Europe opened up a commanding 6.5-1.5 lead after a dramatic day one of the 2023 Ryder Cup. For the first time in the tournament’s history, Europe completed a clean sweep of the opening session and then extended their advantage in the afternoon fourballs thanks to some late heroics from Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose.
The writing was on the wall early for Zach Johnson’s side in the morning foursomes as Europe grabbed the early momentum and kept hold of it. In match one, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were far too good for Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, putting the first point on the board after completing a 4&3 victory.
Building on that, Hovland partnered rookie Ludvig Aberg to devastating effect, making it 2-0 with a 4&3 win over the rookie line-up of Max Homa and Brian Harman, who were far from their best.
Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka took down Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa in the penultimate game of the foursomes, before Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood put the finishing touches on a memorable morning at Marco Simone to make it 4-0.
Into the afternoon fourballs and the hosts once again started better but the US, led by Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in game one, did threaten a comeback. Thomas, in particular, showed why Johnson had no issue in picking him, clinching a half point against Hovland and Hatton to get the away side off the mark.
In the second fourball match, an eagle-par-eagle finish from Rahm salvaged a half point against Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, who took aim at the Spaniard in the aftermath.
Justin Rose holed a 12-footer on 18 in the next game alongside Robert MacIntyre to complete the recovery from dormie two down for a half, moments after McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick comfortably beat Xander Schauffele and an out-of-sorts Morikawa.
Despite the scoreline at the end of day, most of the matches were dramatic in some way, especially the fourball encounters. Some players ran hot and others struggled, but what score did each pairing shoot on Friday against the card at the Roman venue?
Friday foursomes
- Rahm & Hatton: -6 for 15
- Scheffler & Burns: -1 for 15
- Hovland & Aberg: -3 for 15
- Homa & Harman: +1 for 15
- Lowry & Straka: -1 for…
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