From The Ryder Cup: The U.S. Is Getting Its Ass Kicked, Trails 6.5-1.5

Maddie Meyer/PGA of America. Getty Images.

ROME— There have been eight matches at this Ryder Cup. The U.S. has not won a single one. That's never happened in the 94-year-history of this event.

Europe holds a commanding 6.5-1.5 lead after a dreamlike start and some late heroics as the sunlight faded from Marco Simone Golf Club. Luke Donald's side swept the morning foursomes, the first time Europe has ever gone 4-0 in the opening session of a Ryder Cup, and also managed to win the afternoon fourball session too despite the U.S. holding the lead late in three matches.

"Unbelievable start, but we want it to be an historic week, so the job is certainly not done," Donald said. "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."

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The Americans were left searching for the faintest resons for optimism.

"At least we got some points," Wyndham Clark said. "But we have a tall task in front of us."

Tall indeed. It should be noted that 20 of 28 total points are still there for the taking. It is not over just yet. But the U.S. must get straight to business on Saturday. Quickly.

The morning, quite literally, couldn't have gone any worse for the Americans. Zach Johnson opted to send out Sam Burns, his most controversial captain's pick (even more so than JT given Thomas' pedigree), out in the first foursomes pairing of the morning alongside his good pal Scottie Scheffler. They never led. Neither did any of the U.S.' three other teams.

The Europeans played solid enough in the morning. They did not do anything particularly spectacular—apart from the opening team of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who shot bogey-free 6 under in alternate shot. But solid was more than enough for Europe's other three duos on a picture-perfect morning in Rome, for the Americans largely beat themselves. Sam Burns found the water from good positions, twice, on the front nine. Rickie Fowler could not buy a putt. Max Homa was all over the place. The U.S. never looked like gaining even a half-point. The classic Mike Tyson quote came to mind: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." 

Johnson's decision to bench four major champions, with 11 total majors victories, including two from this year, looked more head-scratching than ever. That type of hindsight, of course, is baked into the fabric of the Ryder Cup. Everyone has the answer after the fact. To Johnson's credit, he made the necessary move to blow up all four teams. Burns, Fowler, Brian Harman and Patrick Cantlay went to the bench. He called on the reinforcements.

They were led by Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, but really by Justin Thomas. The same Thomas who missed the cut in three of the four majors this year and shot 81 in both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. The same Thomas who missed the FedEx Cup playoffs entirely. The same Thomas who many, myself included, questioned whether he deserved a spot on this team at all. 

Johnson sent Thomas and Spieth out first against Viktor Hovland, perhaps the best player on the planet, and Tyrrell Hatton, who was solid as can be all day. Spieth chipped in early and contributed his share…until that crucial hour when matches are decided. He was in his pocket for the last four holes down the stretch, leaving Thomas to play 1-on-2. To say nothing of the thousands of fans rooting against him. 

Thomas almost single-handedly scraped out a half-point to get the U.S. on the board. Thomas holed massive putts down the stretch—first, this par putt to steal a halve at 14. 

Then, at the last, with Spieth in the water yet again, Thomas faced a delicate chip with water past the hole for his third. He played it beautifully, to about four feet, and the U.S. looked likely to earn a full point when neither Hatton nor Hovland were able to get their thirds within 15 feet. That's when Hovland dropped a Nordic hammer, dripping a 20-footer into the center to send the thousands gathered around 18 into a frenzy. It was the first time any match had reached the excellent par-5 finisher.

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All the sudden the pressure shifted firmly to Thomas' shoulders. The crowd let him know it—it should be noted that this European crowd has adopted the recent American tradition of immediately cheering misses and jeering guys while they're over the ball, which I love—and Thomas studied it from every angle. He poured it in the center for a massive half point. The U.S. still held leads in the second and third matches and, had they had converted those into a 2.5-1.5 session, would've wrestled momentum away heading into Saturday morning. 

Jon Rahm and Nicolai Højgaard, the 22-year-old Danish Ryder Cup rookie who made seven birdies in his debut, pulled a Houdini to get a half point. They won the par-4 16th when Rahm rammed in an eagle chip from off the green. The Americans regained the lead at 17 when Scheffler curled in a left-to-right birdie effort—the early returns on putting work with Phil Kenyon are positive—to go 1 up. When Koepka pumped his drive on 18 down the center you felt the Europeans would need an eagle to get anything from the match. 

They got one. Rahm played a wonderful second shot, slinging a sweeping draw to the front portion of the green and then jarring an eagle putt that would've rolled at least 10 feet by had it not caught the dead-center of the hole and dropped. 

"(Nicolai) told me to hit a putt, try to make it," Rahm said. "And he said, 'What would Seve do?" Right, "do it for Seve." I don't know if he would have quite made it like that, but I'm sure glad that it went in."

With Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele never in the anchor match—Matt Fitzpatrick played his first 6 holes in 6 under to race to a 5-up lead and essentially lock up a win alongside Rory McIlroy, which brought Fitzpatrick his first Ryder Cup points after losing his first five matches—that left it up to Homa and Wyndham Clark, who played quite nicely on the back nine to get to 2 up with two to play. They hit first on the par-3 17th. Homa pulled his into the water. Clark bailed out right. A par from Justin Rose won the hole to narrow the deficit to 1 down. The U.S. had the advantage when Clark pumped his drive down the center leaving just an iron into the green, but he hit a foul ball right. Homa missed the fairway and had to layup before playing his third to about 15 feet. His birdie effort slid by on the low side, and Rose converted on a perfectly weighted approach when he sank his 10-footer to send the crowd into a frenzy. 

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"A lot of putts have meant a lot to me," Rose said. "We don't know the significance of the putt yet but the last putt of the day, all of your team are behind you, the stage was set, you know. I've been out on the golf course and experienced moments like that in the past, whether it be with Poults and Rory and guys like that, but I've never had that moment alongside Bob here where we fought really hard to have that moment, and everybody is following your four-ball, your last match on the course. And just to enjoy the amphitheatre was incredible, and to knock on in, I kind of let it rip. It was fun."

It was all fun on Friday. For Europe, that is.