Europe undefeated to lead 6.5-1.5 after day one of the Ryder Cup as USA toil

After dominating the morning foursomes to lead 4-0 for the first time in history, Europe turned three afternoon fourballs late in the day to keep the visitors from scoring their first full point.

Match five appeared set to go the way of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth only for Viktor Hovland to birdie the last to secure half a point alongside Tyrrell Hatton.

Match six went the same way, Jon Rahm making eagle at holes 16 and 18 to secure himself and Nicolai Hojgaard a half against Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, and so did match seven as Justin Rose finished with a four to deny Max Homa and Wyndham Clark.

With Matt Fitzpatrick leading the way along with Rory McIlroy to earn a 5&3 win, it was Europe's day and sends them back into their preferred foursomes with a commanding advantage.

For the United States, bright spots came only from Scheffler and Thomas, the latter justifying his inclusion, but no player was able to secure more than half a point on a day that belonged to Europe.

Ryder Cup: Day one

Morning foursomes

• Rahm/Hatton beat Scheffler/Burns 4&3
• Hovland/Aberg beat Homa/Harman 4&3
• Lowry/Straka beat Fowler/Morikawa 2&1
• McIlroy/Fleetwood beat Schauffele/Cantlay 2&1

Afternoon fourballs

• Hovland/Hatton v Thomas/Spieth match halved
• Rahm/Hojgaard v Scheffler/Koepka match halved
• MacIntyre/Rose v Homa/Clark match halved
• McIlroy/Fitzpatrick beat Morikawa/Schauffele 5&3

Europe need 14.5 points to win the Ryder Cup, USA need 14 points to retain it

Europe make history in whitewash

Europe won all four matches in the first session of the Ryder Cup, the first time in history that they've led the event 4-0.

None of Luke Donald's foursomes pairings were ever behind in a one-sided session which left his counterpart Zach Johnson needing a big turnaround on Friday afternoon.

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton took two of the first five holes and went on to win 4&3 against Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, two friends whose search for a full point together may now be extended to next year's Presidents Cup.

"Extremely satisfying," was Rahm's reaction. "I had a good feeling about Tyrrell all along. It was good to come out here and see him perform the way he did," said Rahm.

"It was an incredible foursome match and we played as confident as two people could play."

Hatton added: "Tee to green I was generally fairly solid, naturally disappointed with some of the putts I missed, but ultimately we won our point and that was our goal."

Viktor Hovland and rookie Ludvig Aberg won by the same 4&3 margin, while Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka beat Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa 2&1 after Straka's par putt on the 17th.

Lowry admitted he was “losing my mind” standing on the first tee as he watched Hovland chip in for birdie up ahead on the green, but the former Open champion regained his composure in time to help rookie Straka earn a debut point.

“It’s huge,” Lowry said. “Obviously it’s early days but I wanted to give Sepp his moment in the Ryder Cup to hole the winning putt (on 17). We are off to a great start this morning. We need to keep the foot down.

“I would have liked to close out the match earlier because we had good chances, but it was nice to put a point on the board for Europe.”

The bottom match had appeared the strongest on paper but neither side was at its best as Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood fended off Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, winning 2&1.

The US duo had appeared set to level the match through 15 holes only for Fleetwood to hole a 20-foot par putt and then watch Schauffele miss his close-range putt for a half, leaving them two-down with three to play.

Europe's lead was cut to a single hole heading to the 17th, only for McIlroy to fire his approach to three feet allowing Fleetwood to complete an all-blue session in Rome.

"It's been an unbelievable session," said McIlroy. "All we've been talking about is getting off to a fast start. We were ready to go from the first tee-shot."

Fleetwood added of his key putt on 15: "I was waiting for a moment like that all day to be honest. I was due one, felt really good over it. It's just one of those Ryder Cup moments really."