Golf-Europe make dream start to Ryder Cup to stun U.S.

Donald opted to start with the foursomes rather than fourballs which had been the case at home since 1997 and it proved a masterstroke as Europe outplayed Zach Johnson's team. Spain's Jon Rahm and English partner Tyrrell Hatton lit the blue touchpaper with a 4&3 victory over world number one Scottie Scheffler and rookie Sam Burns and Scandinavian duo Viktor Hovland and debutant Ludvig Aberg followed suit with a 4&3 defeat of British Open winner Brian Harman and Max Homa.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald had called for a fast start and got more than he could have dreamed of as his inspired side romped to a 4-0 'bluewash' against a crestfallen United States in the opening foursomes on Friday.

The massive crowds who had flocked to the Marco Simone course as the sun rose on the Roman countryside were in party mode as they roared Europe to its best-ever start to the biennial contest. Donald opted to start with the foursomes rather than fourballs which had been the case at home since 1997 and it proved a masterstroke as Europe outplayed Zach Johnson's team.

Spain's Jon Rahm and English partner Tyrrell Hatton lit the blue touchpaper with a 4&3 victory over world number one Scottie Scheffler and rookie Sam Burns and Scandinavian duo Viktor Hovland and debutant Ludvig Aberg followed suit with a 4&3 defeat of British Open winner Brian Harman and Max Homa. Ireland's Shane Lowry and Austrian Sepp Straka maintained the European momentum with a 2&1 defeat of the highly-fancied Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa.

Europe's talisman Rory McIlroy, playing with Tommy Fleetwood, then put the icing on the cake of a fabulous morning by subduing Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. Europe also won the first-day foursomes 4-0 in Paris in 2018 on their way to victory, although that was after the Americans had won the fourballs in the morning.

While there is still a long way to go for Donald's side, who need 14.5 points to reclaim the trophy they surrendered at Whistling Straits in 2021, they are firmly in the driving seat. "When you see the first three matches we are up quite a lot and you're in the last match, you don't want to let the side down," world number two McIlroy said.

McIlroy was back out for the afternoon fourballs with Matt Fitzpatrick against Morikawa and Schauffele as Donald made good on his pledge to use all 12 players on day one. Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre were playing Homa and Wyndham Clark, Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard were playing Brooks Koepka and Scheffler with Hovland and Hatton facing Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth who were surprisingly left out of the foursomes.

SELECTION CRITICISM A day that began in a blaze of colour and a deafening din turned ugly for the Americans whose captain Johnson received criticism on social media for leaving four major winners out of his foursomes selections.

From the moment Hovland, playing alongside Swedish rookie Aberg, raised the decibel levels by holing a chip at the first, Europe were in the ascendancy and the U.S. -- bidding to win in Europe for the first time in 30 years -- appeared powerless to resist. Scheffler hit the opening shot of the day in front of 5,000 fans packed into the towering first tee grandstand, sliding his drive into the rough.

The opening two holes were shared, but Rahm holed a putt from off the green at the third to get the party started. Rahm converted a short birdie putt on the fifth after Hatton's neat chip to put Europe two up and although debutant Burns made a putt to win the sixth it was a temporary reprieve. Rahm almost aced the scenic par-three seventh and when he chipped in to save the 10th it was a body blow to the misfiring Americans who lost the 11th and 12th and shook hands on the 15th.

"There really isn't a much better feeling. In foursomes, the key is not to give away holes and we did that," Rahm said. Hovland was majestic as he and Aberg, the first Ryder Cup player not to contest a major, proved too hot for Homa and Harman to handle in match two.

And the blows kept raining down on the Americans who will be under intense pressure to hit back in the afternoon.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)