Well, that didn’t go as planned – for the home team at least.
While Bryson DeChambeau’s first-tee moon shot and subsequent birdie kicked off the 45th Ryder Cup with an American bang, Keegan Bradley’s U.S. side did little in following that up. DeChambeau and partner Justin Thomas would drop that leadoff foursomes match to Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, and the Americans would get dominated in each of the next two in what ended a convincing opening-session win for the Europeans on Friday morning at Bethpage Black.
“We were aware it was going to be a tough day,” Rahm said. “Two of their better favorites up there, two of the crowd favorites. We knew the crowd was going to be loud, and well, we are going to need our best. And even though we didn’t have our best start during the first seven holes, we battled, we stayed in it and from then on, we started hitting good shots and getting really positive vibes.”
Europe took the first session for the second straight Ryder Cup, following its 4-0 result in Rome. The last four times that the Europeans have led after one frame, they’ve gone on to win the Ryder Cup, doing so in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2023.
“Very proud,” European captain Luke Donald said. “They’ve come out very strong.”
Bradley remained hopeful, though his body language was far from what he showed Thursday afternoon as he ran down the 18th fairway waving an American flag.
“We just had the President fly over in his Air Force One, so I’ve got a feeling things are going to turn here,” Bradley said.
Here’s a recap of Friday morning’s foursomes session:
Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe) def. Bryson DeChambeau/Justin Thomas, 4 and 3
DeChambeau was the sparkplug that the U.S. needed, smashing his tee ball about 45 yards short of the first green and then draining a 15-footer for birdie to win the hole. But that Europeans would withstand the early blow, and after incredible escapes – first Rahm from the heather at No. 6 and then Hatton from the trees and his ball against a twig at No. 7. A Thomas miss from 5 feet at the latter would tie the match back up.
“The second shot into 7 is a little bit of a hit-and-hope. Thankfully, it kind of went straight,” said Hatton, who later canned 24- and 8-footers for birdie at Nos. 12 and 13 to stretch the Euros’ lead to 3 up.
Trying to ignite something, DeChambeau rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-3 14th and then celebrated with a huge fist pump toward the crowd, but Rahm wasn’t fazed, pouring in his birdie on top of it.
On the next hole, DeChambeau fanned a drive up against the hospitality tents, and Europe would go on to win the hole and the match with par.
Ludvig Aberg/Matt Fitzpatrick (Europe) def. Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley, 5 and 3
It wasn’t quite the beatdown of the world No. 1 that Aberg orchestrated with Viktor Hovland in Rome, but it was a convincing win nonetheless. Aberg and Fitzpatrick birdied four of the first six holes to jump out to a 3-up lead. They went 4 up after Aberg sank a 16-footer for birdie at the par-4 ninth. Meanwhile, the Americans missed three straight putts inside of 8 feet at Nos. 4-6 to fall behind.
“It was a nice mix of tee-to-green and good putting as well, and obviously I felt like we showed that on certainly those first seven holes,” Fitzpatrick said.
Henley spun back a wedge to gimme range at the par-5 13th to get one back, and he then hooped a birdie from outside of 30 feet at the par-3 14th. But Fitzpatrick had spun a short-iron to 5 feet to set up an Aberg match and maintain a 4-up advantage.
Both sides missed the fairway left at the par-4 15th, though Henley put Scheffler well back, and the world No. 1 couldn’t advance the second shot within 30 yards. Fitzpatrick completed a sand save with a 12-foot par make to end the match.
“We just didn’t hole enough putts early,” Scheffler said. “We had some chances. I think the putts just didn’t fall. But overall, the guys we played, they played a really good round, and [let’s] go back out this afternoon and see what we can do.”
Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (Europe) def. Collin Morikawa/Harris English, 5 and 4
When Keegan Bradley sent out this pairing, it was the worst of 132 possible foursomes combinations, per Data Golf. The U.S. duo did little to prove otherwise. English missed a 10-footer from the fairway cut while McIlroy took the first hole with a short birdie make after Fleetwood hacked a pitch beautifully from a tough lie. English missed a 7-footer at the par-5 fourth, too, as his side fell 2 down.
McIlroy then lipped in an 8-foot birdie at No. 5 and stuck a wedge close at No. 6 to double the lead, to 4 up. With a Fleetwood tee ball to 6 feet and McIlroy make at the par-3 eighth, that lead grew to 5 up.
The Americans birdied the par-4 ninth, but that would mark their only birdie and won hole.
“When you’ve got a partner like Tommy you can play with so much freedom and so much trust in your game because you know you have someone that’s going to back you up,” said McIlroy, who is now 3-0 in foursomes with Fleetwood.
“… I’ve been looking forward to doing this again since that last putt dropped in Rome.”
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