Historic day but we want historic week, says Europe's Donald

ROME : Captain Luke Donald hailed his team's "unbelievable start" to the Ryder Cup on Friday as Europe led the United States 6-1/2 to 1-1/2 - the first time the U.S. has failed to win a match during a day of competition.

Below is a selection of reactions to the day's events.

EUROPE:

Donald: "It was an historic day, but we want it to be an historic week, so the job is certainly not done. We will all celebrate an amazing day, but we'll be back tomorrow morning with the goal of trying to win tomorrow morning's session.

"We'll be getting our guys focused to be back in the saddle, so to speak. But what a day.

"This morning was an amazing performance by the guys (4-0 lead) and this afternoon was tough. The US came back, we knew they would. They had a stretch there in the middle where the momentum was turning their way but man, did we turn it back."

Justin Rose (who won the last two holes to halve his fourballs match):

“That was my moment there on the 18th - I’ve made us a lot of points but I haven’t had many moments like that so that was immense," he said.

“I'm delighted we got something out of that. Last putt of the day, everyone around. We fought really hard and didn’t want to be the only ones to let red get on the board.

"Two down with two to play, this 18th hole into this setting sun has done us proud."

Matt Fitzpatrick (who won his first match after five previous Ryder Cup defeats): "It’s one of the greatest days I’ve ever had on a golf course. It was very, very special from the moment I knew I was partnering this man (Rory McIlroy) and with the start we got off to I couldn’t be happier."

McIlroy (who won both his matches): “Absolutely amazing. For the first nine holes I was trying to hang on to his (Fitzpatrick's) coattails. They