Europe dominated the opening day of the 45th Ryder Cup, winning both sessions to take a 5.5-2.5 lead against the United States as Rory McIlroy clashed with parochial fans at Bethpage Black in New York.
The Europeans raced out of the blocks, taking a 3-1 lead after the morning foursomes, including jumping out to a 3-0 lead for the first time ever on American soil.
They silenced the vocal crowd early, who were riled up early by Bryson DeChambeau almost driving the first green with the opening tee shot of the event.
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In the afternoon, the home fans came to life, however, to try to spark a comeback and McIlroy was once again their number one target.
The Masters champion was loudly booed on the first tee, and jeered everywhere he went before he had enough on the 11th green of his afternoon four-ball match.
McIlroy’s good friend, and playing partner, Shane Lowry drained a birdie putt to re-instate their two-up advantage, and the Northern Irishman turned to the grandstands as they walked off the green and appeared to give the American fans the middle finger.
The zoomed in photo is hazy and makes it unclear but social media’s overwhelming verdict was that McIlroy ‘flipped the bird’.
The gesture backfired on McIlroy as US duo Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay won the following two holes to level the match, and it finished tied after the career grand slam winner missed a mid-range birdie putt at the last for the win.
“Still, it’s a great day for Europe, you know,” a disappointed McIlroy said.
“We would have absolutely taken this last night if you had have told us we’d be five-and-a-half, two-and-a-half up.
“Obviously in the moment right now, I’m disappointed that I didn’t hole that for a full point.
“But the guys have done so well today and right now, it’s about recovering and resting up and getting ready for tomorrow.”
Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose’s match against Bryson DeChambeau and debutant Ben Griffin, who was working as mortgage loan officer four years ago, also went to the final hole with Rose nailing a clutch birdie putt to seal a 1 up victory.
Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka comfortably disposed of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and US Open champion J.J. Spaun 3&2 to hand Europe their other point of the afternoon.
“Incredible day,” Europe captain Luke Donald said. “To win this morning was huge for us. We all know how important it is to get off to a good start.
“And we knew how strong the US were in foursomes, so 3-1 was a great start.
“And to win those fist two especially, there was such good momentum and inspiration for our boys.
“The guys grinded to win the session again this afternoon. That’s another tick in our box and very happy with where we are.”
Debutant Cameron Young and Justin Thomas thrashed Rasmus Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg 6&5 to secure a handy point for the Americans if they are to mount a fightback in the coming days.
US captain Keegan Bradley is certainly not giving up hope.
“The boys played really good this afternoon,” Bradley said. “Europe made a lot of putts.
“Happy with the way we’re playing. Hopefully it turn into our putts are going in tomorrow.”
“We’ve only played 28 per cent of the points,” he added.
“First quarter, we’ve got three quarters to go.”
The sideshow of the opening day was the presence of US President Donald Trump, who arrived before the afternoon session.
In morning foursomes (alternate shot) matches, the US won only four holes from the first three matches.
Trump told reporters as he boarded a plane for New York that the US team wasn’t doing well and, “I said let’s get on the plane. We have to fly and help them.”
“We just had the President fly over in Air Force One so I’ve got a feeling things are going to turn here,” US captain Keegan Bradley said. “It’s not exactly what we wanted… but I’ve got a lot of faith in our boys.”
Trump walked DeChambeau to the first tee, and played up to the crowd, but despite the heightened American nationalism he gavlinised, it was unable to turn the tide for the hosts.
In foursomes, McIlroy and Fleetwood won four of the first six holes to cruise past Americans Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5&4. The “Fleetwood Mc” Cup pairing improved their all-time Ryder Cup record together to 3-0.
“It has been amazing,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, who won the Masters in April to complete a career Grand Slam, won four holes on birdie putts from eight feet or less and blasted from the rough to inches from the sixth hole to set up a Fleetwood birdie.
“One step at a time,” Fleetwood said. “We’ll go all together and see where we get.”
Europe’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg also won four of the first six holes and never trailed in shocking Scheffler and Russell Henley 5&3.
“We hit a lot of nice shots and made it hard for them,” Aberg said. Taking down the two highest-ranked US players was big for Europe. “Russ and I did some good things. We just didn’t hole enough putts early,” Scheffler said. “We had some chances. The putts just didn’t fall.”
Spain’s Jon Rahm and England’s Tyrrell Hatton outfought DeChambeau and Thomas 4&3, the Americans winning only the first hole after DeChambeau almost drove the green on the dogleg par 4 as the European duo improved to 5-0 in Cup foursomes.
“We were aware it was going to be a tough day,” Rahm said. “We battled. We stayed in it. We started hitting putts and found our rhythm and were able to get it done again.” “We dug in,” Hatton said. “The atmosphere was pretty intense but good fun.”
Americans Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay never trailed in beating Europe’s Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland 2-up, taking the last two holes after a Europe rally.
“It was a tough match,” Cantlay said. “Nice to get the point on the board and the fans going.” Trophy holders Europe seek the first road triumph by either side since their 2012 “Miracle at Medinah” while the Americans try to win back the Cup after losing two years ago in Rome.
Enhanced security was in place for Trump’s arrival.
When the main gates opened under pitch black skies at 5 am local time, hundreds of fans stampeded along a floodlight-illuminated path racing to the grandstand for a coveted spot at the opening spectacle.
– ‘Electric atmosphere’ –
The high-pressure crucible at the first tee featured 5,000 fans watching from the largest grandstand in Ryder Cup history.
“An electric atmosphere like all first tees,” Donald said. “It’s intense and pure energy.”
The format features four morning foursomes matches and four afternoon four-ball matches on Friday and Saturday with 12 concluding Sunday singles matches.
The Americans need 14.5 points to win the Cup. Europe, winners in 10 of the past 14 meetings, need only 14 of 28 points to retain the trophy.
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