Europe (6½) lead US (1½) by five points after day one
ROME — A record-equalling first day at the Ryder Cup powered Europe into a five-point lead without losing a match.
Debutant Robert MacIntyre was in tears before he reached the first tee never mind when he walked off the 18th having watched his partner Justin Rose hole a 10-footer to claim half a point and break the hearts of the United States.
Rose is the thread connecting Europe’s new order with the old. This is his sixth Ryder Cup after making his debut at Valhalla in 2008 alongside the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. He holed a putt at the 17th to tie Phil Mickelson before winning his match to help seal the Miracle of Medinah in 2012, but none of that felt better than this.
Friday foursomes results
(Europe first)
- Rahm & Hatton beat Scheffler & Burns 4&3
- Hovland & Aberg beat Harman & Homa 4&3
- Lowry & Straka beat Fowler & Morikawa 2&1
- McIlroy & Fleetwood beat Schauffele & Cantlay 2&1
Friday fourballs results
- Hovland & Hatton halved with Thomas & Spieth
- Rahm & Hojgaard halved with Scheffler & Koepka
- MacIntyre & Rose halved with Homa & Clark
- McIlroy & Fitzpatrick beat Morikawa & Schauffele 5&3
“Top, top, top,” Rose said. “A lot of putts have meant a lot to me. We don’t know the significance of the putt yet but the last putt of the day, all of your team are behind you, the stage was set.
“I’ve been out on the golf course and experienced moments like that in the past, whether it be with Poults and Rory and guys like that, but I’ve never had that moment alongside Bob here where we fought really hard to have that moment, and everybody is following your four-ball, your last match on the course. Just to enjoy the amphitheatre was incredible, and to knock one in, I kind of let it rip. It was fun.”
Rookie MacIntyre, who sat out the morning foursomes, could barely process the emotion of the moment. “Walking to that first tee, I had been thinking about that for three weeks, that one-tee shot, and I made sure to hit one last driver on the range and hit the shot I envisioned myself hitting for the last three weeks. I stepped up and absolutely roasted one down the middle.
“Shame I couldn’t putt like that today, but no, it was everything I dreamed of. It’s the reason that I play golf. People are asking me at the start of the week if this is a reason you play golf. Now I’ve realised that this is the reason. That was incredible out there, even watching Justin holing that putt and hearing the crowd behind you. I don’t get that feeling anywhere else. I mean, I play shinty and stuff, but that was on steroids.”
Max Homa and partner Wyndham Clark could hardly believe it. After holing out from all over the place to take the US close to their first full point of the day they somehow managed to fall at the last. Walking off with a half after being two up with two to play, and on a day like this with American blood all over the floor, was a shattering experience.
Homa at least stopped to articulate his pain. “Played very well. We missed up 17 a bit. I didn’t give Wyndham a good look and made the hole hard for him, and then yeah, obviously Justin made that big putt on 18. So it’s a bummer.”
Clark was stating the obvious when he said the US need to get better. “We definitely need a better day than today. We need to flip it and put it in our favour, try to dominate in the morning and in the afternoon. So at least we got some points. But we have a tall task in front of us.”
Perhaps captain Luke Donald’s hardest job is persuading his team the job is not done yet. There is a precedent. The US overturned a five-point deficit in 1975 to win by 10. Back then there were 32 points available not 28 and they weren’t playing Europe but Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
Europe are defending an unbeaten home record that stretches back 30 years. And when they led by five in 2004 under the present scoring system Europe went on to win by nine.
