Record opening day margin to Europeans at Ryder Cup
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood were ecstatic after their morning win – photo DP World Tour
While it is early days yet, the massive lead the Europeans have built on day one of the 2023 Ryder Cup appears likely to lead to yet another European victory, their 13th in the last 19 biennial contests.
A lead of 6½ to 1½ is certainly not insurmountable but it is the manner in which that lead has been established that suggests the Americans face a near impossible task to win this battle for the first time in Europe for 30 years.
Opening with a 4-0 lead in the morning foursomes with Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton leading the way following their 4&3 win in the first match out, they were soon followed by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg who also won 4&3 and with wins to Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka followed by the final nail in the coffin by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, the Europeans led 4-0 heading into the afternoon fourball matches.
A week ago at the Solheim Cup, the Americans had led 4-0 after the morning matches and so such a lead was not unassailable but when the Europeans extended that lead with a 2½- 1½ result in the foursome match-ups to go 6½ – 1½ the margin had become a major issue for the USA side.
Interestingly despite the lead, Rory McIlroy, leading from the front, was the only player in either side to have won both matches having paired with Fleetwood in the morning and then Matthew Fitzpatrick in the afternoon.
“Yeah, absolutely amazing. You know, for the first nine holes I was trying to hang on to this man’s coattails,” said McIlroy in a joint media conference with Fitzpatrick following their afternoon win. “I said to him walking up 10, “At least I contributed twice.”
“And then the boys (Americans) made a few birdies, you know, on the back nine there and we had to just sort of hang in and hit some good, solid shots down the stretch.
“But yeah, I mean, just a great day in front of some amazing home fans, and I said to Fitzy there, you know, for his first point for Europe, I’m happy that I was the one to get it with him. Proud of how him, how I played, and we just have to go out and regroup for tomorrow.
“I’ve been so lucky with the two partners that I’ve had with Tommy in the morning and this man, the start that he got off to, I was trying to hang on to his coattails. I contributed a couple of times there around the turn and thankfully we did enough to get it done.”
It goes without saying that the battle is not over yet but the USA side has to find a way to overcome a European side full of confidence after their magnificent opening day and to produce the sort of golf that might serve to at least quieten the partisan crowd in Rome.
As it stands at present both seem extremely formidable, if not impossible, tasks.