OLD BETHPAGE (NY) – Europe’s Rory McIlroy stared down USA veteran Patrick Cantlay through the home stretch and made sure a European advantage wouldn’t be dented at the last moment.
Thanks to stellar performances from McIlroy, Jon Rahm and their compatriots, Team Europe leads the United States team 5 1/2-2 1/2 after the opening day of the 45th Ryder Cup on Friday at Bethpage Black, one of the toughest golf course in the USA and a public course at that.
Europe led 3-1 after foursomes (or alternate shot) in the morning and the United States scored the first point of fourball (best ball) to make it closer. But the other three matches were under some degree of European control.
Spanish star 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 at No. 11 by Lowry.
They stayed all square when Cantlay’s 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.
Cameron Young 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.
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.
– Field Level Media