 3: Shane Lowry/Sepp Straka (Europe) def. Rickie Fowler/Collin Morikawa (U.S.), 2 and 1

The finish wasn’t pretty. That won’t concern the Europeans, not with the way the leaderboard looks.

Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka led 4-up through nine holes and managed their way through a brief back-nine charge by the U.S. to win on the 17th green.

Lowry and Straka were among the most animated pairings of the morning session. Straka poured in short birdie putts to win the third and fourth holes and followed it with boisterous celebrations. They had plenty to like, winning three consecutive holes capped by a birdie on the par-5 ninth to take a commanding lead into the back nine. But birdies on 10 and 13 from the Americans kept the match close. On 16, a wayward drive and a poor chip from Lowry led to another win for the U.S. Team. Rickie Fowler nearly made a miraculous birdie on 17, his bunker shot just inches from dropping. A two-putt par from the Europeans closed it out.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0, Europe 3

Match 4: Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (Europe) def. Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (U.S.), 2 and 1

The match was as advertised.

A heavyweight fight with Rory McIlroy, the No. 2 player in the world, and Tommy Fleetwood, who has proven himself mighty formidable in his event, against one of the most successful duos in recent American team history.

The stakes only heightened as Europe grew its lead. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele represented the U.S. Team’s last gasp for momentum, while McIlroy and Fleetwood attempted to cap off an utterly dominant Foursomes session.

As with everything else Friday morning, the match went Europe’s way.

Fleetwood holed a clutch 20-footer for par on the 15th, while the Americans three-putted from 24 feet to lose the hole. That swung the match from a potential tie to a 2-up lead for the Europeans. After Schauffele and Cantlay won the 16th hole with a birdie, McIlroy stuck his tee shot on the par-3 17th to 2 feet to ensure the match wouldn’t reach the 18th. McIlroy and Fleetwood made just one bogey.

It’s the first time Schauffele and Cantlay have lost as a pairing in the Ryder Cup.

The Americans entered the week with 30 years of history against them. Now they have a four-point deficit to claw back from. A dream start for Luke Donald and Team Europe. A complete disaster for Zach Johnson and the U.S. Team.

Score at match’s conclusion: U.S. 0, Europe 4