golf
44th Ryder Cup: Europe’s golfers celebrate after day one
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 and is surprisingly clearly in the lead against the defending champions from the USA. The hosts manage to do something historic in Rome.
At the start, Team Europe had won all four morning duels in front of the home fans at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. This has never happened before in the long history of the Ryder Cup. The US team couldn’t win a single game on day one.
Even in the afternoon, the Europeans kept their nerve in the heated atmosphere on the golf course just outside Rome. McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Matt Fitzpatrick (England) clearly won the game against Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele. The other three duels ended in a draw. Eight team duels will be played again on Saturday, before the subsequent twelve individual matches are on the program on Sunday.
Atmosphere like in a football stadium
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 energetically cheered on the home team.
Jon Rahm (Spain) and Tyrrell Hatton (England) scored the first point for Europe in the morning against world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns. The other three matches of the morning also went to the Europeans. “It’s great to have won all the games. I can’t remember the last time Europe did that,” said Northern Ireland star McIlroy after the 4-0 lead. “But we must not become complacent now.”
USA defending champions
The 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. It has been 30 years since the US team won on European soil.
The Ryder Cup is played in the so-called match competition mode. One point is awarded per match. With 28 points awarded over three days (16 for the foursomes, 12 for the singles), a draw is enough for the defending champion to win. The challenger must achieve at least a 14.5:13.5.