Europe sweeps foursomes for first time to start Ryder Cup - ESPN

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy — If there was any silver lining for the United States team after Friday's opening session of the 44th Ryder Cup team at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, it's that most golf fans back home probably slept through its miserable beatdown by the European team.

The Europeans swept four foursomes (alternate-shot) matches to go 4-0 in the Friday morning session for the first time in Ryder Cup history. It was complete domination by the European team, which is trying to reclaim the trophy after falling 19-9 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021. The U.S. failed to hold a lead in any of the morning matches.

It is only the fourth time the European team has gone unbeaten in a session overall. It's the first time since 2006 that the European team has had a lead after the first session. It won the Ryder Cup 18½-9½ that year at the K Club in Straffan, Ireland.

«We are off to a great start this morning,» Ireland's Shane Lowry said. «We need to keep the foot down. Look, we are very happy with our start today, and obviously there's a lot of golf to be played from here. We talked about getting off to a fast start, and we have done that.»

The American team, which is hoping to end its 30-year drought in Ryder Cups played outside the U.S., has plenty of work to do with 24 matches to play. The U.S. team needs 14 points to retain the trophy; the Europeans need 14½ to win it back.

Spain's Jon Rahm and England's Tyrrell Hatton put the first point on the scoreboard for the Europeans with a 4-and-3 victory over world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.

Rahm and Hatton grabbed control of the top match on the third hole and never gave it back. Rahm made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-4 third hole to go 1