FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Luke Donald’s European team made history Friday after winning the first three matches of the opening session on foreign soil.
Europe’s early 3-1 lead quieted a sellout crowd of 50,000 fans at Bethpage Black and put the Americans on the defensive as they look to win back the Ryder Cup.
Here are some takeaways from the morning:
• The Europeans are 10-2 in their last three foursomes sessions, dating to the Rome Ryder Cup. Only two of the morning pairings (Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton; Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood) were the same as in 2023.
• U.S. captain Keegan Bradley’s opening gamble didn’t pay off. With Bradley opting to use the electrifying Bryson DeChambeau in foursomes for the first time since 2018, the big basher nearly drove the first green but otherwise didn’t muster much excitement for a crowd desperate for something to cheer about. DeChambeau and Justin Thomas made just three birdies, with Thomas struggling mightily on the greens (-2.36 SG, by far the worst of the morning players), and failed to keep pace with Rahm and Hatton. Rahm is a perfect 5-0 in his foursomes career, forming a formidable duo with his LIV Golf teammate.
• Bradley said his pairings for both Friday sessions were established well in advance of Ryder Cup week, perhaps the reason that he once again sent out Thomas in the afternoon despite his subpar play in the morning. Thomas ranks third on the PGA Tour in birdie average, at 4.46 per round, and will need to get hot in better-ball alongside new partner Cameron Young. He’s 5-1-2 all-time in fourballs.
• Data Golf had the U.S. pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English as the 132nd-best partnership out of 132nd possibilities. Maybe it was on to something. The Americans got routed, 5 and 4, by the European duo of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. Perhaps no pairing would have stood much of a chance against two of the best players in the world; the strong match-play performers were also a combined 11-5-1 in the alternate-shot format. But it flat-out didn’t work. In explaining his rationale for the first-time pairing, Bradley said that Morikawa and English’s games “complemented each other,” with Morikawa’s superb iron play and English’s sublime putting, and that they “relish the opportunity to play together.” After this disaster, it’ll be interesting to see if either player has their number called Saturday morning.
• Matt Fitzpatrick, who was 0-5 on American soil and 1-7 overall in his Ryder Cup career – the worst won-lost percentage of any player – appeared on his way to redeeming himself with a dominant performance on Friday morning. Fitzpatrick gained more than four strokes overall, pairing with Ludvig Aberg for the first time in what became a 5-and-3 victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley, what was thought to be the Americans’ strongest alternate-shot duo.
• The Europeans’ two best players from the morning session (Fitzpatrick and Hatton) were benched for the afternoon.
• No player, on either side, sat both sessions on Friday.
These are the four fourball matches Friday afternoon at Bethpage Black.
• As the final group made its way to the 15th tee, at about 11 a.m. local time, Air Force One tore through the sky, signaling the on-site arrival of President Trump. The European captain turned to a pack of media members and said with a smirk, “OK, that was pretty cool.”
• Trump arrived to the first tee before the beginning of the afternoon fourballs session. He was seated behind the bulletproof glass until DeChambeau, in the second group off, emerged from the player tunnel. Trump shook hands with both DeChambeau and Ben Griffin, then chatted with DeChambeau on the way to the first tee before giving him a farewell fist bump. It’s unclear if Trump will make a return appearance later this week. In anticipation for the president’s arrival, the PGA of America had advanced security measures, including a TSA-style screening around the first-tee grandstand.