Things went south very quickly for Team USA on Friday morning at the Ryder Cup.
The Long Island crowd at Bethpage Black was as rowdy as anticipated, with chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” ringing throughout the large grandstand over the first tee and 18th green. The first tee shot belonged to Jon Rahm, who quickly received screams of “fore right” as his drive sailed way beyond the fairway before Bryson DeChambeau electrified the crowd by nearly driving the first green.
It went just as U.S. captain Keegan Bradley drew it up — for about an hour.
Then, the Europeans came along and slapped the U.S. back to reality, dominating to take three of the four matches to make an early statement in the morning foursome (alternate shot) session of the 45th Ryder Cup.
DeChambeau and Justin Thomas hoped to open the tournament with a bang for the Americans as two fan favorites and the most fiery personalities wearing red, white and blue. However, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton remained undefeated as a Ryder Cup duo, finishing the match on the 15th hole to win 4 & 3. DeChambeau won the very first hole by walking in a medium-length putt to jumpstart the Bethpage atmosphere; however, that would be the only hole they’d win the entire match.
The most disappointing pair for Bradley’s squad was world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Russell Henley. Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick dominated Bradley’s best and didn’t even allow much of a fight. Scheffler and Henley went down on the first hole and never recovered. The pair won the second hole to even it up, however, they went four down entering the back nine and fell 5 & 3.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay bailed the Americans out to gain a point, avoiding a potential bloodbath at Bethpage — despite nearly choking away a two-up lead walking onto the 13th tee. With the match all square on the 17th tee, Robert MacIntyre’s tee shot landed in the front greenside bunker before Schauffele riffled an 8-iron to about 20 feet, setting Cantlay up for a good look at birdie.
The Americans were in safe for par, however, Viktor Hovland’s bunker shot left MacIntyre a reasonable look to halve the hole, but he missed giving Team USA a one-hole lead that they finished off on the 18th hole.
Collin Morikawa and Harris English played the role of sacrificial lamb against arguably Europe’s strongest duo in Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. McIlroy and Fleetwood took the bull by the horns, winning five of the first eight holes before eventually going on to win 5 & 4.
Bradley is going to have to quickly adjust his strategy for the afternoon session as Europe needs only 11 of 24 remaining points to retain the Ryder Cup and join the exclusive club of winning a road event. A team has overcome a 3-1 or worse deficit in the first session to win the Ryder Cup just five times in its history: Europe in 1957, 1985 and 1989; USA in 1949 and 1971.
