FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Wonder no longer whether Europe can win another Ryder Cup stateside; the visitors are firmly in the driver’s seat at Bethpage Black with three sessions and 20 matches to play. The Europeans took a 5.5 to 2.5 lead on the homestanding Americans after the first two sessions of the 2025 Ryder Cup, holding an advantage at the conclusion of play Friday in the United States for the first time since 2004 (when Europe went on to win 18.5 to 9.5).

Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood led their respective European pairings to two points apiece across morning foursomes and afternoon fourballs, while Rory McIlroy ran away with his match alongside Fleetwood in the early session, fueling Europe with his energy and leadership across 11 hours of play. McIlroy and pal Shane Lowry also split a hard-fought afternoon fourballs session. Rahm is now a commanding 7-0-2 in his last nine Ryder Cup partnerships with no signs of slowing down.

Though he entered Ryder Cup as the clear No. 1 player in the world playing his best golf over the last few months, U.S. star Scottie Scheffler posted the most disappointing performance of Day 1. He lost as the second foursomes pairing with Russell Henley and opening four-ball pairing with J.J. Spaun, going 0-2-0 when the Americans desperately needed him to set the tone by putting points on the scoreboard. In doing so, Scheffler became the first world No. 1 to lose both his Friday matches since Tiger Woods in 2002. He is now 2-4-3 all-time in the Ryder Cup.

Similarly off his game for the United States was Bryson DeChambeau, whose presence at Bethpage Black was supposed to be a boon for team chemistry and fan energy. Instead, DeChambeau and Justin Thomas got decimated by Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in foursomes before losing a heartbreaker to Fleetwood and Justin Rose in fourballs. DeChambeau has fallen to 2-5-1 in the Ryder Cup.

Let’s look at how each session of the Ryder Cup shook out with American captain Keegan Bradley clearly needing to regroup as European captain Luke Donald licks his chops seeing an opportunity to potentially close the door Saturday.

Ryder Cup 2025: TV schedule, viewer’s guide | Schedule, format, scoring

2025 Ryder Cup results, scores: Day 1 Europe 5.5 | United States 2.5

Session 1 — Foursomes

1

Jon Rahm & Tyrrell Hatton
⬅️ 4 & 3

Bryson DeChambeau & Justin Thomas

2

Ludvig Åberg & Matt Fitzpatrick
⬅️ 5 & 3

Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley

3

Rory McIlroy & Tommy Fleetwood
⬅️ 5 & 4

Collin Morikawa & Harris English

4

Robert MacIntyre & Viktor Hovland
2UP ➡️

Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay

The Americans got off to the ideal start to the morning session as DeChambeau blasted a drive just short of the green, going up-and-down alongside Thomas for birdie to take a 1UP lead on Europe’s top pairing of Rahm and Hatton. However, that ended up being the high point of foursomes for the U.S. side as everything unraveled from there. 

The Europeans dominated the middle portion of the front nine and put blue flags all over the leaderboard as groups made the turn. At one point, more than an hour passed between holes won by the Americans. That early lull sucked all of the air out of the frenzied atmosphere at Bethpage Black.

Rahm and Hatton produced back-to-back miraculous shots on the 6th and 7th holes to stay attached to DeChambeau and Thomas before storming into a big advantage in the middle of the round to ultimately win 4 & 3. 

Behind them, Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick shocked Scheffler and Henley in a 5 & 3 win looked even more lopsided than the final score. Henley was a particular disaster in his Ryder Cup debut, making similarly poor performance from Scheffler. 

And then there was the McIlroy and Fleetwood pairing, which remained a buzzsaw of an alternate-shot duo. They mowed down a questionable American pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English, 5 & 4. 

The lone bright spot was the only established American pairing entering this Ryder Cup. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele went 3UP on Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland early on the back nine, looking like they would cruise to an easy point. However, even the solitary U.S. point on the board was hard fought as the duo found itself tied up going to the 16th tee before eventually winning 2UP on the 18th green. 

Session 2 — Fourballs

5

Jon Rahm & Sepp Straka⬅️ 3 & 2

Scottie Scheffler & J.J. Spaun

6

Tommy Fleetwood & Justin Rose⬅️ 1UP

Ben Griffin & Bryson DeChambeau

7

Ludvig Åberg & Rasmus Højgaard6 & 5 ➡️

Cameron Young & Justin Thomas

8

Rory McIlroy & Shane LowryTIED

Sam Burns & Patrick Cantlay

The failures in foursomes put ample pressure on the four-ball pairings that went out in the afternoon to put red banners on the leaderboard, and for a moment, it appeared as if the Americans would oblige.

The United States took early leads in three of the four matches; however, only Thomas and Cameron Young took true control of their showdown Åberg and Rasmus Højgaard. Luke Donald’s gamble to pair his two least experienced players backfired in the first misstep for the European captain in two Ryder Cups as the pair got steamrolled by Young and Thomas, 6 & 5. 

That was just about the only thing that went truly wrong for Europe on Friday. Their other new pairing in the afternoon, Rahm and Sepp Straka, went out first and rolled a pairing that consisted of two players who won three of four majors in 2025: Scheffler and J.J. Spaun. The Europeans won 3 & 2 as Rahm has taken the throne as Europe’s latest dominant Spaniard in this event.

Donald brought back two four-ball teams from Rome in McIlroy-Lowry and Fleetwood-Rose, and they did their job combining for 1.5 points to keep the Europeans comfortably in front. Both matches came down to the 18th hole where Rose buried a birdie putt to secure a full point against DeChambeau and Ben Griffin, while McIlroy and Lowry tied with Cantlay and Burns. 

Saturday will bring the same schedule with foursomes in the morning and fourballs in the afternoon, but it’s hard to imagine American captain Keegan Bradley feeling good about whatever he had planned for his Day 2 pairings. He only had three sets of teammates score points, and two of those featured Cantlay. 

Cantlay will almost certainly play all five sessions given no one else has on the team has taken to the Ryder Cup stage as successfully. Young likely needs to play in both sessions Saturday after his performance in fourballs, while Morikawa, English, Ben Griffin and Henley are all major question marks. 

It’s not a surprise that the U.S. side has some guys struggling, but that could have been mitigated if its stars were performing to their pedigree. A combined 0-4-0 day from Scheffler and DeChambeau could not happen for the U.S. side to remain competitive, and now, the Americans must figure out what Plan B looks like to get their top players on track for a Saturday charge.

Donald surely feels as if he can do no wrong at this point. Every button he’s pushed, aside from the Åberg-Højgaard pairing, has worked wonderfully. The experience and comfort of this European side has created a cushion that it will try to expand upon, potentially taking the New York crowd fully out of the competition by the time singles competition rolls around Sunday. 

Check out highlights and live results from Day 1 at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.