golf
44th Ryder Cup: Dream start for Team Europe in Rome
Team Europe is in the lead at the Ryder Cup: Luke Donald (l) and Viktor Hovland. photo
© Zac Goodwin/PA Wire/dpa
Team Europe is off to an outstanding start in the 44th Ryder Cup. The challengers are 4-0 ahead against the US team after the first games. The defending champions have to improve.
This has never happened before in the long history of the Ryder Cup. In the afternoon the second round starts at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. Once again there are four team duels on the program.
Support from tennis star Djokovic
The Ryder Cup began at 7:35 a.m. in sunshine to the cheers of thousands of golf fans. The atmosphere in the huge stands at the first tee was like that of a football stadium. The spectators celebrated the European players with chants of “Europe, Europe!” Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic also cheered on the home team.
Rahm (Spain) and Tyrrell Hatton (England) won the first point for Europe against world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns after just 14 holes played. The Scandinavian duo Viktor Hovland (Norway) and Ludvig Aberg (Sweden) also confidently won the match against Max Homa and Brian Harman. In game number three, Shane Lowry (Ireland) and Sepp Straka (Austria) defeated the US duo Rickie Fowler/Collin Morikawa. McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Tommy Fleetwood (England) scored the fourth point for the hosts against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
Captain Luke Donald’s European team wants to regain the title from the Americans in Rome. Two years ago, the US team defeated the Europeans in Whistling Straits in the US state of Wisconsin with a record victory of 19:9 points. However, it has been 30 years since the US team won on European soil.