FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Team Europe captain Luke Donald says Rory McIlroy is a vocal leader of his Ryder Cup squad, while Jon Rahm prefers to let his clubs do the talking for him.
Both players did plenty of the latter to kick off the 45th Ryder Cup in dominant fashion.
McIlroy stared down Patrick Cantlay to make sure a European advantage wouldn’t be dented at the last moment, Rahm had a nearly flawless day and the visitors took a 5 1/2-2 1/2 lead over the United States team after the opening day of the 45th Ryder Cup on Friday at Bethpage Black.
It’s reminiscent of the 2023 Ryder Cup outside Rome, where Team Europe swept the first foursomes session and led 6 1/2-1 1/2 after Day 1 en route to victory. But this time it’s on U.S. soil, where thousands of New Yorkers coming through the gates and President Donald Trump’s midday appearance did not make much of a difference in setting the tone.
Donald said “a lot of mental resilience” showed from his team.
“I think you just look at some of the putts these guys holed when it mattered is pretty gratifying for a captain,” the victorious 2023 captain said.
Europe led 3-1 after foursomes (or alternate shot) in the morning. The United States scored the first point of fourball (best ball) to draw closer, but the other three matches were soon under some degree of European control.
Spaniard Rahm and Austria’s Sepp Straka closed out a 3-and-2 win over Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun. Then, Justin Rose’s birdie putt at No. 18 sealed a 1-up win for him and fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood against Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin. Fleetwood birdied Nos. 11, 14 and 16 to put them at dormie with two holes to go.
Cantlay and Sam Burns played the anchor match against Northern Ireland’s McIlroy and Irishman Shane Lowry. Cantlay tied the match singlehandedly by birdieing Nos. 10, 12 and 13 around a birdie by Lowry at No. 11.
They stayed all square when Cantlay’s short putt lipped out at No. 14, and again when McIlroy followed Cantlay’s 18-foot birdie at No. 16 with a birdie putt of his own. At the par-3 17th, McIlroy and Burns drained birdie putts, leaving the final point hanging in the balance at No. 18.
After Cantlay dumped his approach into a bunker, Burns and McIlroy had identical 11 1/2-foot putts for birdie. Neither managed to convert, making it the first halved match of the week.
“Disappointed I didn’t hole out for a full point,” said McIlroy, who also won the sixth and seventh holes with back-to-back birdies. “But it’s been a great day for Europe. We have come out of the gates really strong like we wanted to. Yeah, we should be really proud of ourselves.”
Cantlay was the Americans’ biggest contributor, battling McIlroy after he and Xander Schauffele earned the only U.S. point of the morning, 2 up over Robert MacIntyre of Scotland and Viktor Hovland of Norway.
“I learned that Patrick Cantlay is a tough dude,” Bradley said. “I watched him out there, hit a lot of great shots, make a lot of incredible putts. Proud of the way the guys fought. It not easy when you are down in matches in a Ryder Cup and trying to fight back.”
Cameron Young also stood out for the U.S. in his first Ryder Cup match. After sitting out morning foursomes, the native of Scarborough, N.Y. teamed with Justin Thomas on a 6-and-5 drubbing of Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard.
Young, who won the New York State Open at Bethpage Black as an amateur, picked up four holes for his team, including Nos. 12 and 13 to end the match early.
“It’s pretty special,” Young said. “I love this place, and this is a team we worked really hard to make. We’re just super grateful. To have the opportunity to play today alongside (Thomas) in front of these fans is pretty special.”
Scheffler and DeChambeau, considered the Americans’ two best players, combined to go 0-4-0 on the day. In foursomes, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton of England took down DeChambeau and Thomas, 4 and 3, while Aberg and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick prevailed 5 and 3 over Scheffler and Russell Henley.
Per Elias Sports Bureau, Scheffler joins Ian Woosnam (1991) and Tiger Woods (1999, 2002) as the only players ranked No. 1 in the world to lose twice on the first day of a Ryder Cup. Scheffler continued to struggle in Ryder Cup play after going 0-2-2 in Rome.
But U.S. captain Keegan Bradley is not removing either Scheffler or DeChambeau from the lineup for Saturday morning foursomes.
DeChambeau and Young will face Fitzpatrick and Aberg; Harris English and Collin Morikawa will play McIlroy and Fleetwood again; Schauffele and Cantlay will duel Rahm and Hatton; and Henley and Scheffler will face MacIntyre and Hovland.
“We are three points down. That’s easy,” Bradley said. “We can come back from three points down. I think it feels a lot worse because the day is over, but we have a lot more Ryder Cup to play.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
