A stellar Jon Rahm leads Europe's historic start
Europe started the Ryder Cup hungry for revenge. The team's start was overwhelming in the cool morning of Rome and they fought until the end in the tense afternoon. The result? The United States finished without winning a single game all day, the first time that has happened in the history of the competition.. The final score at the end of the first day, with eight points at stake, reflected 6.5 points for Europe compared to 1.5 for the United States. The Americans could only draw three games while Europe won six and tied one. An unusual result. In fact, the team led by Luke Donald was only two and a half points away from achieving the same result with which they closed their defeat in the edition two years ago.. And the star of the day was none other than Jon Rahm, undefeated, with an accumulated point and a half.
Djokovic and Sainz, fans
The Ryder Cup started soon, very soon. Irene and Carlos, two of the thousands of fans, took one of the shuttles from the outskirts of Rome after 4:30 in the morning. The Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome opened its doors at 6:30 in the morning, but, in the darkness of the night, thousands of spectators were still waiting in crowds.. Minutes before 07:00 the races began to get to the tee of hole one as soon as possible and grab one of the 5,000 places to witness the spectacle of the first hole.
In the front row Novak Djokovic and Carlos Sainz, dressed in the European polo, cheering like two more fans. The atmosphere seemed to intimidate the Americans who, on a fateful morning, lost 4-0 in the foursomes (alternating shots).. At no point did they put up a fight against the Europeans and the points fell easily. Rahm and Hatton had a real treat beating world number one Scottie Scheffler accompanied by Sam Burns. The young man saved the team's furniture during the first nine holes, but when the match became more tense, 'Rahmbo' pulled out all the stops and achieved two stratospheric eagles from outside on the 16th hole and the 18th hole to destroy his rivals and scratch a very psychological half point. Scheffler in front again, this time reinforced by Brooks Koepka. “It's hard to describe how well we all played today, especially the comeback in the afternoon. The eagle on 16 was a good shot and I didn't celebrate the one on 18 because I was very lucky with the putt that was very far and ended up going in.. I have to give a lot of credit to Nicolae. At that moment he told me 'do what Seve would do' and we have done something special,” the Spaniard described after the 36-hole beating in almost 30 degrees.
“Get to 14 and a half points”
Justin Rose capped off the afternoon's European comeback, preventing the Americans from winning their first game. A devastating tie, which Rose certified with a birdie on his last hole, tying with Robert Macntyre against Max Homa and Wydham Clark. Rory Mcilroy and Matt Fiitzpatrick won comfortably over Colin Morikawa and Xander Schauffelle and Hatton and Hovland tied with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
Europe has never experienced such a euphoric first day in a Ryder Cup and precisely that may be its worst ally for this Saturday's day. “People who think this is won should shut up, there are two days left, we have simply given ourselves a good opportunity, but we have to reach 14 and a half points,” Rahm said.